I used the window punch, and the glass shattered. Water flooded in exactly like I’d warned her, and the woman pulledboth children tight against her chest, holding their heads above water as long as possible before going under.
I reached through the opening and found her arm, gripping tight. “I’ve got you. Hold on.”
Getting the door open underwater took precious seconds, but then I had her, pulling her and both children free of the vehicle. She was holding them so tight I wasn’t sure I could separate them even if I wanted to.
“Swimmers deployed,” I said into my radio, trusting Dane to manage the rope as I started back toward shore. The woman and children clung to me, and I used my free arm to pull us through the current, fighting against the water that wanted to drag us downstream.
The rope held. Dane and Captain Torres hauled us in, and then we were on solid ground, all three of them coughing up water but alive, breathing, safe.
“Medical now,” I said, and Silas was already there, checking the children first while I helped the woman who was definitely an omega sit up.
“You’re okay,” I told her. “You’re all okay. You did exactly right.”
She was crying and laughing at the same time, pulling her children against her with shaking hands. “Thank you. Thank you. I thought we were going to die.”
“Not on my watch.”
Silas looked up from examining the smaller child. “Both kids are good. Some water in the lungs but breathing is clear. They’ll need to be checked at the hospital but no immediate concerns.” He moved to the omega. “Let’s have a look at you.”
I stepped back, suddenly shaking as the adrenaline drained away. Dane appeared beside me, wrapping a thermal blanket around my shoulders.
“You did good,” he said quietly.
“I brought them home.”
“Yeah, you did.”
The radio crackled. “Rescue team, this is Command. Status update.”
I took the handset. “Command, this is Calder. All three occupants extracted successfully. Minor medical concerns, transporting to hospital for evaluation. We’re secure.”
“Copy that.” There was something in Sable’s voice, something warm and proud that made my chest tight. “Well done, Beau. I knew you would.”
Those words landed harder than they should have. She’d known. Had looked at me when I was frozen in panic and paralysis and had seen past it to the person who could do the job. Had believed in me when I couldn’t believe in myself.
“Thanks to your coordination,” I said.
“No. Thanks to you being exactly who I knew you were. The team is coming home now. See you when you get here.”
The transport to the hospital took thirty minutes, and then another hour to hand off the omega and children to the emergency department and complete the paperwork. By the time we got back to the fire station, it was past midnight and the storm had started to ease.
Sable was still in the command center when we walked in, coordinating with the three shelter locations and running status checks on road conditions. She looked up when I entered, and something passed between us. Recognition. Understanding. The acknowledgment that something fundamental had shifted.
She crossed to me, and I expected her to say something professional. To thank me for the successful rescue or ask about the victims’ conditions.
Instead, she reached up and squeezed my hand. Just once, brief and warm and significant.
“You did it,” she said quietly.
“I couldn’t have without you.” I realized it was true. If she hadn’t looked at me in that moment and told me she believed I could do it, I would have frozen. Would have let someone else go. Would have kept running from the nightmare instead of facing it. “You made me see that I wasn’t that person anymore. The one who failed.”
“You never failed, Beau. You just convinced yourself you did because you couldn’t save everyone, and you’re someone who thinks saving everyone is possible.” She was still holding my hand. “But you saved three people tonight. Three lives that wouldn’t exist tomorrow if you hadn’t been exactly who you are.”
I wanted to pull her close. Wanted to bury my face in her hair and breathe in her scent until the adrenaline and fear finally drained away completely. But we were in a room full of emergency responders, and she had a job to do.
So I just squeezed her hand back and let go.
“Thank you.”
