"No, I'm really not," Liz said. "It's you three who are terrible. You are petty, mean, and small little girls who bully everyone. You just don't like me because I'm not intimidated by you. Go on, now, shoo. We're done here."
Violet, Jessica, and Lydia all shot nasty looks at Liz before turning back toward the counter.
"You think that was a good idea?" I asked as I raised an eyebrow and tipped my head questioningly.
"Screw them," Liz said, waving a hand in the girls' general direction. "I'm tired of their bullying tactics and I'm sick of everyone cowing to them. I'll take my chances."
Billionaire on Fire Volume 2
Chapter Eleven
Cam
"Engine One, Truck One, Ambulance Fifty-Five, apartment fire on Jackson and Halsted. Residents trapped on the upper floors."
"Let's go, guys!" Mike yelled as he raced to the truck and swung himself up in the driver's seat. Danny and I were in next as the guys raced for the truck knowing we'd need the ladder. We hit the street, and Mike cranked up the siren as we sped toward our next call.
I was quiet on the ride as I thought about what Victor had said up in the bunkroom and wondered if he really did have something connecting me to CSC. I tried to come up with an explanation for it in case he did, but all of my ideas fell flat. There was no way to explain to the guys I worked with that I had more money than all of them combined, and it would be even harder to explain why I'd hidden it from them for so long. The best option would be to keep the business undercover and not have me connected to it in any way. I needed to talk to Leo as soon as possible.
We arrived at the call and found the entire building engulfed in flames as residents screamed from the upper floors that they had no way out.
"Raise the ladder!" Chief Riley yelled at the guys from the truck. "Newsome, Connor, get the hose ready to go in. Kelly, you're lead!"
"Gotcha, Chief," Mike said as he prepped his gear and got ready to take the door while Danny and I hooked up the hose.
The heat of the fire had blown out the lower windows and the flames were climbing the building. I knew that the inside was getting hotter by the second, and that if we didn't get those people out, it was highly likely that the floors would collapse and send them tumbling down to their deaths.
"You ready, Kelly?" I hollered from behind my oxygen mask and got a nod as Mike raised his axe and busted in the front door. He leapt backwards as the flames shot out, and I hit them with a blast of the hose.
Above us, the guys from the truck were climbing the ladder as they waited for it to reach the edge of the building. As soon as it did, they began transferring people from the open window in a bucket brigade fashion that soon had the stranded residents down on the ground. The children stood huddled against their parents' legs as their tears left tracks in the soot on their cheeks.
Mike led us into the building and pointed toward the inferno raging in the corner.
"Hit it, guys!" he yelled as he began to vent the lower rooms calling out in case anyone had been left inside. It didn't take long for Danny and I to bring the flames under control on the ground floor, and the guys on the ladder worked it from above.
The problem came when Mike climbed up to the second floor yelling, "Fire department! Call out!" It was there, in a small studio apartment in the back corner, that he found what looked like the body of a young woman badly burned but still alive.
"MEDIC!" Mike screamed over and over until the paramedic climbed the stairs to check out what he'd found. They quickly assessed her injuries and loaded her up on a backboard carrying her down to the ambulance and whisking her off to the hospital. After canvassing the rest of the second floor, Mike came back down and helped us break up the walls.
"Hey, man," he said as he looked at me.
"Don't say a word," I said as I swung my axe. "Not a fucking word."
He nodded and we worked with only the sound of the water flowing from the hose outside and our axes hitting the walls as we tore the building apart.
#
Nobody said any
thing to me once we got back to the station when I took Tesla out to the yard to play ball. I stood there throwing the damn tennis ball thinking about what had happened and how close to home the situation had been. My eyes were dry, but my chest was tight, and I felt the weight of the world bearing down on my shoulders.
More than anything, I wanted to talk to Alex. I wanted to feel Alex's body pressed against mine and her lips moving under my own. I wanted Alex. I pulled out my phone and stared at the screen for a long time before I scrolled through and found her number. I debated whether I should call or not and then hit the dial button and waited.
"Hey, Cam, what's up?" she said, and I could hear the smile in her voice.
"Nothing much, just bored out of my skull," I said, smiling back.
"Oh, so I'm your fallback for mind-numbing boredom? Good to know." She laughed. I could hear noise in the background.