Chapter One
Where the hell is he? Fallon twisted to flip a smoldering table over. Nothing. Through her firefighter’s mask, she eyed the flames that licked the walls and ate the curtains and pictures. She swept her flashlight beam upward and caught sight of the thick nimbus clouds of smoke crowding the living room’s two-story vaulted ceiling. Damn, this didn’t look good.
Sweat drenched her body beneath her protective turnout gear. Waves of heat battered her, demanding she retreat. But Fallon wouldn’t be intimidated. The fire could have the house. All she wanted was the boy.
“Check the back hall and kitchen,” she shouted above the crackling din of the inferno surrounding her and her partner, Ryan. Aiming her light across the room, she appraised the sturdiness of the staircase. “I’m going up.”
Ryan thumbed his mic. “Radio check.”
They’d already tested their equipment before entering, but Ryan wasn’t one for taking chances.
“Check,” she answered.
“What’s the kid’s name?”
“The parents said David.” She readjusted the strap over her shoulder with the bag containing a small emergency air tank.
“Got it. Okay, the house is almost fully involved.” He craned his neck to inspect the floor above them. “Ten minutes, Fallon.”
She gave him a thumbs-up and strode across the room, leaving him to finish the search downstairs. Mounting the charred staircase, she took each step with care, skimming her shoulder against the wall. When she reached the upper landing, she paused to gain her bearings. A heavy smoke veil pervaded the second floor, lessening the effectiveness of her flashlight. Thank goodness for the ten-foot ceilings. Any lower and she’d have been crawling on the floor.
Damn. That kid could be anywhere. The heat alone was enough to render him unconscious. The lack of oxygen could have already suffocated him. Dread snaked through her, sinking fangs of doubt into her lungs.
Tightening her grip on the flashlight, Fallon swallowed the horrid thought and calmed her mind. Don’t waste energy on negativity. Stick to training. Do the job. She unleashed a deep-seated determination, allowing it to suffuse her body with fortitude. It wasn’t too late. She would find the boy.
Hunching over, she pivoted right and advanced toward what looked like the kids’ rooms. She’d made it halfway down the hallway when a loud crack thundered overhead, and she stumbled back. A part of the ceiling plummeted to the floor where she’d stood, embers and ash pluming into the air. The end wall erupted in flame.
Fallon eased forward. “David!”
She strained to hear a yell or knock. Nothing.
But what if he’d passed out on the floor, and she couldn’t get to him? Fallon shuffled closer to the sweltering doorway, the fire searing the jamb. For a moment, the undulating flame mesmerized her. Brilliant orange fingers embraced the wood frame—a lover’s caress while the blaze consumed.
Aiming the flashlight into the bedroom, she swept the beam across the floor and burned-out bed. “David? Are you in there?”
“Nooo….”
Fallon jolted, whirled around, half expecting to find Ryan behind her. A smoky haze greeted her. She turned back to the bedrooms, flashed the light into the other room, and discovered half the roof had fallen in, exposing flame and smoke to the star-filled summer night. Dead end.
“Fallon,” Ryan said over the radio. “You find him?”
“Not yet.” Movement caught her eye, and she glanced up.
Tendrils of fire raced through the bedroom doorways and converged above her head. Stumbling back, she lifted her chin to inspect the unusual movement. Had a window blown out somewhere, fueling the flame?
“Follow….” came a crackly voice in her ears.
Fallon thumbed the mic. “Come again?”
“Negative. Time’s up.”
She turned, her gaze locked on the multiple thin lines of fire that streaked and twined along the wall in a fiery braid. The damn thing pointed toward the opposite end of the house.
What the…? Could the kid be there? I must be losing my mind. Fire can’t talk. A rush of chills attacked her skin, triggering a violent shudder. But still….
She shook her head and spoke into the mic. “One more room, and I’m out.” Stick to training. Do the job. She would never sleep if she didn’t check the master bedroom.
“Out, Fallon,” Ryan said. “The second floor’s about to give.”
“I’m already there.” She crossed the threshold, her gaze scanning the hazy floor for the boy’s body. “Two minutes.”
She headed toward the bathroom, but a wisp of orange launched from the wall to the doorway, a warning salvo that blocked her path with an explosion of fire.
“No….”
