Page 2 of Hot Zone

“Don’t be afraid, Bob, we’re coming after you,” Andy called out, and the guys all chuckled.

“Okay, crew,” I said. “Bob’s counting on you. Try not to drop him this time.”

“Drop a dummy on his head one time, and you never live it down,” Keith grumbled.

“Okay, guys. Two of you at a time, and I’m going to time you on this one.” I watched while they paired up.

“All right, Chief, we’re ready,” Robert said.

“Ready, set, go.” I blew the whistle and pressed the button on my stopwatch as Robert and Keith went first. They rushed up the series of steps that led to the top.

They made their way up smoothly, and Keith grabbed the dummy and headed back down. I pressed the button to stop the timer.

“Good job, guys. Who’s next?”

“We are, Chief,” Kevin said, motioning between himself and Ronda.

“Great. Probie, put Bob back in the corner.”

Andy sighed and picked up the dummy, tossed it over his shoulder, trudged back up the stairs, and flopped Bob back in his spot.

“I’ll be glad when this year is over,” he grumbled as he started to head back down.

“Aw, you’ll always be probie to me,” Ford called up, blowing him a kiss, and Andy flipped him off before he started down.

As soon as Andy was back on the ground, Kevin and Ronda lined up. I blew the whistle and started the timer as they ran for the steps. I watched as they took the steps two at a time, grabbed Bob up, and headed back down.

As soon as Bob hit the ground, I hit the button. “Great time, guys.”

All eyes turned to Andy, and he just sighed and rolled his eyes. “Nobody else move. I got him.” He picked Bob up and took him back up the steps, which made me chuckle. The life of a probie was hard.

“Okay, guys, you’re up.” I pointed at Simon and Becca.

As soon as he was back down the steps, Simon and Becca got ready to go. I blew the whistle and pressed the button on the stopwatch, as they ran for it. They were surprisingly quick, but not as fast as Kevin and Ronda.

“Okay, someone else take Bob up. We don’t want Andy to be too tired on his run,” I said, and Keith grabbed Bob up and ran him up to the top.

“Thank you, Daddy,” Andy said, batting his eyes at Keith.

“Keep that shit up, and I’ll tell Jesse,” Keith warned, and the guys all laughed, telling me I’d made the right choice in choosing drills for today. This was exactly what they needed.

“Okay, this is the last run, so let’s see what you two got.”

Like before, I blew the whistle, and they ran for it. They were both surprisingly fast, but once they reached the top, Ford couldn’t help but put on a show. “Don’t worry, Bob! I’ll saveyou!” he shouted theatrically before hoisting the mannequin over his shoulder in the most exaggerated way possible and running down the stairs with Andy trailing him.

When he reached the bottom step, he lowered Bob to the ground, and I clicked the stopwatch. “Not bad guys. That was the best time of the day. Not fast enough to take the record, but not bad at all.”

“The record? There’s a record?” Ford asked. “Why didn’t I know about that? I want the record. Who set it? Who do I have to beat?”

Robert laughed and pointed at me.

“No way.”

“Yes, way, and I can still kick your butt, but not today. Time’s up, and I have a meeting to get ready for. You guys get everything put away.”

“Sure thing, Chief,” Robert said, and I left them in the bay to go about their daily work.

I sat down at my desk and opened up the folder Fox had shared with me that had everything they’d collected so far on the serial arsonist who seemed to have it out for the 69. So far, we’d managed to keep the fact that he was targeting our station out of the news. We didn’t know what his motivation was, but until we did, we didn’t want people making assumptions.

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