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* * *
Lana came to slowly, aware of the black, like a wide hot sea, the heat brushing against her in waves. Water fell from above, searingly hot, sneaking into her collar and trickling down her back. Orange flashes sparked above her, fleeting shadows of color. She was still in the hallway and if the fire got over her or behind, she would be trapped. Maybe that was what he had in mind.
Lana realized that her SCBA was gone. She coughed as she breathed in the hot tang of the smoke, making her eyes water.
She looked up as Pete watched the fire lick at the wood above him.
“Pete, what are you doing?”
“Making sure that you pay for meddling in my very lucrative affairs. You’re too damn smart, Lana.”
“It was you all along, you were framing Fisher and bribing Bryant.”
“Right on both accounts. Bryant is greedy and disgruntled. He was easy. I gave John gear and a scanner so he could keep track of when we went on calls. He was so eager to be a firefighter. Not quite right in the head.”
“Sienna will figure this out.”
“No, she won’t because John can’t tell her anything with a bullet in his brain. Everything points to him, including the pictures of him at the scene. When I overheard you talking to O’Neill about the Morrison connection, I knew I had to do something before you told that cop friend of yours.”
“So, your amorous attention was all a smokescreen.”
“That’s right. You’re not really my type. I like obedient women.”
“Why did you do it, Pete?”
“I wish I could say I had these terrible pent-up feelings, but the truth is, I did it for the money.”
He advanced on her with the ax and Lana dodged as he swung it toward the wall where she was sitting. It hit the wall with a terrible thud and Lana coughed as she swallowed more smoke.
“Sorry about this, Lana. Guess you won’t get to be captain someday.”
And suddenly, blindingly, Lana realized that she didn’t want it. What she wanted was a life with Sean. Now she was afraid that she’d never get a chance to tell him.
She loved him with all her heart.
Sitting in the hallway, wondering what Pete would do next reminded her that life was fragile and precious, that there were things worth keeping, worth being a little more careful about. That life was full of small miracles easily lost.
She learned that courage didn’t reside in physical danger. Courage means confronting fears and doubts and making the right choice, taking a stand and stating what it is that she wanted in life. It wasn’t the same thing her father wanted.
What she wanted more than anything was to get out of this hallway, this escalating inferno and tell her father how she felt. Tell Sean how she felt.
Pete moved closer to her and hunkered down. “Don’t fight it, Lana. You can’t win.”
Lana moved her hand around the floor, trying to find something, anything with which to defend herself. But Pete was moving, rising and bringing his ax up.
* * *
Sean moved as fast as possible through the smoky building. As he passed crews, he asked about Lana, but no one had seen her or knew where she was. He started to climb, his heart beating hard. How stupid could have been to let her walk away from him? He couldn’t live without her. He wanted the chance to hold her in his arms and tell her how much she meant to him. He loved her. With grim determination, he started taking the steps two at a time.
* * *
Lana ducked the ax again and rolled away. Her head was still woozy, and the lack of oxygen didn’t help. She grabbed the big flashlight off her belt. With a scream, she rushed Pete as he was trying to pull his ax out of the wall.
She hit him a glancing blow to the temple and without waiting to see if he went down, she ran for the stairs. Just as she reached the top stair, he grabbed the back of her jacket and pulled hard. She went down and hit her head. The room spun and she could barely make out his sooty face in the glow from the encroaching fire as he swung the ax up.
A howling call came out of the darkness of the stairwell and then a huge force flew over her and into Pete. Lana rolled onto her side and tried to get up, tried to help the man who had come to her rescue. But she couldn’t seem to make her body work.
Then in that same red glow, she saw it was Sean. She wanted to yell to him, tell him, but all that came out of her throat was a croak. They grappled near the banister, Pete pushing Sean against the wooden barrier that groaned and popped as wood loosened beneath the weight. Suddenly, Sean turned and with a mighty heave threw Pete away from him and against the banister. With a final groan, the wood gave way and Pete fell into the blackness.
