Game On (A Bad Boy Sports Romance) (16 page)

              I looked up at the apartment as we came to a halt beside the hydrant outside the building. Carter still looked uneasy after everything that had transpired.

We had pulled up at the fire station to find things relatively quiet. Jamal and I got out with him, hanging back by the car as Carter walked up to meet the fire chief who’d strode out to meet us.

              “Carter! Thought this was your day off, you’re not thinking about trying to come in while you’re wife’s away again, are you?”

              “Eeeh, yes and no,” my brother said with a chuckle. I’d always known him to be kind of a workaholic, something I’d never been able to have in common with him. But married life had thankfully toned that down a few notches. “Got a call from one of the city inspectors,” he lied. “One of our girls is overdue for an inspection.” He gave a nod to one of the fire trucks in the garage, and the captain let out a sigh of frustration.

              “Damn it all if I didn’t think we were coming up on one, but we’ve been so busy the past few weeks, it must have gotten away from me. Electrical fires in those old apartment buildings have been on the rise lately. I’d like to get my hands of the slum lords around town, I tell you what. They don’t give the first damn about fire safety, and they don’t care. Isn’t even the tenants’ fault, more often than not.”

              Carter shook his head in disapproval. “Well, suppose the inspectors need to know we can handle all that work, so I can’t blame them, either.”

              “Naw,” the captain agreed, “you can’t. Got a few ridealongs with you?” he said, raising an eyebrow at me and Jamal. We gave polite nods.

              “Yeah, had these two over when I got the call, thought it’d be a good chance to show ‘em the rig. That one’s my brother,” he added, nodding to me, and the captain’s face lit up.

              “Well, I’d love to meet this hero’s flesh and blood relative,” he said, clapping Carter on the back, “but I’ve got work to do, and sounds like the three of you do to. Take care of her, Carter.”

              “Yes, sir,” he said, and I could practically feel the pain in his voice. Carter was a straight arrow, hated lying in any capacity. I was impressed that he seemed to be a natural at it. That, or the captain was both very perceptive and very trusting.

              “Leave the car here,” Carter said to us, and we followed him to the rig. He disappeared inside the building for a few minutes beforehand, coming out with a large toolbox that he stored in the back of the truck.

              All of us got into the truck, and Carter pulled out, giving his fire chief and a couple of the passing firemen a wave as he went. “Kieran,” he said through his smile as he turned onto the street, “you owe me big time.”

              “Don’t you think I’ll forget it,” I said with a grin.

              “I won’t let you.”

              A short ride later, we found ourselves at the building, and we all clambered out. “This building is old,” Carter said, “and we had to take care of a fire hardly two blocks from here just last week. I don’t think this is going to be anything too unbelievable.”

              “If this goes well,” said Jamal as all of us got the gear we brought with us behind the truck, out of sight of the apartment, “everyone will get outside, and we’ll get a chance to grab Danielle right then and there, no theatrics. If I know the mob, they won’t want to let things get too public.”

              “You don’t know the mob,” I pointed out, and he returned with a wry smile.

              “No, but it’s worth a shot. Besides, if nothing else, this will make sure the whole building is cleared out for us.”

              I nodded reluctantly, casting a glance up at the apartment building. “Shit,” I said, “she could be anywhere in that ratty place. The signal got us here, but she could get into a hell of a lot of trouble before we find her.”

              “Then time is of the essence,” said Jamal as he and Carter checked through the toolbox they’d retrieved before gesturing for me to follow. We walked around the building to the very back, where the emergency exits were located.

              “What are you looking for?” I asked as their eyes scanned the ground floor with disapproval. “The emergency exits are right there.”

              “Not that, yet,” Carter said, crossing his arms and looking up at the rooftop. “Every apartment complex has ventilation shafts, see. The outputs are in each room and the hallways, but the intakes are usually either on the ground floor or up top.”

              “And I don’t see anything here,” Jamal said, “so it looks like Carter and I are gonna do a bit of stair climbing, if I know what he’s thinking about trying to do.”

              “Just you two?” I asked, furrowing my brow.

              Nodding, Carter set down the toolbox and opened it, showing me what he had inside. There was a blowtorch, some bundled-up rags, and some kind of oil stashed inside. “What I’m showing you is extremely irresponsible,” he said with a sigh, “but it’ll get the job done, if we want to evacuate this building. We’re going to get these rags smoking heavily--no actual fire, but it’ll give off dark smoke for a long time. Long enough to make it through an entire apartment complex,” he added, giving me a meaningful look, and I smiled, nodding.

              “There’s no risk of anyone getting actually hurt in this case, is there?” Jamal asked, furrowing his brow.

              “None,” Carter said, shaking his head. “We use this technique for practice all the time. Even if someone has asthma, the smoke dispersion will only be enough for a visual trigger, and nothing an inhaler couldn’t fix. Granted, this isn’t a controlled environment, but considering we’re dealing with a potential murderer in there...it’s a risk we’ll have to take.”

