Chasing the Fire (Backdraft, Fully Involved, Flashover) (8 page)

“Because I’m asking you not to.”

“Well, that’s a switch. I asked you
not
to do a lot of things in the last ten years, and you’ve
never once agreed.”

He spoke the truth. He’d asked her not to
hold a grudge. She’d vowed never to forget what he’d done to
her.

He’d asked her not to refuse his calls. She
didn’t answer his emails and messages.

And later, when everything had fallen apart
for him, he’d asked her to reconsider a future they could still
have together. She’d told him to fuck off.

“I know it’s a switch. But I’m doing this for
my friends.”

“Why the hell did that guy hit me, anyway? I
was only talking to Jane.”

“Obviously, they’re having problems. They’ve
been together since high school.”

He stared hard at her with those navy blue
eyes that used to make her knees weak. “Lucky them.”

Lisa Beth’s blood pressure spiked. “Oh, no,
you don’t. You don’t get to make me feel guilty for what you
broke.”

He nodded. He wasn’t used to making
concessions. Though he’d only been at Memorial for a short while,
everybody on staff knew Linc Roberts had a God complex.

“So, will you forgo pressing charges against
Riley? They’re going to have a tough enough time trying to work
things out.”

Linc steepled his hands and waited. She bet
he made interns squirm. Of course she hadn’t been around to see
that. “All right, on one condition.”

“What?” She didn’t like the gleam in his
eye.

“That you see me outside of the
hospital.”

Her jaw dropped. “No, absolutely not.”

He picked up the phone again. “Okay.”

She watched him punch in numbers.

“Wait.”

He paused.

“Fine, I’ll see you once outside of
here.”

“A week.”

“
What?”

“Once a week. For a month.”

“You gotta be kidding me.”

He rubbed his jaw. “I’ve been hurt.”

“Oh, shut up with that.”

Arching a dark brow in the way she always
hated, he said, “You have five seconds to decide. Then I call.”

Goddamned son of a bitch. “All right. Once a
week. Four times.”

With a victor’s smile, he set down the phone,
leaned over the desk and glanced at his calendar. “How about
Saturday night?”

“Can’t. I’m going away tomorrow—two weeks for
a paramedic refresher course.”

He flipped some pages. “Damn it. I’m flying
to Italy to present a paper when you get back. I’ll be gone two
weeks.”

“A reprieve then. Call me when you’re free.”
She started to back up.

It took him only seconds to round the desk
and grab her arm. She remembered the last time he’d touched her and
it hadn’t been pleasant. He said, “Not so fast.”

Her dark eyes burned. “Get your hands off
me.”

He spat out, “Christ,” but moved away. “We
set dates now.”

“Now?”

“Yes. Four weeks from today.”

She pulled out her phone and checked her tour
schedule. “I’ll be on night duty.”

“I work days.”

Sensing victory, she shrugged.

“Then five weeks.”

That she couldn’t get out of. She’d see him
for Jane and Riley, but the thought of being alone with Linc
Roberts outside of the hospital made her stomach clench. She had no
desire to spend any length of time with the man who destroyed her
once.

He wasn’t going to get a chance to do it to
her again.

oOo

Five weeks later

“
HELL, THERE’S FIRE
coming out of
every window on the top floor.” Riley Gallagher made the comment as
they hauled hose from the Quint.

“We’ll get water on it while the Rescue Squad
checks the second and third floors.” Tony Ramirez grabbed a
halligan from the truck. “If anyone’s on four, it’ll be a recovery
now.”

Lisa Beth asked, “What about us, Lieutenant?”
The paramedics in House 7 fought fires, too but were specifically
assigned where needed.

“Check with Nick Evans. He might want you
with his squad.”

She and Jackson McCabe headed toward the
officer of the Rescue Squad. Nick was giving instructions to his
crew. “Ames and Cordaro search the first floor. Thorne and Maloney,
head to the second.” He noticed her and McCabe. “You two wait out
here until we assess the inside and see where you’re needed.”

“So,” McCabe said after Evans left and as
they watched the fire spit and snarl. He always reminded her a bit
of a young Denzel Washington. “When’s the big date, Duncan?”

“I swear McCabe, I wish I’d never told you.”
She and Jack were close, and as the time to pay her debt to Linc
had drawn nearer, she’d gotten moody. He’d wheedled out of her what
was wrong.

