The Fire Inside (13 page)

Cory added, “If you injure yourself, come to
me. Don’t tough it out. Something could be wrong and you could make
it worse.”

Tess purposely looked her nose down at them.
“I might add that I can probably still outlast you all today, but
give it your best shot. Let’s go.” She’d offered to take the first,
easier exercise, to do exactly what Cory said, take care of
herself. She’d learned her lesson.

Falling into step at the head of the class,
she asked Cory, “Think they’ll keep up?”

“They will today. Wait until they get to the
Confidence walks.” The recruits hadn’t been told yet about the
grueling biweekly walks they’d be taking, in hot weather, in full
gear. They’d know soon enough. Olive didn’t want to shake them up
this soon, and though Tess hadn’t necessarily agreed with waiting,
it was a small compromise to make.

“So, the ankle good?”

“Yeah, I’m wearing the brace you gave me. It
feels better than any I’ve ever had. Almost makes me forget it’s
injured.”

“Don’t overdo.”

She smiled at him. “I won’t.”

They walked for ten minutes, then they sped
up. At a half hour they went as fast as walking would allow. She
slowed at fifty-five minutes to cool down. Before they were
completely finished, Olive, who’d been at the back so she could
observe the recruits, blew a whistle. Everybody halted. Turning
around, Tess saw the BC wending her way through the fifteen
bodies.

Cory and Tess met up with her in the middle.
Tess was shocked to find a recruit—Anita Cruz—on the ground,
gasping for breath. Cory dropped to his knees. He placed his hands
on the side of her neck. “Pulse is racing. Recruit, try taking deep
breaths.”

“I…I can’t.”

“Sure you can. Close your eyes. Do it with
me. Breathe in… Let it out slowly.”

After a few minutes, Tess could see Cruz’s
chest rise and fall more slowly.

Olive knelt down, too. “Head back to the
training hall. Sit down, have some water. Someone will go with
you.”

She glanced at Tess, then nodded to Cory.
“You go, okay? Captain Righetti, stretch out the troops.”

Huh! That was interesting. Had Jack’s warning
about her strictness affected Olive’s decision to let the trainer
go with the recruit instead of her? Did she think Tess would be too
hard on Cruz? She’d ask the BC later. Right now, she had the rest
of them to lead.

o0o

“Thanks for coming in to see me before lunch,
Cruz.”

Feeling flushed and clammy, Anita stared at
Chief Hennessey, wondering if she was going to get kicked out of
the Academy on her first day. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Sit.” When she did, the chief held up a
manila folder. “Department physicals show you passed the test to
become a recruit. Yet on the first day, you practically faint. Did
you eat breakfast?”

No. “Yes.”

“Did you sleep last night?”

Hardly. “Yes.”

“So what happened?”

Since she couldn’t tell the truth, she
averted her gaze. “I don’t know. I feel fine now.”

“
I don’t know
won’t cut it. You’re
scheduled for another physical exam with the department doctor this
afternoon. If you don’t get a clean bill of health, you’re
out.”

She couldn’t be. She had to make it in this
class. So she looked the woman in the eye. “I passed everything
once.”

“Maybe you’ve got a bug.”

“I don’t have any symptoms.”

“Somehow,” the chief said, “I don’t think
you’re telling me everything.” Hennessey’s statement had a note of
sympathy in it, and the woman’s hazel eyes had a ton more warmth
than Captain Righetti’s. Thank God
she
hadn’t left the
trails with Anita.

Anita struggled to keep her voice from
trembling. “I’m telling the truth.”

“All right. Go to lunch. Eat plenty. Visit
the fire department doctor, then come back to the classroom. I’ll
see you at the end of the day.”

Shaken and afraid, Anita left the office. She
barely made it to the locker room, then dropped down on the bench
and put her face in her hands.

“Hey, Cruz. You okay?”

Her head snapped up. She was relieved to find
another recruit in the locker room instead of a teacher. And who
wasn’t Mauro, who was acting like a zombie. “Yeah, Murphy, I’m
fine.”

He dropped down next to her. “What’s goin’
on?”

“I don’t know. I got weak all of a
sudden.”

“It wasn’t that hot.”

“I see the doc this afternoon.”

“You, um, wanna talk?”

