Fighting fire, p.1
Fighting Fire, page 1
FIGHTING FIRE
LADY JUSTICE
BOOK 2
ZOE DAWSON
Fighting Fire (previously published under a pseudonym)
Copyright © 2022 by Karen Alarie
Cover Art © Robin Ludwig Design, Inc.
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Created with Vellum
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
About the Author
OTHER TITLES BY ZOE DAWSON
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I’d like to thank my proofreader, reviewers and editor for helping with this book. As always, you guys are the best.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Go after your dreams.
CHAPTER 1
“Don’t you want to touch me, Lana?”
Sean stood in front of her in the dim light of the fire station. Her heart jumped at the hot, sexy rasp of his voice—a voice fashioned for shadows and whispers.
He was dressed in just his uniform pants, the suspender straps tight against the hard muscles of his smooth, bare chest.
“Ah, Lana, I think about you, dream about you, want you…”
His face was in partial darkness. The lower half tantalizing, the full, sensuous lips, the strong jaw, and the smooth column of his throat bathed in shadows that pooled like dark, sweet chocolate.
Then he stepped into the full light and her breath caught. The gray eyes that regarded her were as deep and subtle and dangerous as smoke from a wildfire. His wheat-colored hair framed a face that was drop-dead gorgeous—stuff dreams were made for.
Lana could feel the blood roaring in her ears. Sean O’Neill, pal, buddy. She swallowed. Co-worker. Not smart, Dempsey. Not smart at all.
She shouldn’t lust after him like this because she worked with him. But the bet she’d made with her daring girlfriends changed all that. One night with Sean would be worth the risk.
The savage need in him called out to her. The intensity about him frightened her even as it drew her. Erotic danger. She backed up, away from the smooth stalking grace of him.
She didn’t answer, but every muscle throbbed in her at the seductive lights in his beautiful eyes.
“Do you want to touch me?” he asked with an odd desperation in his voice. Desperation and hope.
Lana had one glimpse of his gray eyes before his head descended.
It was a hot kiss, filled with hunger and need. It was pure and simple. He wanted her and she wanted him.
His fingers tangled in her hair, cupping her head.
The kiss continued, scalding and consuming, seeming to suck her will from her. His tongue encountered no resistance as it swept with fervent insistence into the softness of her mouth.
His voice stole softly through the silence, his breath mingling with hers. “The taste of your mouth is so sweet,” he said.
“I want you,” she whispered fiercely. “From the first time I laid eyes on you, I’ve wanted you,” she finished raggedly. Her eyes caressed his face, his throat, then moved back up to his burning eyes.
His scent enslaved her; the brush of his fingers against her throat was like licks of flame against her already aroused body. She shivered as she ran the backs of her fingers against his taut skin.
“I want to make love to you,” she murmured, her mouth going to the moist, heated steel muscles of his chest, pressing her lips to his salty, musky flesh.
She kissed the exposed skin, trailing her fingertips along hard muscle.
When her tongue came out and licked his flat nipple, he moaned softly on an indrawn breath. She swallowed as excitement coursed through her. With a movement meant to savor, she couldn’t help doing it again. This time gently sucking the hard nub.
Breathing hard, his whole body jerked, his head falling back, his eyes closing in sensual rapture that made Lana feel as if she were gripped in a tight, flaming fist.
Her breathing quickened at the hardness of his sculptured body. She allowed herself a little bit of satisfaction when he pulled her tightly to him. As his hot mouth slammed into hers, his kiss demanded, overpowered and possessed her until the need for him was a starving ache in her bones.
The lights came on, but Lana couldn’t stop kissing him. The sirens blared; the voice over the loudspeaker announced a fire in progress, and still, she couldn’t let him go.
“Come on, Dempsey, up and at ‘em.”
Lana opened her eyes to find Sean close, but it wasn’t in an amorous embrace. He was shaking her shoulder to wake her. Firefighters were jumping out of bed, running for the stairs and the bays where the fire engines waited.
“Dempsey. You okay?”
She nodded and threw back the covers, throwing off the heat of his hand against her bare skin. It wouldn’t do for Sean to touch her now.
It was an unspoken rule that Lana and Sean didn’t get too close. The heat between them would be too much. Lana wanted to change that. Had to change that because of the dare she had made with her two friends, Sienna Parker and Kate Quinn. Now she was obligated to get Sean in bed and obtain a souvenir.
Sean O’Neill. The man who was her best friend, a man whom she played pool with and hung out with on Friday nights like one of the guys. He was her partner and treated her as if she were just another firefighter. And Lana would think that Sean viewed her like that, if she didn’t catch him looking at her every so often.
With lust in his eyes.
In the split second that his hand stayed on her arm, Lana felt all the frustrating sexual urges come to the fore. No, it wasn’t a good idea to have him touch her.
Not after that mind-blowing dream.
