“There’s someone in there,” I tell Leo.
“I’m on it,” he replies and moves ahead of me.
I look back and all I can see is the inferno waiting to swallow us whole. To our right, there’s another corridor leading tothe south side of the building. The lights are out, and it’s filled with choking black smoke, but the temperature seems slightly more manageable. It may be our best way out.
Leo smashes his Halligan into the door’s secure lock, tearing it wide open.
A man falls out of the room, flames devouring his back.
“I’ve got him,” I say and cover the man, quickly patting him down to put the fire out. He screams and wails in sheer agony, but at least he’s alive. “Come on, buddy, we have to get you out of here.”
“Help me, please!”
“Hold on!” I shout, then hurl him over my shoulder.
It’s a move I’ve done many times before, a move that comes naturally to me. But just as I’m about to head south through the less threatening hallway, I notice Leo standing in the doorway, staring at something.
“Leo!” I call out.
“Look at that,” Leo says.
“Jesus,” I mutter, realizing what has caught his attention.
It’s an explosive device, set in the middle of the storage room and surrounded by cleaning supplies—some of which are exceptionally flammable. I see the digital timer mounted at the base, the black digits morphing across the small, green screen.
Less than a minute left.
“That’s a secondary device, Dax,”Leo says.
“We need to go NOW!” I shout, then relay my warning to the whole crew. “Truck, Squad, Engine! I need everybody out of the building right now!”
“What’s happening, Dax?” I hear our captain’s voice come through. “I’m with the candidates on the roof.”
“Cap, we need to evacuate. There’s a bomb in here,” Leo says.
We’re already hurtling through the south-facing corridor, my victim hanging limp over my shoulder.
“Get off the roof NOW!”
“The ladder’s coming,” I hear a candidate speak through the general radio channel, followed by a shuddering static.
A split second later, a terrifying BOOM rips through the entire building. The flash catches up with us right as we’re about to burst through the service doors. The force of the explosion is so powerful, so intense, that we’re thrown forward and blown out into the sunlight.
Everything turns white.
“CAPTAIN! CAP!” somebody screams somewhere nearby.
“FUCK!” someone else cries out.
I hear thudding boots on the ground. The water cannons are groaning. Everything, absolutely everything, tears apart around me as I struggle to come to, to remember where I am and what I’m doing.
“I’ve got them!” Beck shouts, his voice getting louder, accompanied by the screeching wheels of a gurney. “I’ve got them! Dean, go over to the cap’s side. Help him!”
“What is happening?” I ask through the darkness that surrounds me.
A hand wipes the soot from my visor.
Beck’s face comes into focus.
