Page 48 of The Firefighter's Fate

But before she can offer me a solution, the fire station alarms blare out. The sharp sharpness of the sound makes Ember practically jump in surprise in her chair. I calmly consider it and lean back in my seat, away from her.

This is actually fun...

“I’ve got to get used to that,” Ember remarks, her cheeks flushed red.

“We’ve got a job to sort out,” I tell her coolly. “I have to go.”

“Sure. Totally understandable. Just as we were getting started...”

I nod at the door.

“How about you come along?” I ask her.

“What?”

“Tag along with the team, Ember.”

She blinks three times in quick succession.

“To the emergency?” she splutters. “Me?”

“Yeah,” I reply. “Come with us. Unless you have something better to go to?”

She scoffs and shakes her head.

“No, I don’t.”

“Then come,” I say with the biggest smirk on my face. “You want to figure out who I am? Well, this is who I am. Come and see it with your own pretty eyes, sunshine.”

24

EMBER

I can see the fire even before we arrive. Black and red flames spew up into the sky, visible from miles around, like the very gates of Hell have opened up. The fire engine rolls toward the blaze at such speed. The sirens are blaring as we spin through the streets of Crystal River. And I, unbelievably, am in the emergency vehicle with the firefighters tasked with battling the flames.

I grip my seat hard and try not to throw up from the sharp turns and the nerves whirling inside my belly.

It’s crazy when you can actually see the danger you’re heading toward – when you can see the raging fire and know that the firefighters sitting in the truck around you will momentarily be stepping into that furnace without knowing if they’re going to be hurt or burned.

Or worse.

But the surrounding men look so damn professional. So damn serious. Their faces are ashen, but I can’t detect a single morsel of fear emanating in the fire engine, only a strong-willed resolve from these fighters - they’re doing their job, and they’re damn good at it.

These men I’ve gotten to know after the last few days of bribing with croissants and coffee seem like totally different characters as we race to the inferno. Despite their toughness and their muscular frames, I know they are funny and generously loving men in peacetime, but now in wartime they are the most stern and solemn I have ever seen them. There’s no more joking around here.

And Connor is the most extremely serious one of them all.

I turn to him. His eyes glimmer in the dimness of the truck.

“How are you feeling about this?” I ask him.

It seems like a lifetime ago when we were sitting in that office back at the station with him leaning forward, glaring deep into my eyes, with my phone recording our conversation.

This has certainly not turned out like a normal interview...

“We’re prepared,” he tells me flatly. “We’ll do the best we can to help.”

“Is this why you left the Penmaynes?” I ask. “To experience this?”

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