She stood abruptly. “Nah. Nothing to say. I’m
sure it’s a fluke.”

“Yeah, okay.”

“But thanks for asking.”

Murphy nodded and strode out of the locker
room without waiting for her. Which was good. She needed to keep to
herself, stay focused. She didn’t have time for friends.

o0o

“Hey, there, Doc.” The voice came from behind
Jack as he stood at the stove of House 7, Group 3.

Pivoting, he smiled at Grady O’Connor, who’d
taken over for Tony. “
Captain
O’Connor, good to see you.”
Jack wiped his hands on his apron and held one out to him. Instead
of shaking, Grady gave him a bear hug. Jack had spent a lot of time
with this man, and now he could see those results in Grady’s
sparkling eyes and relaxed stance.

Grady glanced at the counter. “You making
steak for us today?”

Jack enjoyed these excursions, when he got to
go to the firehouses to cook. And he especially liked House 7
because it was home to the Quint and Midi and a Rescue truck. This
way, he could see a lot of the guys at once. Today, he’d come while
the Rescue Squad was at a call and started the meal alone in the
house.

“Everybody loves steak so, yeah, I’m spoiling
you today.”

“And since you’re here we won’t get another
call during lunch.”

“Shh. Don’t jinx my record.”

By some freak of fate, every time Jack
visited a firehouse to make lunch or dinner, the group didn’t catch
a fire, or any other call, until the meal was over. An interruption
was bound to happen, and Jack had a plan for that: he’d either go
on the call just to experience one again, or he’d stay and wait for
the guys to come back, nosing around the firehouse, reading their
literature, straightening up, until the meal was cooked. Sometimes,
too, only one truck went out, so he got to spend time with those on
other rigs, at least.

“I’m going to shower,” Grady told him. “Be
back soon.”

“Fine.”

When Grady left, Jack put the chuck steak in
a pan to brown and opened cans of tomatoes. Reaching up into the
cabinet, he found the vinegar, oregano and bay leaf. He’d brought
his own fresh garlic. As he prepared the meal, he savored the scent
of cooking meat and spices and tried not to think about Tess. But
she was never far from his mind. Today, he was remembering that
night at the Inn, her mouth swollen from his, telling him there
could be no relationship between them.

“Son of a bitch!” he said aloud. Maybe it
couldn’t go further, but she was still attracted to him.

Disgusted with himself, Jack finished the
meat and took a seat at the table. On it was a copy of
The Heart
of Hidden Cove.
The magazine was put out by the husband of a
firefighter on a different group in this house. He read about
Parker Allen Erikson and Lisel Woodward’s plans for the Hale’s
Haven camp this year. One of Jack’s favorite things about working
for the HCFD was the camp they spearheaded for the children of
slain firefighters and police officers, and now the kids of
veterans of war. Mitch and Megan Malvaso started the project almost
a decade ago, and a huge number of fire and police members had
helped make the camp grow and flourish.

“Hey, Doc.”

Looking up, Jack smiled and stood. “Riley
Gallagher. One of my favorite people.”

“Ha! It wasn’t too long ago you knew what a
jerk I was.”

“Yeah, but you came out of it.”

Riley and Jane Phillips, who was teaching
with Tess, had a rough time after years of being together. Riley
had sought help from Jack to reconcile with his estranged father.
Things must have gone well all around, because his dad had been
best man at his son’s wedding to Jane not long ago.

“Janie doin’ good at the Academy?” Riley
asked of his wife.

“When has Janie ever not done good at
something?”

“She’s a gem.” He got a faraway look in his
eyes. “I can’t believe I almost lost her.”

“Don’t forget it, but don’t dwell on it.”

“Okay, Doc.”

“Did somebody say Doc?” Nick Evans entered
the kitchen. Dressed in blue sweats, he was barefoot. And looked a
lot younger than he had last year. Nick’s story had been sad, and
he’d come to Jack when he wanted to marry Stacey Sterling but
didn’t feel worthy.

“Hey, buddy.” Again, Nick enveloped Jack in a
bear hug, too.

“Jack. Good to see you.”

Riley snorted. “Everything’s good to you
these days.”

“Yep. I caught some of that fairy dust here
at Happyland.”

“How’s Stacey?”

“Good. She’s five months along. Hell, I’m
going to be a dad again.”