“I’m teasing you.” His expression turned
serious. “I don’t wanna make this harder.”

“It’s tonight.”

“Sure you don’t want to tell me what he did
to you?”

“No. I don’t even want to think about
it.”

He squeezed her arm. “You’re the toughest
broad I know, Lisa Beth. You’ll get through a few hours with
him.”

I’ve had to be strong. Because of him.
Shit.

“Duncan and McCabe, copy.”

“Right here, Captain.”

“We’ve got victims on the first three floors.
My team can handle all but one on the third. A paraplegic, wedged
between the bed and a wall. It’s goddamned tight, and his
breathing’s labored.”

“We’re there.” They donned their face masks;
Lisa Beth picked up the backboard and McCabe grabbed the ALS bag.
They headed inside.

Evans’s voice came over the radio.
“Stairwell’s to the left of the door.”

The building was full of smoke and hotter
than hell. She could hear the hiss of water on the blaze, but that
wouldn’t make it cooler. They began to climb the steps. One flight…
The second got harder because of the sixty pounds of gear they wore
and the ALS bag and backboard they carried, which they switched
from one to the other halfway up.

“Jesus, this is an inferno,” McCabe
commented.

“Do your best.” Evans again. “It’s hellish in
the whole structure. And hurry. Heat can combust at any time.”

And cause flashover, Lisa Beth knew, where it
got so hot the air would ignite on its own. They reached the third
level. “We’re on the floor,” she said. “Direct us.”

“First door on the right.”

At least they were close. They entered the
room and both dropped to their knees, where it would be somewhat
cooler. McCabe dragged the backboard as she hauled the bag and felt
the walls for direction. Finally she came upon a leg. “Got
him.”

“Too bad we’re operating blind. This is gonna
be dicey.”

Lisa Beth felt for the man’s pulse. “His
breathing’s weak. I need to use the BVM.”

Rummaging through the medical bag for the
breathing valve mask, she found it and placed—by feel only—the
plastic piece into the victim’s mouth. Then she began to pump air
with the soft football-like attachment at the end. She called back
to her partner. “You can’t get in here, McCabe, while I’m doing
this. It’s too tight. I’ll give him some air, then scoot back and
you move in with the board.”

She eased away, hoping she cleared enough
room. McCabe touched her arm and shoulder to locate her, then
sidled around her. She heard him moving the patient, probably
pulling the guy onto the backboard by his legs.

“Got him.” He drew back, the board scraping
on the floor as it traveled with him. “Bag him again, then grab
hold of the other end.”

She felt around, found the guy’s mouth and
gave him more air. “Okay, but we’ll have to stop and do this
periodically.”

“Want me to lead, kiddo?” McCabe asked.

“In your dreams, pal.”

She started the slow trek toward the bedroom
door. “Shit,” she said bumping into something. A bed post. Then she
knocked her knee against the door frame.

“Gonna be black-and-blue for your date,” her
bigmouth buddy said.

“Shut up, McCabe.”

She knew she’d reached the top of the steps
because she felt the banister with her knee. No more humor now.
Stopping to bag the guy once again, she asked, “Carry or
slide?”

“I’d say carry, if you can keep your
footing.”

“Let’s do it.”

Her leg brushed against the banister. One
step…two. The heat intensified. Three…six… They reached the
second-floor landing, where they halted once more and provided more
air for the patient. “Wanna rest?” McCabe asked.

“No.” But, man, she wished she could see
something.

They took the next flight at a snail’s pace.
She’d reached the last landing and stumbled on some debris. She
fell to her knees and the board slid right into her spine. She
screamed.

“Duncan, you okay?”

She could barely breathe for the pain.

McCabe was at her side. “Can you go on? If
not, I’ll pick him up.”

“I’m fine.” She wasn’t, but she could finish
this save. “Is the patient?”

“Same.” He waited a beat. “I’m taking point
then. You fell.”

“I guess.”

“You’d do the same for me and you know
it.”

Of course she would, so she let him get the
front of the backboard and bear the brunt of the weight.

The muscles in her back screamed as they took
the last flight, where luckily the smoke had cleared some. But each
step was agony. When they got outside, two of the Quint
firefighters took the backboard from them. One said, “Wow, the
guy’s legs are burned. It must have been hotter than hell up
there.”

