"They're not," I said over my shoulder.
"Guys, c'mon!" Kelly said as he poured himself a cup of coffee and sat down at the table. "We're all in this together today. No need to pound chests or engage in insults, right, Connor?"
"Whatever." I shrugged again. "He started it."
"What did I start?" Victor asked, raising his voice. "I was just commenting on the fact that I hadn't seen you in a while!"
"Aw, c'mon, Vangel," I said, irritated that he was forcing me to acknowledge him this way. "You're a prick on a good day and you know you are, so let's just get that out of the way and move on with our day."
"How am I a prick?" Victor demanded. "You're the one who broke the rules and forced the Chief to discipline us!"
"That, my friend, was not my fault," I replied without looking up from the newspaper. "And you know it as well as I do."
"God, you are such an ass, Connor," Victor said, shaking his head. "You refuse to take responsibility for anything."
"I am more than willing to take responsibility for what I actually do," I said. "But I made a judgment call and lives were saved. I think you're forgetting that you went along with me."
"Did I have a choice?" he spat.
"Guys! Knock it off!" Danny said as he slapped butter on the last two slices of toast and brought the plate to the table. "Cam. Victor. It's over and done with. Why can't you two let it go?"
"He's the one making a big deal of nothing." I shrugged again. "Not my fault."
"Fuck you, Connor," Victor said as he dumped the eggs into the serving dish in a heaping pile and turned to yell, "Breakfast is served! Come and get it!"
The dining area quickly filled with hungry firefighters coming on shift, and soon the conversation turned from the grudge between Victor and me to speculation on who was going to win the World Series this season.
"Spring training just began," Mike said with a mouth full of eggs. "You can't possibly know whose going to win."
"I do," Danny said confidently. "I'm positive the Cubs are gonna take it to the series this year. They were ready last year, they just couldn't catch a break."
"Is that what you call it?" Mike laughed. "I'd say they were out of their league!"
After breakfast, Chief Riley called a meeting and explained that there were some big changes coming, but that the brass downtown hadn't given him a lot of information about it.
"If you guys hear rumors about a shake up, just know that there are changes coming," Chief said as he looked down at an official memo from his superiors. "But a lot of the rumors are going to be false, so make sure you check with me before you spread them, okay? It's bad enough that we can't get the whole story, but to have you guys spreading stuff that's totally untrue is only going to hurt us all. Okay?"
"Aye, aye, Chief," Mike nodded as he pointed toward the kitchen and said, "Cam, Danny, you guys are on breakfast clean up. Hop to it before we get a call!"
"Crack the whip, why don't you?" Danny grumbled good-naturedly as he and I did our kitchen duty. As I washed and he dried, Danny talked about his plans for his small construction business. "You know, I've got a few contracts that I'm working on this year. Business is up from last year, and I can see that I might have a chance at some bigger contracts later this fall. You should come work for me, Cam. I can hook you up with some good jobs that pay really well if you need some extra cash for the house and all."
"Thanks, man." I nodded as I focused my attention on scrubbing the eggs out of the frying pan Victor had used. I didn't want to turn Danny down, but I couldn't take on any more work than I already had, and the problem was that I couldn't tell anyone about what I was doing; not even Danny. I laughed as I said, "I'm not that great with tools, so I'm probably not the guy you want working on million dollar houses."
"Awww, c'mon, Cam, I'll teach you," Danny pleaded. "I need good reliable guys on my team and you're one of my best friends."
"Alright, I'll think about it," I promised as I handed him the dripping wet frying pan. "I promise."
"I'll work on your team, Danny!" Victor called from the other room. "I can always stand to make a few extra bucks now and again."
"Yeah, okay, thanks, Victor," Danny replied with a weak smile. None of us liked Victor Vangel. He was a cocky, arrogant jerk who took more than he gave and spent a lot of time grand standing and taking credit for things someone else had done. He had a huge chip on his shoulder and was so unpopular in the department that the brass had been unable to assign him to one firehouse, so he ended up bouncing around and filing in for call-outs or sick leaves. Right now, he was filling in for Brent Jacoby who was out on paternity leave with his newborn twin daughters. Danny had a calendar in his locker where we marked off the days until Brent returned to work.
As of that day, we had twenty-seven days to go, and we were anxiously awaiting his return.
#
"Engine One, Truck One, Ambulance Fifty-Five, fire at Canal and Taylor in the Southern Market," the voice over the intercom announced as the alarm blared, and we ran to grab our gear. Kelly was the first to the truck and was yelling at us to hurry up as he slammed the driver side door shut and cranked the engine. I hopped on with Danny not far behind, and before we knew it, we were flying down Wells on our way to the fire.
"Man, I hope it's