Jack knew he’d help sprinkle some of the
dust. All these hugs, the relationships he’d formed over the years
made him forget his own issues for a while.

When the crew came to the table, Jackson
McCabe sat next to O’Connor. The paramedic had had some trouble
with alcohol but he’d been clean and sober for ten years. And he
appreciated the meals probably more than anybody. “This is so damn
good it makes me wanna cry.”

“Baby,” Lisa Beth, his partner, said.

The meat was tender, the noodles perfectly
done and the bread crusty. And no calls came in until just after
lunch was finished.

“Your timing’s impeccable,” Nick said to
Jack. “Come on, the rest of you. Let’s get to it.”

He followed the firefighters out to the bay,
watched them jump into the turnout pants and boots, which were
lined up, ready to be filled. They hopped on trucks, where they’d
don their coats. At the scene, they’d get the SCBA masks on.

After the rigs left, Jack went to the kitchen
and began clean up. He’d been soaking pans, so he scoured them
mindlessly. Until Tess took center stage.

What was she doing now? Was she being hard on
the recruits today? Just from observation, he could tell they were
intimidated. He could help them with his class; he knew it in his
gut. But as he rinsed pots and put them in the dishwasher, he
wondered how he’d feel when they said negative things about Captain
Righetti. He wasn’t prejudging, he just knew there’d be some
fireworks with her.

Then his mind turned to a different kind of
fireworks with the woman, and he forgot all about the recruits.

o0o

Tess and the other instructors laid out
fifteen sets of firefighter gear on the stage of the Academy while
the kids ate lunch. Each set was labeled with one of the recruits’
names, as they’d been fitted for size when they came to pick up
their uniforms a week before class started. The students filed onto
the stage, looking a little less overwhelmed than they had all
morning.

Tess said evenly, “Find your name on the
equipment that’s been assigned to you.” She waited as they sought
out their spots. Tess nodded to the gear she’d set out for herself.
“Let’s start with the bottom up, because that’s how you’ll put your
protective clothing on when you get a call. I’ll demonstrate then
you follow suit.”

She’d set up boots with the pants stuck in
them. “First are your boots and bunker pants. You’ll leave them
positioned like this in the bay first thing in the morning and
after every run. When a call comes, you’ll jump into both
simultaneously.”

For effect, she carefully toed off her shoes.
“I know you see firefighters kicking off their shoes on TV shows,
but don’t do it. I worked on a shift once where a smoke eater
almost got his eye poked out by someone else’s shoe.” Stepping into
the gear, she pulled the pants up to her waist and fastened the
suspenders. “Make sure these fit tightly.” She nodded to the floor.
“Your turn.”

They began the process. When all fifteen had
the two items on, she retrieved a turnout coat and slid into it.
They did the same and fastened it up. “This was the easy part.
Learning how to put on the breathing apparatus is the most crucial
and the hardest.”

They watched her with owl eyes.

She held up a hood. “You put this on first.
It’s made of Nomex, a specially engineered material to keep your
head, neck and ears from getting burned. You don’t want embers
getting under it, so adjust it carefully. I hadn’t taken enough
time once—those little suckers snuck in where skin was exposed. It
itched and burned like hell for days.”

Next came the tanks for the oxygen. First,
she showed them how to check that the thing was full. That took
twenty minutes, as she watched each recruit follow the procedure.
Next, she inserted herself into the straps that would secure the
cylinder. As the recruits tried to emulate her, she, Jane, Olive
and Quinn walked around to assist. Tess approached Mauro. Without
any help, he’d slid into the straps, buckled each properly and was
already adjusting the regulatory device. “Whoa, hotshot, we’re not
there yet.”

His face blanked. “Oh, sorry.”

She studied his face. “You know something
about gear?”

He nodded.

She arched a brow.

“My father and brothers are firefighters.
They already went through all this with me.”

“I see. Any of them trained to instruct in
proper methods of donning gear?”

“No, ma’am.”

“Then, stay in step, Recruit Mauro.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Once all fifteen sported tanks on their
backs, the instructors went about the arduous task of teaching them
to put on air masks. Out of nowhere came an image of Jack, in her
class, wrestling with the mask and swearing under his breath. He’d
been a firefighter for years. The notion gave her more patience
with the recruits.