She swung her feet to the floor and right into the black rubber boots, pulling up and fastening the heavy canary-yellow overalls more commonly known as bunker pants.
The sound was earsplitting as Lana emerged into the engine bay where the big ladder engine was kept, along with the vibrant red pumper, glossy from the day’s exhaustive cleaning.
Before taking her designated seat on the engine, she grabbed her turnout coat. It and the bunker pants, with three protective components, provided added defense against burns.
The equipment had saved her too many times from fatal burning for her to ignore any piece. She always placed safety first before comfort. Of course, the equipment was heavy, but thanks to the stringent physical requirements of her job, she didn’t even notice the weight. She hooked up the jacket without thinking about it and smoothed down the Velcro strip to seal it completely. After pulling on the nomex hood, she grabbed her yellow helmet, jammed it on and tightened the chinstrap.
After climbing on the engine all within one minute, her gloves tucked into her equipment belt, she pulled the self-contained breathing apparatus or SCBA for short from its bracket behind the seat and shrugged into it.
As soon as the alarms had gone off, the doors to the firehouse began to open. The engines were now loaded with firefighters ready to do battle with an unpredictable and deadly enemy. In her experience, the darkness would only hinder this early Monday morning attack on the fire.
As the impressive ladder engine roared down the freeway blowing its loud horn, Lana listened to the details they were getting about the type of building, the construction, and the number of people who might be caught in the fire. It was close to two in the morning on the first day of her two-day shift and already they had what sounded like a serious one.
Against her will, she looked over at Sean seated next to her, no doubt his thoughts were also on the blaze.
She hoped this wasn’t another arson-induced fire. A number of suspicious fires had occurred in San Diego the last two months. And the most recent one, she’d discovered the evidence of trailers and accelerants.
So far, this firebug was more interested in apartment buildings than empty commercial property, but Lana took nothing for granted. The adrenaline in her blood urged the engine faster. Her body tightened in anticipation of what lay ahead.
When the big red rig arrived on the scene, Lana realized they were third in, which meant she would be on search-and-rescue detail. Standard operating procedure dictated that the first-arriving engine attacked the fire with tank water, the second-arriving engine laid a supply of lines to the first engine and the third-arriving crew performed necessary forcible entry, search, rescue and ventilation. Lana automatically was on the lookout for Battalion Chief Johnson for his specific orders, all her thoughts going to the task at hand.
Before she could get to the battalion chief, she heard a scream and her head snapped toward the direction of the voice. A woman ran right for her. She clasped Lana’s arm in a death grip. She felt the strength of the woman’s desperate hold even through the thickness of her canvas jacket. A policeman followed right behind the woman.
“Lady, I told you to stay behind the barrier.”
“It’s all right, Officer. Can I help you, ma’am?” Lana asked, covering the woman’s hand with her own. The woman’s face was stark-white, her eyes wide and frightened looking.
“My Angie. Dear God, where’s my baby?”
“What does she look like?” Lana asked the distraught woman.
“Curly hair, big blue eyes, and she’s dressed in pink pajamas.”
Lana turned to Sean, but he was already speaking into his radio. With quick, curt words, he discovered that no one had rescued a child meeting Angie’s description.
“What apartment?” Lana asked urgently.
“Apartment 3B on the third floor. My sister was babysitting her while I worked. Please, please,” she whispered, “save them.”
When they found the apartment, the door was locked. Ever mindful of the potential for a backdraft where carbon dioxide mixed with air could cause a violent explosion, she took off her glove and felt the wood.
It wasn’t hot so she used her ax to break the lock. Pulling a latch strap from the equipment belt, she hooked it over the lock on the door. She was pretty sure that it wouldn’t lock behind them, but she didn’t want to take any chances. She stayed near the wall, using a deliberate search and rescue procedure that had been drilled into her.
It took them precious minutes to move around a room that was filled with smoke. Whenever they found a window, one of them would swing the ax and break it to help with the crucial ventilation of the building.
When Lana bumped into the couch, she spied a teenage girl. She was unconscious but breathing shallowly. Lana rolled the teenager off the couch onto the floor.
“I’ve got her,” Sean yelled over the noise of the fire and the efforts of the firefighters to stop it.
“I’ll look for the child.” Then she went into the back bedroom. She removed her mask so that she could yell into the room. Acrid smoke stung her nostrils and made her cough. “Angie, where are you?”
No answer. She moved on and checked the first place children usually hide—under the bed.
She was lying on the floor facedown, a tattered brown teddy bear clutched to her. She turned and Lana could see fear and terror in the little girl’s face. She was about six.
“Sean, I found her,” Lana called to Sean.
Lana reached out her hand. “Come on, sweetheart. Come to Lana. I’ll take you to your mommy.” She used her softest voice.
“I’m scared,” Angie said firmly, clutching the teddy bear tighter.
