Always and Forever (28 page)

Dreading the news he was about to give, Captain Gabe Malvaso
stared out at his group of firefighters, who sat in the big couches and stuffed recliners of the common room of Firehouse 7. In the back by the door to the kitchen stood the Hidden Cove Fire Department brass. His men and women trusted him, and so far in his eight years as their officer, he hadn’t had to deliver any bombs about cutbacks. From the rear, his cousin Mitch, now a battalion chief, nodded
his encouragement.

Gabe cleared his throat. “Let’s get started. There’s been a lot of rumors going around and you can probably tell from Chiefs Malvaso and Erikson being at this little gathering that something’s coming down. And yeah, it’s what you expect.”

Murmurs rumbled through his group: Felicia White, his serious, aloof lieutenant who he already talked to about this; his paramedic,
Brody O’Malley, a lively ladies’ man that everybody liked; firefighters Tony Ramirez, quiet and excellent at his job, Sydney Sands, their feisty rookie and, finally, Rachel Wellington—sometimes called
Princess
because of her classy background. She was a good firefighter and sensible at work.

And with her steel-blond hair and wide eyes, she was about the sexiest thing he’d ever seen.
That
had
been causing Gabe problems for a while now.

O’Malley spoke up first. “So, somebody’s going to get the ax on Rescue 7, right Cap?”

“Yep. And on Quint and Midi 7, too.” Those were the other two rigs in the firehouse, the first performing fire rescue operations, the latter a medical truck. The groups who rode them also had separate officers. “They’re having their own meeting. But we’re all
cutting back on each shift.”

Sydney, the group member with the least experience at the on the squad, shook her head. “Oh, hell!”

“Syd, you’ll still have a job, though it’ll be another station house. You have some seniority in the department as a whole; plus we’re expecting retirements soon.”

She lifted her chin to keep up a good front, but her young face tensed, telling Gabe she was
upset. The twenty-three-year-old already had had a lot of tough stuff to deal with in life. “I’ll have to break in a new bunch of clowns.”

The others didn’t joke. Theirs was a special group, an experiment in affirmative action. Their rescue squad, which went to every fire in their area, was comprised of three men and three women to demonstrate how liberated the department was and to promote
the recruitment of women. So far, after eighteen months, the experiment had worked well.

From behind Sands, Tony Ramirez put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed it. She covered his briefly with hers. The two often paired up inside a building and they’d become fast friends.

“I know this is hard for all of us,” Gabe added. “But we got no choice, guys.”

“Yeah, we don’t have to like
it, though.” O’Malley’s tone was angry. Brody was a good guy but he couldn’t censor his words, and he caused Gabe grief from time to time.

“Chief Erikson is here today to give you some more information on what’s gone down.” He nodded to the back of the room where Cal stood with Mitch. “Ready, Chief?”

“As I’ll ever be.” The tall, powerfully built man strode to the front with a commanding
presence.

“Hi, all. I’m not going to mince words. You’ve heard the rumors. For budget reasons, the mayor’s cutting ten percent of the fire department. But it gets worse. The town newspaper, the
Hidden Cove Courier,
which recently went to online publication, has been running a daily blog by a reporter, Parker Allen. She named the thing
Make It Right
, which galls me. Of course, she’s in full
agreement with the cutbacks but wants more of our hide.”

O’Malley raised his hand.

“Yeah, Brody, what?”

“Hell, Cal, firefighters were everybody’s heroes when our guys ran into the towers on 9/11. Now we’re just another organization to be cut.”

At the mention of 9/11, everybody went silent. The events of that day had changed Americans, none more than firefighters. Gabe and several
members of the HCFD had gone down ten years ago to work at the pile, and some of the people sitting before him had lost relatives or close friends.

Cal’s expression was grim. “Life isn’t fair, I know.”

“I don’t mean any disrespect, Chief. Honest. But it galls me where the government chooses to cut. My brother Ryan says the same thing is happening in the police department. Ten percent across
the board.”

“I know about the HCPD and I don’t like it any more than you do. And you’re not going to like what else Lois Lane is bitching about.”

More grumbling. Gabe didn’t know what the chief was referring to.

“She’s making noise in that blog of hers about our
downtime
. She wonders why people see us in supermarkets shopping together”—because it was the only way to get groceries for
the meals they had to eat at the house—“and why we’re seen at Subway Station”— to have a freakin’ meal out once or twice—“and why we’re on Facebook and Twitter and other websites while on duty.”

Felicia raised her hand. One thing Gabe liked about his second in command was that she only spoke when she had something to say.

“Yeah, Lieutenant?”

“I’m guessing we can be more circumspect
about being seen too much around town for a while, but the Facebook thing is totally bogus. We’re always waiting for a call, and it can be tedious. No reason why we shouldn’t be online after we do housework and training.” Felicia wasn’t done. “I’d like to spearhead some kind of publicity campaign to have our routine better understood by the public.”

“Good idea, Lieutenant.” The chief scanned
the others. “Anybody want to work on that with Felicia?”

