Page 3 of Forged By Fire

With all his gear, there was no way she could stop the flow. She needed to get him out. Now.

“Danny isn’t responding. I’m going to bring him out. I’m not sure where the shooter went. He looked just like one of us wearing full firefighter gear, but there’s no name on thejacket.”

Danny’s PASS device started to sound the pre-alarm. If he didn’t move soon, the full alarm would go off. It was a safety device that helped others find a fallen firefighter when visibility was low. The sound itself was a reminder of her partner’s unknown condition. Leslie moved the device to keep it from going off fully.

“Got it. Granger, Whitman and I are on the way back to you guys.” Bryce’s voice was tight. No doubt the alarm had been heard over the radio as well.

“Understood. I’m bringing him out.” She was trained to be able to carry a man out of a burning building if it were ever necessary. She tried to push the fact that it was Danny out of her mind and focused on the task at hand. With a groan, she managed to roll his body and get him onto her shoulders. His lack of response worried her even further as she summoned every ounce of strength she had to carry him out of the room.

Smoke billowed around her, and the light from her headlamp barely penetrated it enough to see where she was going. With each labored step Leslie took, she half expected the killer to come out of the shadows. Her priority had to be getting Danny out of the warehouse. There was no way to know how long he had before he bled out.

“God, help me get him out of here in time. Please help him to keep breathing.” Her prayer was whispered in desperation as her partner’s weight made it a challenge to maneuver through the warehouse with any kind of speed.

She stumbled into an open area and stopped suddenly when two bouncing lights appeared before her, nearly losing her footing.

Two firefighters materialized as the lights drew closer, but it wasn’t until Leslie could read their names on the jackets that she started moving again. “Thank God.”

Bryce didn’t hesitate to reach for Danny. He easily took the man’s weight onto his shoulders and led the way. Whitman gave Leslie’s back a hard pat and brought up the rear. Together, they continued through the thick smoke for the exit, and Leslie prayed they wouldn’t come face-to-face with the shooter before they found it.

Chapter Two

Smoke billowed from the broken windows in the warehouse. Police Officer Clint Baker wasn’t going to pretend to know exactly how the fire department approached a blaze like this, but even he could tell the fire was anything but contained.

And somewhere in there, Leslie was trying to get her partner out with a shooter on the loose.

The last thing Clint wanted to do was wait outside for them to show up. Instead, his instinct was to charge in, locate Leslie and her partner, and escort them out safely. Except he wasn’t an idiot. He knew very well that doing that with no equipment or training would mean he’d be the one needing someone to drag him out of a burning building.

Officers were positioned around the perimeter of the warehouse, watching for the shooter to exit. Meanwhile, Clint waited near Lieutenants Holden and Warren. He could hear what they were saying to the other members of their companies, but wasn’t privy to the side of the conversation coming from inside the building.

Lieutenant Holden gave a sharp nod. “Understood.” Heturned to Clint. “Our other team has located Granger and Bracken. They’re on the way out.”

Lieutenant Warren waved to get the attention of the waiting ambulance. “Get ready. They’ll be out any minute.”

The EMTs lowered a stretcher from the back of the ambulance. Medical gear hung from bags over their shoulders.

Clint spoke into the radio on his shoulder that connected him with the other officers in the area. “Be advised that we have four firefighters on their way out. At least one gunshot wound. We need to identify everyone exiting before they’re allowed to leave the premises.”

“Understood.”

So far, the shooter hadn’t emerged from the warehouse—a building that had to be burning down around him. Had the guy gone into this with a plan to escape the blaze? Or was it a random act of violence? The likelihood that the shooter had no intention of escaping alive flitted across Clint’s mind.

The possibilities threw everything into question, including the source of the fire itself. Was it a convenient distraction, or was it set to cover up a premeditated crime?

Someone yelled, “We’ve got movement!”

Clint watched the door as four people poured out with the smoke, one of the firefighters draped over the shoulder of another. Immediately, the fire medic helped ease the injured firefighter from Keyes’ shoulders and placed him on the ground.

Clint joined the two lieutenants as well as the EMTs as they jogged forward to assist. The lieutenants quickly checked the identification of the firefighters.

“It’s my company. We’re good.” Holden gave Clint a definitive nod.

Leslie tookher helmet off and dropped it on the ground as she removed her regulator. “Is he alive? I couldn’t tell if he was alive or not. I just had to get him out of there. The fire and the shooter…” She looked up and around, her eyes wide, until she saw Clint. “Did you find the man who shot him?”

Clint let the other officers in the area know that the four firefighters were legit and that the shooter was still in the wind. He put a hand on Leslie’s shoulder. “I’m afraid not. He hasn’t emerged from the building. We have officers posted all around the perimeter waiting for when he does.”

“I don’t have a pulse. Starting compressions.” Whitman climbed onto the stretcher, straddled the injured firefighter, and began CPR.

An EMT fitted a mask over the firefighter’s face and used a bag to feed precious oxygen into his lungs.

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