“I know, honey, but I’m a firefighter. Come with me and I’ll take you to her. It’s okay. I won’t hurt you. See.”
Lana pulled off the helmet and handed it to her under the bed. Angie looked it over thoroughly, noting the SDFD emblem on the front. Relief now replaced the terror that had once been there. Angie crawled toward Lana, and she pulled her out from under the bed, replacing the helmet and tightening the chinstrap.
“Where’s Fluffy?” she inquired with panic in her voice.
“Lana! Hurry up!” Sean yelled.
Lana picked up the bear where Angie had dropped it.
Situating the little girl solidly on her hip, Lana covered her with a blanket she’d taken from the bed and wrapped her.
“Now, Angie, I want you to put your face in my coat and hold on to my neck really tight. I have to move fast so you don’t get burned.” She smiled reassuringly and tousled her curls.
“It smells funny,” she protested, wrinkling her pert little nose.
“I know, honey, but it’s important.” She held the girl tightly.
Angie looked up at her with a solemn face and she smiled winningly. “Okay, Lana.”
Lana tucked the blanket around the bear and stepped back into the smoky living room.
“Sean,” she called out.
“Here,” he said. “Come on!”
Flames leaped at them hungrily as she and Sean emerged into the hallway. Making their way back into the apartment, Lana grabbed the radio fastened to the side of her turnout coat, depressing the button. “Chief, O’Neill and I are on the third floor with two victims. The hallway is inaccessible. We need a ladder.”
“Bedroom,” Sean said as the door began to smolder and peel.
Lana turned to head in that direction. With a rushing sound, the upper floor caved in. Lana went into a crouch to protect the little girl. The minute debris stopped raining down, Lana called out, “Sean, are you all right?”
She held her breath until she heard his faint reply. “I’m okay. Looks like I’ll have to chop my way through.”
“I’ll help.”
“No. Get into the bedroom and get the kid out. Then come back.”
“I’ll be back for you.” She spoke into her radio again, “Chief Johnson, O’Neill and a female victim are trapped behind debris from a caved-in ceiling. He’s going to chop through. I’m going to the bedroom to get the child out and then help O’Neill.”
“That’s a go,” Chief Johnson said.
Lana carried Angie into the bedroom. She set the child down. “Stay down. Breathe evenly and don’t panic. You’re going to be safe.” She immediately went to the window and leaned out.
“Dempsey,” the chief’s voice came over her radio. “We see you but can’t access that window. Can you get to the next apartment?”
Lana gritted her teeth. “Yes. Get the ladder up and I’ll get through.”
Lana knelt down and checked Angie. Her eyes were open wide, but she was having difficulty breathing. “Hang in there, honey. Breathe.”
Lana chose a place on the wall and gripping her ax, she struck firmly. Plaster sprayed, hitting her SCBA mask and bouncing off. Wood splintered and flew all around her as she relentlessly attacked the wall.
She turned to check Angie. When she saw the little girl’s eyes drooping, she called out, but Angie didn’t respond. Lana abandoned the wall, grabbed the little girl and shook her.
Angie’s blue eyes popped open.
“Stay awake, sweetheart,” Lana pleaded. She took her air mask and put it over the girl’s face.
“Breathe.”
After Angie had breathed in the oxygen, Lana replaced the mask over her own face. She went back and started to attack the wall again.
The wall gradually gave way. As soon as she could see through to the other side, she went back to Angie, picked her up and ran at the partially open wall.
Crashing through, Lana landed heavily on her right shoulder. She went to the window. They were already wheeling the ladder into place. As soon as hands reached out to help her, she gave the girl over.
“She’ll need an EMT. I’m going back for O’Neill.”
Through the chopped hole in the wall, Lana reentered the bedroom emerging into the living room.
“Sean?”
“I’m almost through,” he yelled. Lana once again swung her ax. The familiar sound of her SCBA whistling told Lana she had a quarter of a tank of air left.
She started to pant inside the mask, knowing that her exertion was using up the precious oxygen more rapidly.
When the whistling stopped, Lana doubled her efforts, her swings increasing at a rapid pace. She only had ninety seconds of air left.
Just when she felt the blackness playing around the edge of her consciousness, she could hear Sean’s efforts on the other side.
She broke through, Sean grabbed up the girl. Lana gestured Sean ahead of her.
As Sean handed the girl through the window, Lana fumbled with her mask, going down to her knees. There was no air, and her hands couldn’t seem to grasp the straps to get it off.
“Dempsey?”
It was Sean’s voice, and she couldn’t respond.
She started to black out, but he ripped the mask from her face.
Grabbing her under the arms, he pulled her toward the window. Pure sweet oxygen flowed against her nose and mouth, and she breathed in greedily. When she opened her eyes, Sean was holding her up, his handsome face covered with soot and sweat.