Accepting the voice in her head as some type of sixth sense or subconscious knowledge, Fallon whirled around, her flashlight exposing another door. Had the kid hidden in the walk-in closet? Rushing across the room, she entered the close-quartered area. Her gaze searched amid the hanging clothes, scattered shoes, and stacks of boxes for a glimpse of the boy.
“David?”
Nothing. Fallon turned to exit, but a crack erupted just outside the door, and a burning beam crashed to the floor. Crap. Now she’d gone and gotten herself trapped. She reached for her mic to alert Ryan of her situation.
“Search….” The scratchy voice met her ears once again.
“I did search,” she yelled. “He’s not in here.”
“Search….”
Fallon gritted her teeth against the fear attempting to strangle her focus. God, she was talking with the fire. Had she gone mad? Jerking garments from hangers, she hurled them to the floor.
“He’s not here,” she screamed. “Now let me out!”
“Fallon,” Ryan called over the radio. “Where are you?”
She spoke into her mic. “I’m trapped. Master closet.”
“I’m coming up.”
Fire danced along the doorjamb but didn’t enter the cramped area.
“Keep…searching….”
Fallon turned, trained her light on the wall. She shoved the remaining clothing to the side, exposing the drywall behind. She sucked deep breaths of oxygen through her self-contained breathing apparatus mask. The labored sound tortured her ears. What was she doing? The closet wasn’t huge. If the kid had been in here, she would’ve found him by now.
She shoved a rack of skirts to the side and targeted her flashlight on the back wall.
REDS.
Fallon stared at the word scrawled in thick permanent marker across the attic access door. Another rush of chills assaulted her, the icy pinpricks in stark contrast to the suffocating heat crushing against her. Was he there?
She grasped the ornate knob and jerked the door open. A brown-haired boy tumbled onto the floor.
Fallon’s heart banged against her sternum. “David!”
Grabbing the kid, she held him close. His eyelids fluttered, and a pair of weary brown eyes stared up at her.
“Ryan, I’ve got him.” She gazed down at the boy’s soot-marred face. “It’s okay, David. You’re going to be all right now.”
All she had to do was wait for Ryan to set both of them free from this claustrophobic closet. Jerking the bag off her shoulder, she pulled out the small emergency air tank and set the attached mask over the kid’s nose and mouth. He sucked in a gulp of air, and a violent cough shook him.
Gathering him against her, she kept the mask pressed to his face. What was taking Ryan so long? Glancing over her shoulder, she discovered the doorway that had been barred now stood clear. The wood beam lay burned and broken on the floor. The flames that had danced along the doorjamb had vanished, leaving charred wood in its wake.
Fallon inhaled a jerky breath. Without waiting for an explanation, she shoved to her feet and pivoted with the child in her arms. “I’m going to get you out of here, David. Back to your mom and dad.”
She bolted into the bedroom where she skidded to an abrupt stop. Bright orange globules vaulted from one wall to the next, fiery tails streaming in long, dazzling arcs. For all her training, Fallon had never witnessed anything as extraordinary as this.
“Run….”
Fallon escaped to the hallway, her flashlight beam raking the walls helter-skelter. Ryan stood at the top of the stairs. Relief flooded through her, and she rushed toward her partner. The boy would be all right.
The bank of windows lining the back wall exploded. Fallon shielded the kid as the force shoved her to the floor. Glancing up, she caught sight of Ryan lumbering toward her.
The stairs collapsed. Behind his oxygen mask, Ryan’s eyes widened. A moment later, he disappeared, plummeting through the hole.
“Ryan!”
A bone-rattling succession of splintering cracks jolted through her boots, each explosion vibrating the air. The floor beneath her feet trembled and quaked with a brutal buck.
The landing tilted with such abrupt force that Fallon tumbled backward. Still clutching the kid to her chest, she dug her heels into the carpet in an attempt to slow their sliding descent to the ground floor. The boy wailed, clinging to her jacket with grubby hands.
Fear clawed Fallon’s throat. Scorching talons clutched her windpipe, searing it closed. The floor angle was too steep. She couldn’t stop them from slipping. Smoke billowed in thick black clouds, and a spray of embers dashed into the air, sparking pinpoints fizzling to ash.
Flames feasted on the railing that lined the loft, leaving nothing between Fallon and the raging maw of darkness below.