Lisa Beth dropped to her knees and hunched
over. She felt someone take off her headgear.

Ramirez came up to them. “What happened?”

“We couldn’t see where we were goin’,” McCabe
told him. “We missed the debris on the last landing. The backboard
with the guy’s weight hit her spine.”

The lieutenant put his hand on her shoulder
and squeezed. “Help her away from the building, then check her
out.”

McCabe asked, “Can you get up?”

“Not alone.”

He drew her to her feet. When she raised her
arm to slide it over his shoulders, she moaned. “I hope it’s not
too bad.”

“Let’s go see, kiddo.”

oOo

LINC SMILED AT
the young girl whose
life he had saved. “How are you feeling?”

She rolled her eyes. “Like a stake went
through my leg.”

He chuckled because that was exactly what
happened. She’d been rushed in after an accident during Phys. Ed.
class where she’d fallen on a marker that had been put up for
lining the field. Someone had forgotten to remove it. Linc had been
called to operate even though he’d been home sleeping after
returning from Europe yesterday. “Get some rest now, Susan.”

“Thanks, Dr. Roberts.” Her eyes were already
closing.

Dr. Roberts
. All his life, Linc had
wanted to be a doctor. While his seven brothers and sisters were
growing up, he was the one to treat them for minor scrapes and
bruises. And if they needed medical attention or had a doctor’s
appointment, he invariably accompanied them. The day he’d been
accepted into medical school, he’d been ecstatic.

As he was leaving the room, his pager went
off. Damn it. Jet lag was catching up with him. Huh!
Report to
ER Five
. He hoped another patient didn’t really need him, which
was unusual for him to even think, but he wanted to rest for his
date
tonight.

Taking the elevator down to ER, instinct
kicked in when the doors opened, and he quickened his steps. He was
about at Five when he saw a nurse wheeling someone toward Room
Four. What the hell? “Lisa Beth?”

She looked up. “Oh, shit.”

“What happened?”

A firefighter Linc thought he’d seen before
stood behind her. “She got hurt in a fire. Chief ordered her to
have it checked out.”

Linc’s heart shifted in his chest. “Where
does it hurt?”

“Back injury. Bad bruising.” The firefighter
answered again. “Of course you doctors’ll have to diagnose it and
not us lowly paramedics.”

Linc’s pager went off again. Damn. “I have
another patient.” He went to touch Lisa Beth’s arm and she yanked
it back.

“Don’t.” Her voice was ragged indicating she
was in pain.

“All right. I’ll see you later.”

He walked into the fifth room. The patient
was an elderly man whose leg was broken. An intern said, “Sorry,
Dr. Roberts, but the other orthopedic doc is busy. I thought you
might examine him since you’re here.”

“Making decisions for attendings, are you,
Campbell?”

The intern stared back at him. “No, sir, just
doing my job.”

Twenty minutes passed before he was able to
visit Room Four. Pulling back the curtain to the cubicle, he saw
the firefighter sitting next to the bed. Lisa Beth was on her
stomach, and Lela Allen, one of the few nurses he let himself like,
was examining her.
“This
is a very bad bruise. You’ll need
X-rays to see if you injured your spine.”

“I didn’t. It would hurt more.”

“You might be in shock, Lisa Beth.” So Lela
knew her. “Christian Singer is coming in to examine you as soon as
he’s free.”

“No need. I’m here.”

Lela turned around and smiled at Linc. “Oh,
hi.”

“Under no circumstances is that man to touch
me.”

In his best authoritative voice, he said,
“I’d like the room cleared.”

The firefighter rose. “Over my dead
body.”

“I’ll call security. Lela, you, too.”

Raising her chin, she faced him squarely.
“No, Dr. Roberts, I’m not leaving when the patient has requested
she doesn’t want you to examine her.”

He strode to the bed, nudged Lela out of the
way, and before anyone could stop him, he drew apart Lisa Beth’s
gown. “Jesus, what happened?”

“Apparently, she was carrying a victim out of
a fire, tripped on the steps and the backboard hit her in the
spine.”

A huge hematoma had spread out on the middle
of her back. “Nurse Allen’s right. You need X-rays.”