Obsession (A Bad Boy's Secret Baby)(28)

“Dammit, Kait. You shouldn't be here. It's too dangerous,” Demoe said.

He was a heavier set, balding man that seemed to wear a constant scowl while at work. I wasn't intimidated though, I knew the truth. He wasn't always an angry man. We'd talked many times when he picked up Ashley, his granddaughter. She was my favorite of the Children's Hope kids.

“What happened? Where's Brendan?” I couldn't keep the worry from my voice. I shared a concerned look with Mal, who was listening on the other side of the police tape barrier.

“Don't worry. They're on their way out,” he said, placing a parental hand on my shoulder. Then he got quiet so the media wouldn't overhear and slowly shook his head. “Some idiots were cooking meth in one of the apartments. They damn near—”

Demoe saw something behind me, then cut himself off to yell into the radio receiver mounted on his chest. I snapped my head around and saw two officers dragging a crying, screaming woman out the front door. She was fighting with the officers to get back into the building.

I could only wonder who she had to leave behind... That must have been a horrible kind of pain. It made my heart sink.

EMTs rushed through the barricade and immediately started treating the woman and both officers. Brushing off Demoe's grasping hand to stop me, I ran up with the EMTs to make sure Brendan was alright.

I hadn't made it halfway across the parking lot before the heat of the fire pushed against me. Even at that distance it was almost unbearable, I could only imagine what it must have been like inside.

“Kait,” one of the men said in an exhausted voice that was ragged from coughing. I recognized the man's voice to be Brendan's partner Drew Winter

They wore their hats low and had cloth wrapped over their faces to help guard against the smoke. Their uniforms were singed and smoking. Much to my horror, as they pulled down their makeshift masks I saw that neither was Brendan.

“No.” Instantly all my fears became reality. My brother was still in there.

“C'mon Kait,” Drew said, apologetically, leading me away from the fire.

“What the fuck happened in there?” Captain Demoe roared when we got close enough. “Where's officer Sutherland?

“He went back for the woman's daughter, sir. I-I couldn't talk him out of it.” Drew looked ashamed.

“So you just left him!” I screamed at Drew, I was beside myself. Drew turned away, obviously ashamed. He should be ashamed. How could he leave my brother in there to die! I turned to Captain Demoe “You're going to send someone in to get him, right?”

“Kait...” It was the first time I'd ever seen the commanding, always talking and yelling, Captain search for words. “We're not the fire department, we don't have the gear for this sort of thing. He'll need to find his own way out.”

“What if he can't? He could be hurt!” I was crying and starting to sound frantic.

I'd always accepted the risk of something happening to Brendan, not that he'd ever given me any choice in the matter. I figured if something ever did happen to him I would hear about it after the fact, like a phone call or a visit. If he ever did die in the line of duty I assumed that it would be quick and I wouldn't be there for it.

I'd spent years wrapping my brain around hearing that bad news. It was a horrible thought and of course I prayed for it to never happen, but I could at least understand it. But not this. My brother could be burning alive in that apartment. How could I possibly process that?

“You brother is a hero.” Drew reached out to touch my arm.

“I don't want a hero.” I jerked my arm away and screamed at the man who'd left Brendan behind. “I want my damn brother!”

Oh no, what was I going to tell Mariela?

Men shouting behind us shocked me out of my stupor. Had the fire spread? Did we have to move? When I heard the familiar revving engine I realized that that wasn't it at all. It was Mal.

He was on his bike and riding through the barricade toward the fire. A few cops tried to stop him, but they moved out of the way for fear of being hit by the speeding motorcycle. He was wearing the gear we'd taken from the firehouse.

The helmet and full-face breathing apparatus with the air tank he wore on his back, made Mal look like a superhero as he barreled toward the building. Aside from shooting at him, there was no way anyone could stop him now.

Mal rode with a red fireman's axe in one hand and jumped off when he had gotten close enough. The bike made it several more feet, then crashed into the side of the building far to the right of the main entrance.

A plume of thick gray smoke billowed out of the double doors and silhouetted Mal for a heartbeat. I reached out for him, mixed emotions raging through me with tempest winds. It was a gamble that no woman should ever have to endure.