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I hold up my hand. “Ignore him. He doesn’t matter. That’s fine. Head straight back, to the north side. There are reports of civilians trapped there. Snow, Cinder, and Fly Guy—you’re with me. The rest of you, go and stay together.”

“Why isn’t that douche Borgess in the building with his men,” Abrams asks as we run toward the burning warehouse.

“Because he’s a douche,” I scoff, tightening my mask in place.

The scene inside is intense. Fire rages everywhere. There a fireman from other stations around Chicago rushing in and out, carrying victims.

“We have to hurry. We don’t have much time until this whole thing crashes down.” I look around to the beams securing the massive roof. Most are ablaze and appear to have been for some time now. “Check every tent,” I yell when we reach a cluster of them.

I rip open one tent after the next to find them all vacated. There’s a crash behind me, and I twist around to find Cinder trapped under some metal shelving that had fallen.

“Lieutenant,” he calls out.

Fly Guy and I race toward him and hurl the shelving off his back. I extend my hand, and as he takes it, I pull him up. “You, okay?”

“Yeah.” he shakes out each leg. “I think so. Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Anyone see anything?” I question.

“No, Boss. Every tent is empty,” Abrams says.

“I looked back behind them, and nothing,” Snow adds.

Cinder nods. “Same.”

I call over the radio. “No signs of civilians, Cap.”

“Alright. I don’t like the look of this smoke. Everyone out,” Cap’s voice orders over the radio.

“You heard him, guys. Montgomery, Pauly, Stokes, Tiny—it’s time to go,” I repeat Cap’s order over the radio.

There’s a thunderous crash, and a wave of blackness shoots toward us. “Down,” I yell.

I drop to my knees and huddle into a ball, covering my head as the sea of smoke and debris hits my side. “Okay, that’s not good. We gotta get out of here.” I stand when the wall of dust settles past us.

We run from the building. “We’ll need to start getting the hoses ready,” I yell to the others.

Montgomery stands in front of the truck, hugging…Cam. Her presence here throws me off.

“D!” I yell as I jog toward him.

He pulls away from Cam, taking us in. “Where’s Pauly?” He stiffens

I look around. All the guys are here except one. “I don’t know, man. I thought he was with you.”

“No, we split up. He went toward the east side of the building. He was going to help some of the guys from unit seventeenout. They had a man down.”

“He hasn’t come out, D,” Captain answers.

“Fucking radio seventeen and ask where he is!” Deacon yells.

Captain goes to the truck. He talks adamantly into his radio before coming back. “They never saw him. The building was unstable. They were ordered out. Shit, D…the whole east wing collapsed.”

“Fuck!” Deacon screams. “I’m going in. The last place I saw him was by the elevator shaft. I'll start there.”

“Montgomery, the building is unstable. You can’t go back in. I’m sorry, man. I’m pulling rank. You’re not going back,” Captain states, his eyes full of regret.

“Fuck if I’m not.” Deacon turns in the direction of the blazing building.

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