Page 3 of Big Daddy Firemen

She recognized the voice as belonging to Quinn Hardin, the sheriff of Big Cedar. He was out there, helping fight the blast. Some of the other men from town had gone, too, along with a department from a nearby town.

Surely that increased the guys’ odds of living through this thing, right?

Daisy wrung her hands and tried not to let her mind wander down such a dark path. She instead focused on the scanner.

“Roger that.” Walker’s voice crackled, along with a burst of static. “At least we think. Making entry now.”

Daisy stood and covered her mouth as her body was wracked by a cold shudder. She didn’t know exactly what was going on, but she’d heard enough to assume that the guys—or at least Walker—were entering some sort of structure.

She closed her eyes and said a silent prayer.

“Come back to me,” she said after a moment, her voice barely audible. “Come back, guys.”

CHAPTER THREE

Walker kicked the door open and immediately stepped back.

He did so just in the nick of time, too. A hot, orange blast rocketed toward him, the fire coming mere inches from his face shield, the flames licking dangerously close.

He threw the plastic orange capsule he held right into the blaze that had prevented him from entering the cabin door. It exploded, spreading white flame-retardant foam that instantly extinguished the fire.

Well,thatfire, at least. Fire still raged all around them. They couldn’t fight it, even if they’d had a hose with them. All they could do was find the trapped people and get them the hell out of there.

Cane and Austin stepped through the threshold while Walker readied another “bomb” just in case. The capsules were experimental and hadn’t caught on with all fire departments across the country yet. The manufacturer had sent them out for free, trying to show off the product. So far, so good. Walker made a mental note to order a new batch when this thing was over.

He stepped in and saw what Cane and Austin were seeing: half the cabin was on fire. The other half would be soon.

“Anyone here? Fire department!” Cane called out. “We’re here to help!”

A second later, a scream for help emitted just as a small hand reached up and offered a weak wave.

“The kitchen!” Austin said, having spotted the movement.

The three firefighters hurried across the cabin’s living room, but before they could reach their destination, an overhead beam fell to the floor with a deafening roar. Sparks fluttered up in its wake. The commotion caused the fire to rear up, too, and all three of them instinctively stopped running and brought their arms up to shield their faces, though the helmets and protective gear they wore did the job just fine.

Walker was able to sidestep the beam and keep moving forward. The air itself seemed as if it was burning. His lungs heaved, straining to retain precious but scarce oxygen. Even with the mask that filtered out most of the ash and particles, the taste was still bitter.

Everything around him looked wavy as neon embers floated around the destroyed building. The old cabin hadn’t been sturdy before the fire had ravaged it. Now, it was barely holding on.

They needed to get out of there and pronto.

He barreled into the kitchen and moved around the overturned table the hand had waved from behind. When he came on the other side, he was shocked to see not one person, but two.

They were just children, a boy and a girl, neither older than ten, huddled together and crying.

“Over here!” he called.

Cane and Austin were already coming up behind him.

“Good Lord!” Austin said.

The three men knelt down and quickly inspected the kids. There wasn’t time to linger, but simply yanking them up,throwing them over their shoulders and running like hell might do more harm than good. They needed a fuller picture first.

Thankfully, a quick scan told them the children weren’t seriously hurt. Terrified, yes. Hurt, no.

Nothing else needed to be said. Working in unison, the firefighters lifted the overturned table and cleared the other debris. Cane and Walker scooped up the children while Austin led the way, throwing a couple of his own fire-retardant capsules at hot spots that threatened to spread into their path. Thick black smoke, white foam, and crackling flames were on all sides of them.

And suddenly, something else was blocking the path, too.

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