              I nodded in agreement, cracking my knuckles. One more reason to act quickly.

              “And you need to stay down here for two reasons,” said Jamal. “First, we’ll need someone to pull the fire alarm once the smoke gets going. We’ll give a signal once it’s a go, but you should be able to see the smoke from below. Second,” he said, grinning, “you’ll need to catch the bastard when he and Danielle flee the building.”

              “Alright,” I said, “but be careful up there, I don’t know how much Paul and Janet have put into this kidnapping. There could be people watching from anywhere, for all I know.”

              “They won’t see this coming, that’s for sure,” Carter said with a grin. “Those assholes cared so little about you, I’d be surprised if they even knew you had a brother, much less a fireman.”

              He had a point, I admitted. Without further ado, I headed around to the fire truck while Carter and Jamal headed into the building. I was nervous. If the mobster was watching, he might have seen all of this. Danielle could already be…

              I dispelled the thought. No time for that now. After a few minutes, I saw Jamal’s face appear very briefly at the top of the roof to check and make sure he had a good line of sight to me. He disappeared the next moment, and now I knew it was only a waiting game to see if their plan could work.

              I had to resist the urge to pace, trying to keep a low profile by the fire truck. I kept glancing up at the building, waiting for a signal, but there was nothing. It was windy, I realized, my heart sinking, and I wondered if that would botch this whole operation.

              Finally, the smell of smoke hit me. They at least had a fire going up there, or got the rags smoking. But now the big question was whether it would make it through the building. I waited. And waited. My heart started to pound. It wasn’t going to work, I realized. But if I just went in and pulled the fire alarm and there were no signs of it, the guy might catch on and do something drastic, or at best, stay holed up in the place.

              I started running through different scenarios in my head when my heart leaped--I saw the faintest trickle of smoke in the ground floor hallway.

              Without wasting another moment, I headed towards the building, halfway there when I saw Jamal appear at the rooftop again and wave at me. I looked up at him and gave him a thumbs-up before I pushed the door to the building open and made for the nearest fire alarm. Taking a deep breath, I put my hand on it and pulled.

              Bells rang out immediately, and within moments, I heard movement from the upper floors. I made a quick exit, heading back out onto the sidewalk and watching the place from a fair distance from the fire truck. I couldn’t have people mistaking me for a serviceman, and thanks to my build, that was fairly common, unfortunately.

              It didn’t take long before people started filing out, none of them in the least bit pleased about this development.

              “Fuckin’ hell, right in the middle of my stories.”

              “What jackass left the oven on? I’ve got a load of laundry going!”

              “If this is another drill, I’m gonna knock the super’s teeth out.”

              “Nah, did you see the smoke? Shit’s for real!”

              Everyone seemed more inconvenienced than genuinely afraid of anything, typical of city folk.

              The crowd gathered around the outside of the building, and as they did, my eyes checked each and every one of them for signs of Danielle and her captor. None of the people so much as came close to the voice I’d heard on the phone, though. Nobody was casting furtive looks around or trying to slip around an alleyway as they came out, and I was becoming concerned.

              Quickly, I started sprinting around the perimeter of the building, checking the emergency exits. It would make more sense for a kidnapper to use one of those as a way out, if they wanted to keep their cover. But there was nothing but a couple of middle-aged women climbing down the metal stairs.

              I swore and darted back to the front of the building, where the crowd had grown. My heart was pounding harder, and I knew my window of opportunity was shrinking. Then something caught my eye.

              Up on the fourteenth floor, I saw a face in the window, and it was unmistakable. Those large, green eyes shone even in the darkness of the room behind her and her silhouetted figure was unique to her and her alone. Danielle was in that room, and by the look on her face as she gazed down on me, I could tell that her captor had no intention of either leaving or letting her out.

              I needed to be up there. Now.

              There was a pipe that ran from the side of the building to the front. Following it with my eyes, I darted for it, moving to a dumpster in an alley on the side of the building and climbing atop it to reach the pipe. Parkour instincts kicking in, I started shimmying along the side of the building, and I heard a few shouts of surprise when I reached the front and rounded the corner.

              The pipe ran all the way to the top of the building, but not close enough to the window where I saw Danielle’s face. She was closer to the center of the building. As the talking behind me told me most eyes were now on me, I swore, but I couldn’t fault them for being impressed with the stunt I was pulling.

              After all, I was a show-off.

              Moving gracefully for my bulk, I started scaling the building, finding purchase on the pipe that  I climbed up. I watched the top of the building carefully, planning my route. I’d have to reach the top and move over to the center of the building, roughly, then start dropping down windows to get where I needed to be.

              I scaled up the pipe to the sixteenth floor, where the pipe started to curve off to the left before leveling out onto the roof. I took hold and moved up onto it...and a groaning sound made my heart plummet. Before I knew it, to the gasps of the crowd below, I felt the pipe give out, a section of the rusted metal breaking free under my weight.