Sands spoke up. “I will, even if I’m at another firehouse.”

Wellington, who rarely said much, also jumped in. “I’d help, but then it’ll be the women taking over again. That sucks.”

The guys laughed. Brody tossed out, “We volunteer Ramirez. He’s as pretty as the rest of you.”

“All right, go for it,” the chief finished. “And
I appreciate you not getting on me too badly. Believe me, the HCFD administrators are furious about the cuts and Allen’s crusade. That’s all I have to say.”

Gabe went back to the front. “Why don’t you take an hour to decompress, shoot the shit about the news and then we’ll start housework.”

They dispersed, except for Wellington. She stayed seated and looked over at him. Jesus, those eyes
of hers about killed him sometimes. Though he couldn’t see their color from here, he knew they were hazel with specks of gold in them. He braced himself for the full onslaught of her presence—especially if she had on that bath lotion she wore after a shower—when she stood and took a step toward him.

Rachel was trying to stay away from the captain of her group, really she was,
but she had to talk to him now. She only hesitated because he was visibly upset. He’d lost kids in fires—a firefighter’s worst nightmare—and once when a tanker crashed, spilling gasoline all over a highway, he’d laid foam on the flames with a steady hand. Even when the red devil reignited, it hadn’t fazed him. Now, he was concerned for his group, and he wasn’t afraid to let it show. Which was
one more thing that she found unbelievably attractive about him.

Rachel stood and crossed the short distance to Gabe. “Hey, Cap.”

Up close, those dark chocolate eyes focused on her intently, sparking with remnants of anger in them. His brown hair was a little longer than he usually wore it. And damn it, his woodsy aftershave filled her head.

“Hey, Wellington.”

“I, um, wanted to
ask what housework I’m assigned today, because I’m taking two extra days of furlough besides our four days off. I’m leaving at noon. Not a good time, I guess, to do that.”

“It’s fine. This shit with the reporter is making me crazy, but I refuse to deny my squad the time they need off for doctor’s appointments or the like.”

“Thanks. I’ll do my chores now if you tell me what they are.”

“Felicia made up the list today. It’s already posted.”

“Oh, okay.” She hesitated, not wanting to leave him yet. That had happened a lot lately. “I’m sorry you had to be the bearer of bad news.”

Sighing, he shook his head. “I can’t believe society is so down on us after all those accolades in 2001. Hell, some states are even trying to take away our collective bargaining rights.”

“People always go back to their old ways when a crisis is over.”

He gave her a little smile that jump-started her heart. “You’re pretty young to be that cynical, Wellington.”

“I’m older than my years. In any case, you did a good job, like your cousin said.”

“Thanks.” She was shocked when he reached out and touched her arm. Oh, he showed affection to other group members, but rarely to
her. “Is everything okay? With the time off you need? You’re not sick, are you?”

“Nope, it’s a family thing.”

Cocking his head, he studied her, his intense gaze making her nerves jitter. She tried not to fidget. “You’ve been working here eighteen months and we still don’t know much about your family.”

“That’s okay. You don’t want to. You’re lucky to be part of the Malvaso clan.” She
gave him a weak smile. “I’ll head out.”

He nodded. “Take care, then.”

Rachel left, thinking about the Malvaso family gatherings and the fun escapades they had together, which were legend in the department. But comparing her family to them wasn’t the worst part of being around Gabe Malvaso.

Her main concern was that she had the hots for her captain. Her feelings were totally unprofessional,
not to mention more than stupid for a woman in today’s fire department.

The abandoned building on Jay Street was already filled with smoke when Rescue 7 pulled up to the site. As soon as the truck stopped, Gabe hopped off and headed to Incident Command. In five minutes, his group was inside the building. The interior of the former department store consisted of large open spaces,
which might make finding trapped victims easier. The fire was rolling, but the smoke wasn’t yet thick enough to blind them, as often happened. “Keep your gear tight and SCBA secure,” Gabe said through the radio attached to his face mask. “It’ll be bitchin’ hot in here, but don’t loosen up.”

Though their turnout gear was heavy, they needed the fireproof protection of helmet, bulky coats, pants
and bunker boots. Air tanks, of course, were vital.

They went slow, all six of them. When they’d gone about twenty yards into the room, Gabe spotted a stairway leading to the second floor. “White, take Sands up with you. See if Truck 5 needs some help on search and rescue. O’Malley and Ramirez go left on this floor. Wellington, you’re with me.”

They separated and Gabe said a brief prayer
that his group would be safe. He led the way through another corridor and reached an open doorway. The basement. “Stay here, Wellington, while I test the steps.”

As soon as Gabe went down a step, he realized it was spongy. But when he took a few more, he realized the staircase was too unsteady to hold up. They’d need ropes and backup to check the basement.

A loud boom rocked the building,
then a second one. The entire structure shook, and the steps shifted beneath him. Gabe realized they were going to cave before he could get back up. When he turned to signal Wellington, he bumped right into her.

In seconds, the staircase collapsed and they fell with it.