Cries in the Night (11 page)

The crowd surged against the yellow tape that marked the perimeter boundaries. Jason reached them and was immediately surrounded by his parents, sisters and girlfriend. Rusty had almost reached the street when there was a whoosh, followed by a thunderous explosion.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Rusty slowly lifted his head and spit out a mouthful of grass and dirt. The blast had knocked him to the ground. Luckily, he hadn’t reached the street yet or he would probably be spitting out teeth. His heavy coat had protected him from the
flying debris, but his ears were ringing from the pressure and his head was spinning. Damn, he’d left his helmet in the house and …

His head cleared enough for him to realize that Joe had gone through with his threat. Rusty pulled himself into a sitting position and turned to see a black, flaming hole where Joe … and his house had been.

The paramedics reached Rusty and started trying to examine him by checking his eyes and his pulse rate. They couldn’t stop him from getting to his feet even though his knees almost buckled and he could feel himself swaying.

“Let us get a stretcher,” one of the paramedics suggested.

“I’ll be fine. Go see if there’s someone else who’s really hurt,” Rusty replied.

“Ignore him. He needs to go to the hospital,” a voice from the crowd spoke up. Chris finally managed to push his way through and joined the other paramedics. Sara followed close behind. Chris stepped in front of Rusty and forced him to meet his gaze. “Don’t argue with me. You put out fires. I keep people alive. Right now, you need to get checked out.”

“I’m okay …”

“You were knocked down by an explosion and nearly killed. You have no idea what kind of damage could have been done.”

Rusty and Chris didn’t butt heads often. The four years’ difference in their ages had kept them from traveling in the same circles for most of their lives. All three brothers had strong type A personalities and didn’t lose any battle with grace. It was proof that Rusty was more shaken up than he realized that he finally accepted his brother’s diagnosis. But he insisted on walking to the ambulance under his own power.

The firefighters had immediately surged forward to take care of the fire. The force of the blast had destroyed part of the two houses on each side of Joe’s, and they, too were on fire. The police were struggling to keep any non-emergency personnel from crossing the perimeter. Even Rusty’s parents had to wait until he reached them. They wrapped him in a warm, protective hug that closed out everyone else, including the swarm of reporters that had surrounded them.

Rusty ignored the outstretched microphones, preferring the attention of his family. His mother climbed into the back of the ambulance with him. As soon as the doors slammed shut and the vehicle moved forward, Rusty’s head began swimming and he reluctantly obeyed the paramedic’s request to lie down.

He closed his eyes, but that didn’t stop the images that tumbled through his brain. “Did Joe make it?” he asked his mom.

“Who’s Joe?” she asked. “The man in the house?”

“Yes. Did he make it out?”

Pat and the paramedic exchanged worried looks. “Just you and Jason came out before the explosion,” she said.

Rusty rolled his head away from his mother and faced the wall of the ambulance. He had spent several hours not knowing whether he was going to get out of that house alive. No one had been more surprised than he when Joe had hung up his phone, paced around the room a couple more times, then picked up a knife and approached the two firefighters.

“Stand up and turn around,” Joe had commanded, and they had reluctantly obeyed. Rusty had felt a tug on his wrists and his hands had fallen free. Another jerk of the knife had freed Jason. “Now get out of here. Fast.”

Jason looked at Rusty, silently asking him if this was a trick. Rusty jerked his head toward the door and Jason had bolted for it. He paused before opening it until Joe waved him on. “It’s not wired.” He held his hands up, showing that the remote controller wasn’t there. Jason cautiously turned the handle and eased the door open. When nothing happened, he pushed the door wider and ran out.

Rusty had followed at a more measured pace. When he realized Joe wasn’t coming with them, he had tried to convince him to walk out with him and give himself up. Joe had hesitated, as if he was considering the possibility. He had even said, “Go on. I’ll be right behind you. I want to grab a photo.” Rusty had hesitated a moment longer, not wanting to leave Joe open for the SWAT team. As wrong as Joe had been to take the two firefighters hostage, there was something so deeply sad about him and so relatable that Rusty had almost understood the message Joe was trying to get across to the world. Besides, Rusty was in the business of rescuing people, and Joe needed to be rescued.

He had thought Joe was with him, right behind him as promised. It wasn’t until the bombs had gone off and the earth had shaken seconds before the force of the blast had hit him from behind that Rusty had known that Joe had changed his mind. Two lives had been saved, but one had been lost. For most people, that would be a success, but for Rusty, it was a crushing failure.

 

Julie watched the ambulance wind its way through the crowd, its blinding red and blue lights ricocheting wildly off the multitude of faces. The driver hit a couple of siren boops to get people’s attention so they would move out of the way.
He didn’t turn the sirens on full blast until he was well past the blockage and heading out of the neighborhood.

A whoosh of air rushed out of her lungs, and she suddenly was overcome with a flood of emotions. Joy, sadness, disappointment, panic, all rushed through her as the hundreds of people pushed and shoved, trying to get a better view. Reporters were everywhere, jostling for position so that the flaming remains of the house would be behind them as the cameras rolled. To the east, the sky was lightening, showing the first signs that this nightmare night was truly almost over.

Every muscle felt strained and every nerve stretched to its limit as she wound her way through the crowd and away from the frenzy of activity. She climbed inside her car and just sat, wrapped in its silence and isolation for a few minutes before she summoned enough strength to start the engine and drive home.

