“PENNY!”
Colt’s head snaps toward me first, then Beck’s.
“What?” Fletch says.
I watch the smoke rolling from the upper windows in thick black waves, and suddenly all I can hear is the blood roaring in my ears and Chip near the entrance, soot streaked across his face.
“She was screaming,” Chip chokes out, his hands in his hair. “I tried to get in, but it was too hot—”
The world narrows violently, and I hear Colt swear under his breath behind me, and Beck looks from Chip then back toward the car parked at the curb, and I watch the realization hit him.
“Oh fuck,” Fletch mutters.
“She’s in there!” The words rip out of me raw.
“Prince.” Beck’s voice cracks like a whip. “Mask up. Ghost, with him. Primary search, ground floor. Stay on the line.”
I hear him. I know the order and understand it, the safety built into every word. But still something inside me snaps clean through.
I’m moving before Ghost can catch up, before the line is fully charged, and before anyone can put a hand on me to make me wait another second.
There’s no room left for logic now. No room for anything except getting to Penny before the fire does. I’m not fucking waiting. Fuck that and fuck protocol.
“Prince!” Beck snaps.
“She’s in there!” I roar back, already at the doorway.
“Stick to your—”
I don’t hear the rest.
The doorway breathes heat into my face as I cross the threshold. Smoke swallows the light almost immediately, thick and black and moving fast. Heat slams into my gear hot enough to feel, and the beam of my flashlight turns useless in seconds, bouncing off smoke instead of walls.
The whole structure sounds alive. Wood popping, glass breaking. And a low groan somewhere deep in the building that vibrates through the floor beneath my boots.
My mask seals tight as I drag in a breath, regulator hissing loud in my ears. Every inhale sounds panicked inside my mask, too fast and harsh. I’m burning through air quicker than I should, and I know it, but my body won’t slow down.
“Fire department!” I shout, pushing deeper inside. “Penny!”
“Prince!” Beck’s voice cracks through the radio. “Hold your assignment!”
I ignore him.
Heat intensifies as I move further in, while sweat’s already running down my spine beneath the turnout gear. Visibility drops to almost nothing in seconds.
“PENNY!”
Nothing.
There’s a loud crash somewhere to my right, and I spin instinctively toward it, my flashlight catching warped floorboards and old support beams. Smoke rolls across the ceiling in violent waves above me, blackening everything it touches.
I know this building—we’ve trained here before. It’s one wide room with center beams. But it doesn’t feel familiar now, it feels wrong. Anywhere without Penny feels wrong.
My gloved hand darts out in front of me, and I shove forward into the room more, moving blind and fast now.
There’s a small, broken sound. Maybe her, or maybe it’s the building groaning. Then something crashes somewhere to my right.
“Prince, hold position!” Beck snaps through the radio. “Interior team forming—”
