Page 23 of Sparks Fly

A few, agonizing seconds pass where Hallie hears nothing but static, before Kaia’s response comes through, breathless but controlled. “Negative, Lieutenant. We’re moving too slowly. Civilians are running out of time before this whole place comes down. I can speed up the rescue by tackling twenty-eight alone.”

The lieutenant’s grip tightens so much on her radio, it’s a wonder it doesn’t crush into pieces.

She knows Kaia is right, time is against them, but branching off alone in this kind of disaster zone is against every bit of protocol Hallie has drilled into her rookies since the day they stepped foot on her training ground.

“Dammit, Kaia,” she mutters under her breath, before raising the radio back to her lips. “Cochran, Richards! Assist Montgomery on the twenty-eighth floor, she shouldn’t be up there alone.”

“No can do, Lieutenant,” Cochran’s sharp response has a churning nausea growing in Hallie’s gut. “Twenty-seven isn’t clear yet, we have civilians in tow. We have to get them out first.”

Before the lieutenant has a chance to respond, Kaia’s voice rings out again, this time noticeably strained. “Structural damage on the east side of twenty-eight. Do not attempt rescue, it’s too unstable. No survivors found.”

Hallie’s stomach falls straight through her feet. “Get clear, Montgomery! Evac is winding down.”

“I’m working on it, Boss.”

The lieutenant’s fierce resolve begins to well and truly crumble. Kaia sounds like she’s struggling more than she’s letting on.

And her crewmates are making their way down twenty-seven floors to the ground, getting further away from her with every passing second.

“Montgomery, confirm self-evac, now!”

“Negative, Lieutenant.” Kaia’s response is the most feeble Hallie’s ever heard her voice. “Obstructed descent. I’m trying to clear a path.”

Hallie clenches her eyes closed against rapidly encroaching tears. Every instinct in her body is screaming at her to rush in, to save the woman she’s grown to care about so deeply, even when her recklessness infuriates her beyond measure.

But the lieutenant knows the risks. The tower is on the verge of collapse, she would never authorize re-entry for any other members of her squad.

She opens her eyes again to assess the sight before her, torn between everything she knows as a veteran firefighter and everything she feels as Kaia’s partner.

Because that’s what she is now. Her partner. Inside the department and out.

In the end, there’s no choice to make. Hallie throws on her own breathing apparatus and sprints towards the building, alerting her team on the radio to complete their civilian evacuations and immediately join the containment squads. They had to put out this blaze.

The heat grows more overwhelming with every level Hallie races up the service staircase. The damage appears to be less severe on this side of the tower, but she knows what she’ll be up against once she tries to navigate to the side of the twenty-eighth floor where Kaia is trapped.

Every muscle in Hallie’s body screams at her as she keeps climbing and climbing.

She clutches at her breathing apparatus and gasps through a few deep inhales before attempting to radio Kaia again.

“Montgomery, report!”

“Ceiling cave-in meets collapsing floor. It’s quite the circus up here, Lieutenant. I’m making my way across as fast as I can. Stand by.”

Hallie bites back a sob. Kaia should have waited for her entire team’s assessment of the integrity of the higher floor before rushing in alone.

“I’m coming, baby,” she whispers to herself, clambering up more steps with renewed vigor.

Finally, Hallie reaches the twenty-eighth floor, forcing her way through the service door to encounter the disastrous reality of what’s left of it.

She immediately spots Kaia, maybe twenty feet away, maneuvering too slowly across the obstacle course of exposed steel beams and crumbling plaster from all sides. The lieutenant assesses the expanse with sharp eyes, weighing their painfully limited options.

Just then, her gaze snags on a gaping hole in the floor between them, on a half-collapsed bed visible from the floor below.

“Kaia, you’ll have to jump!” she shouts across the roar of flames and fire hoses. “I’ll head down to twenty-seven and pull you out.”

Kaia raises her head beneath her helmet, her face too obscured for Hallie to make out if she’s surprised to see her. She hesitates, glancing down to the floor below and then back to her formidable lieutenant.

She doesn’t move.

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