The TV was still on as she walked into her house. She clicked it off, filled Cat’s water dish, turned off the lights and, after a quick shower, she fell into bed. Today she would have to trust her crew to handle whatever incidences that occurred. She’d done enough for one shift … one painfully long shift.

It seemed like she’d just shut her eyes, but when she awoke it was daylight outside, but the milky gray light that settled on a cold winter evening, just after sunset. A glance at her clock confirmed that she had slept the day away. She couldn’t remember the last time she had slept for almost twelve hours straight through. Her first impulse was to jump out of bed and check in with the dispatcher.

But she knew Janice was on shift tonight and she was solid. Instead, Julie settled back against the pillows and let her mind filter through the events of last night. She tried to tell herself it was just another night on the job, but it had been more than that. She always cared about her victims, but when it had been two firefighters, it had been particularly stressful. The panicky look in Jason’s mother’s eyes and the way Pat had leaned against her husband as if she couldn’t support her own weight was burned into Julie’s memory. These two women who probably had never met before they’d arrived on scene had shared an emotional experience that only a mother could imagine.

Julie understood that fierce protective instinct of motherhood. It was so deep and so strong that she knew a mother would do anything for her child.

That thought ventured into an area she didn’t want to remember, so she forced herself to get out of bed. A quick trip to the bathroom where she brushed her teeth, dressed in a pair of faded jeans and a baggy Colorado Rockies sweatshirt made her feel a little more refreshed. There was no reason to put on any makeup or do anything with her hair, so she let it fall free around her shoulders.

Cat had been particularly polite to let her sleep. He must have sensed that she needed it, but now that she was up and moving around, he was making her aware of his discomfort. It was edging into his prime hunting time, and he was anxious to get outdoors.

Julie’s stomach growled, reminding her that she hadn’t had anything to eat in a really long time either. So with Cat leading the way, she walked through her quiet house to the back door. Her hand was on the knob when a knock reverberated through the door. It was so unexpected that she literally jumped back a step and gasped. The knock sounded again.

Her heart was still pounding as she pulled aside the frilly curtain and peered outside. Rusty’s smiling, but slightly frantic face looked back at her. “Let me in. Please hurry,” he shouted. His voice was muffled through the glass, but she didn’t hesitate to open the door.

Cat streaked out and Rusty hurried in, carrying a large pizza box and a brown paper bag on top.

“What …?” she started to ask as he shut and locked the door and pulled the curtain back over the window.

“Have you looked outside lately?” he asked as he put the pizza on the kitchen table.

“No, why?”

He led the way to her living room. “Just look out your peep hole.”

She had no clue what he was talking about, but she went to the front door and peeked outside. She was shocked to see two local TV station’s remote trucks parked in front of her house. A small crowd of people, some holding microphones, others with steady-cams on their shoulders and still others she recognized as neighbors were clustered on the sidewalk. A young mother Julie had waved to in passing was giving an interview. Julie turned around slowly and leaned back against the door.

“Why are they here?”

“Apparently, the word got out that you talked Joe into letting us go,” Rusty told her as he studied her face for a reaction. “You’re a hero.”

She shook her head. “I didn’t do anything special. You guys were the heroes.”

Her expression changed. “What are you doing here? I thought they took you to the hospital.”

“They did, but I checked out this evening. The last thing I wanted was to spend another night there.”

“Are you okay?” she asked, her gaze moving all the way down to his tennis shoes and back up, as if she could see through his clothes for cuts, bruises and broken bones. “You hit the ground pretty hard.”

“I’m fine. For some reason not all the bombs went off or I’d be in baggies at the morgue.” He shrugged. “Guess it just wasn’t my time.”

“All of you adrenalin junkies have that attitude. Then again, you probably wouldn’t go into a burning house or rescue someone from a car that’s about to blow up if you didn’t.”

“I’m not crazy, and I’m not careless. But usually, we don’t have time to overthink the situation before we move. It’s all instinct and training.”

Julie was average height for a woman, but as she looked up at Rusty, she realized he towered over her. It made her aware of how much bigger and stronger he was than her, and she shivered. Involuntarily, she took a step backward. “I don’t mean to sound rude, but why are you here?”

“That didn’t sound rude at all,” he teased.

She had the grace to blush, and he had the chivalry to ignore it.

“After hospital gruel, I wanted pizza, and I owed you a meal. I didn’t know if you’d be home yet, but I thought I’d take a chance.”

“I didn’t go in today. It was almost seven when I got home, and I knew I didn’t want to fall asleep at my desk.”

“They ran tests on me all day. I knew I’d have to get out of there if I hoped to get any sleep tonight,” he told her.

“I don’t know …” Her hesitation was automatic. She wasn’t accustomed to sharing her safe space, even temporarily. The smell of pepperoni made its way to her nostrils, and she gave in. After sharing last night’s experience, how dangerous could sharing a pizza be? “I’ve got some beer in the fridge,” she told him as she opened the cabinet and took down two plates.

He took two bottles of cold beer out, opened them and set them on the table while she tore off sheets of paper towels for napkins.

“I don’t entertain much,” she explained apologetically as she tried to make them fancier up by folding them and placing them on the plates.