Chapter 3
Victor was not very sure if he was pissed off or just annoyed as he looked at the woman making her way into the building.
“Who the hell is that?” he asked Randy Lockwood who was standing next to him holding the hose.
“Macy Yardling,” Randy said in a soft voice. “Volunteer fire fighter.”
“Don’t volunteers have to stay behind the proverbial yellow line?” Victor asked, still a little angry.
“They do. But not this one.”
“I’m going in,” Victor declared and Randy’s grip on the hose slightly waivered. “Someone needs to look out for that dissident.”
“Victor…whoa,” Randy started but Victor was already pulling his uniform up. “You are already in deep shit because of pulling stunts like these…”
“This is not a stunt. There is a crazy woman who has no idea what she is doing inside an unstable burning building. If anyone is pulling a stunt, I am most definitely not that person.”
Randy barely had enough time to respond before Victor began running into the now clearly unstable building. She sighed loudly as he stood there shaking his head. She could only imagine the kind of heat Victor was going to get for this from his boss who had always been convinced that Victor was a little too erratic, something that didn’t make him very happy. She was literally saying a prayer for Victor as he watched the building wondering where Victor was going to emerge from. For a moment, she felt guilty that she was not even thinking about Macy.
“Two erratic fire fighters,” she thought. “Or rather, one erratic fire fighter and an insanely ballsy woman who…” She shook her head. Even her thoughts were discombobulated. It seemed like forever before she finally saw someone walking out. But the colors told her everything she needed to know. It was not Victor. She was not very sure whether she was supposed to be relieved or otherwise. Macy had something in her arms. It looked like a bundle of clothes, but she knew better. She knew that if anything that was one of the kids who had been trapped in the building.
“One down,” she thought as she stood there. Without even realizing it, she had the hose pointed in the wrong direction.
“Towards the fire, Randy!” she heard her supervisor, Robert Diaz, call out to her.
She hardly had any time to reply when she heard the supervisor yell something else. She was having a hard time keeping up, probably because of how engaged her mind was. It seemed like forever before she saw someone else getting out of the building just in time before they heard a loud crash coming from inside the house.
Randy sighed in relief when she saw Victor walking towards the ambulance. But the relief was not going to last long. The supervisor was already walking towards them and the look in his eyes sad it all. He was about to rip Victor a new one, not that it was anything new.
“Racine!” This was Robert’s unmistakably irritated voice.
“I would hate to be you right now, Victor,” Randy thought as Victor walked up to where Robert was.
“Sir?” Victor said, as he took off his hood.
“You did it again. The same thing I asked you not to do.” Robert started.
“All due respect sir, did you miss the woman running into an unstable building? All alone?” Victor asked.
“She is not in my employ, Racine,” Robert said angrily. “But you are.”
“That doesn’t change the fact that a civilian ran into a burning building.”
“She is a volunteer fire fighter,” Robert corrected.
“Yes. And she is not in your employ,” Victor said, his anger rising. “You mentioned that earlier and that makes her a civilian.”
“Leave her to me. I know exactly how I am going to handle her.”
“But for some reason, you feel the need to rip me a new one?” Victor pointed out and shook his head. He ran his hand through his hair in frustration and Robert sighed.
“Damn it, Racine!” he cursed under his breath. “This is a team effort.”
“Yeah, does the teacher’s pet know that?”
“Remember who you’re talking to, Racine,” Robert said in a warning tone and Victor sighed loudly.
This was frustrating for everyone, especially him since he did not understand why he was getting the short end of the stick.
“This is your last warning, Racine,” Robert went on. “You have been nothing but reckless lately.”
“Nothing but reckless,” Victor echoed.
“That is exactly what I said. Like last week when you went into a scene without any back up. And I don’t need to remind you that it was not the first time you did that,” Robert scolded him. “This is too much for anyone to handle. Even a man who gives as much leeway as I do.”
“Leeway,” Victor thought. “Yeah, right.”
“Like I said, this is your last warning. And I am going to have to give you your second written warning if you keep this up,” Robert said before he walked away.
Needless to say, Victor was angry. And as he stood there breathing hard and deep, all he could think of doing was giving the same treatment to the woman who had his boss asking all these questions. He was going to get answers. By any means necessary.
*****
“The baby is out. Unconscious!” Macy yelled as she ran towards the ambulance. The kid she had on her back was coughing. She might have been lucid but no one knew better than her that she was just in just as much danger as the unconscious kid. She was not very sure just how long it had been for the kids inside the building. Knowing that might have as well been the difference between their lives and deaths. The paramedics helped her get the older kid on the gurney while Victor walked up to where she was and put the unconscious kid on the gurney next to where she was standing. She was breathing hard and heavy as she looked at the paramedics trying to revive the kid.