AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Hannah!” Raul’s panicked shout comes from the direction of the front door, barely discernable over the roar of flames. “Come out!”
The sirens race closer, grow louder, while the lights spin and alert the entire town to an emergency. Soon, the crew will arrive and help me find my best friend.
“Axel!” Choking, and rapidly blinking to keep the tears from my eyes, I start out of the kitchen and toward the stairs. “I’m coming to find you. If you can hear me, call out!”
Axel
TIME TO GO
“I’m gonna fucking kill him.” Adrenaline surges in my blood as the cloud of smoke across town grows larger. Thicker. “I’m gonna tear the limbs from his body.”
“You’re gonna work the scene,” Nixon commands calmly.
His jaw ticks with anger. With remembrance of running toward the Oriane blaze eight months ago. He knows what it is to have the things you hold special burned to the ground.
But he’s my lieutenant.
Our acting chief.
And the last time we ran toward something like this, one of our own died on the job.
“If I feel you’re gonna be an issue for us, I’ll remove you.” His eyes burn green and bore into mine. “We don’t have anyone else to come in for relief today, so we need you, Feeney. But if you’re gonna make my job harder, or the scene more dangerous for our crew, then I’m tying you to the fucking truck to simply watch.” He pauses for a beat. “Understood?”
My jaw clicks with anger. With the need to fight.
But it’s just a fucking house. Four walls. The land is worth more than the building sitting on top, and I have insurance that’ll mean we can rebuild.
It’s gonna be fine.
And if I’m lucky, I’ll catch Raul alone for two minutes and make him eat the metal fucking nozzle of our hose.
Pulling myself under control, I nod.
“Patrick, I want you on primary search. Axel…” Nix brings his sharp eyes to me. “Can I trust you to go in?”
“Yeah.” I rest my elbows on my knees and work through the adrenaline racing in my veins. “I’m fine, Chief. I got this.”
“Good. Sloane,” he twists to catch our driver’s attention. “You’re on pump. Rizz, hoses. We’re all hands on deck, which means I’m coming in too.”
“But, Chief,” Dawson exclaims. “You’ve gotta—”
“All hands on deck,” he repeats. “We’re gonna be organized. We’re gonna be smart. And we’re gonna get this shit done with zero injuries.” He watches out the windshield as Sloane brings us around the corner and onto my street. “You know your jobs, crew. Get them done.”
“Who is…” Sloane leans forward to squint into the distance. “Is that—”
“Lieutenant Ruiz?” Nix’s brows pull tight in a confusion. “What the hell is he—”
“He’s been staying with me.” It’s kind of shameful I didn’t think about my housemate since the fire alarms went off. I’ve lived alone for so long, I simply forgot he existed.
But as we pull up outside my house, it’s not Ruiz I focus on. Or the front picture window, already blown out. It’s Hannah’s fucking car, parked across the street.
The second the truck stops, I shove the door open and swallow down a lungful of filthy air. “Where’s Hannah?” I sprint from the side of the truck and around to her car, then look through every window while my crew gets set up. When I find it empty, I spin and charge toward Ruiz. “Where’s Hannah?”
“What?” He’s not wearing turnouts like we are. He’s not protected. But he runs with me anyway as I race toward the porch. “I just got here!” he calls above the roar of the fire. “I haven’t gone inside.”
“Her car is here!” I grab him by his shirt and thrust my hand toward her car. “She was at the bakery, so why the fuck is her car here?”
He shoves my hands off and darts up the few steps of my porch. “I don’t know, man. I’ve been out. I just got back.”
