Dixie McCall walked out on to the veranda of what she jokingly called her plantation. Technically it was a plantation since they did grow coffee and bananas but it was a far cry from the Tara of Gone With The Wind fame. No white-pillared mansion this. It was a small house built of weathered wood. Most of the screens were patched, the roof was tin and everything seemed to have a friendly little sag to it. It was about as far from luxurious as things could get. But it was home.
A warm tropical breeze greeted her. The palm fronds and banana leaves danced in it. Colorful birds and flowers abounded, as she drank in the view. She would have never imagined she could have ever ended up in a place like this. She almost could not remember the Dixie she had been ten years ago when she had come here. The Dixie of twenty five years ago was all but forgotten. Forgotten, until this morning when the mail came. Part of her wanted to ignore it. You can never go home again, she thought. Still, she was so curious about what had become of everyone and besides it was not her decision to make alone. She stepped down from the veranda and walked across the compound to the clinic.
Things had changed here in the last ten years. It had been completely rundown and nearly bankrupt when she and her brother had inherited this place from her favorite uncle. The two of them had come down here at that time with the intention of getting her uncle’s affairs in order and selling the place. What the hell did a nurse and a marine biologist in LA need of a coffee plantation in an out of the way town called Ocho Rios in an out of the way country in Central America? Not that she probably wasn’t single-handedly responsible for keeping the demand for coffee high.
Somehow when she got here and saw the place and the people, something changed in her. Life here was so vastly different from anything she had ever known. For the first time she felt peace, contentment and a real sense of purpose. Not that she wasn’t the best damn ER nurse Rampart had ever known but somehow she felt that something was missing in her life. Whatever that had been was filled here. She wanted to keep the place. She wanted to restore it to its former glory. She wanted to help the people of the region who had been so kind to her and to whom her uncle had also been so attached. Her brother was not at all interested in that but he agreed to let her buy out his share if that was what she truly wanted and he also agreed to a long term payment plan.
A lot of changes took place about that time. She found herself more and more drawn to Joe Early. She had to face it. She and Kel were just too much alike. They could never really hope to have a life together. Kel was married to his job. She had been too, so she understood. But her trip to the plantation had changed her priorities. By the end of that year, Joe Early was being forced to retire. He bought out her brother’s interest in the plantation. They got married and started a new life here.
Once they got the place up to somewhat modern living conditions and got the plantation back on track they set up a clinic for the locals who treated them like gods, according to Joe. The people back at Rampart would have had a field day with that. Rampart, she hadn’t thought of that place in years. At first they kept in touch but people change. Lives grow apart. Eventually they pretty well lost contact except for Christmas cards. She knew that Kel was the Hospital Administrator now. How many battles had they had with those people over the years? And now Kel had crossed over to the opposition. Well, maybe things were being run the way they had always said they should be now that Kel was at the helm.
She had been greeted by at least six different people on the short, dusty walk to the clinic. It seemed it was either dust or mud but they had gotten used to it. She brushed off as much of the dust as she could and walked inside.
It was a little darker in there and her eyes had to adjust. A quick glance told her that there were about six people in the waiting room. Isabel was handling the reception desk. She was a local girl who was hoping to get into nursing school. They were helping her with her studies in exchange for her volunteering mornings in the clinic so Dixie could take care of the business of the plantation.
Dixie took off the straw hat that had almost become a uniform since she got here. Everyone in the waiting room greeted her warmly. They called her Miss Dissy which Joe promptly changed to Miss Dizzy. She’d gotten used to it. It beat the hell out of Mrs Doctor which was the English translation of what they used to call her.
She slipped into the exam room, such as it was. Joe was bandaging up Jose Rivera’s hand. Why anyone let that accident-looking-for-a-place-to-happen anywhere near a machete, was beyond her. The young man grinned at her. Nothing rattled him at all. He almost reminded her of another dark-haired, dark-eyed, accident prone young man she had known years ago. Johnny Gage. She wondered what had become of him. She wondered if he’d be attending the ceremony. She remembered him well. Sweet, cute, hopelessly infatuated with her nurses. She had to laugh about the time she permanently cured him of whining around her. One quick grab had done the trick. He didn’t speak to her for a week but Roy finally made him come around. Man, that seems like 100 years ago.
Joe finished reprimanding Jose in Spanish and she threw in a stern look. She didn’t speak the language as well as Joe did but her “head nurse” look transcended all language barriers. Jose left looking every bit the whipped pup but they both knew he’d be back soon. As soon as he left she said, “Any bets on how soon he’ll be back?”
“No,” Joe laughed, “but I think I finally figured out Jose’s problem.”
“He’s a klutz?”
“No. He has a crush on Isabel. I should have seen it sooner. It’s a clear-cut case of JohnnyGage-itis.”
“Speaking of Johnny Gage.” She handed him the envelope with the invitation.
“What’s this?” He reached for his glasses, opened the envelope and read the letter. “You wanna go?” he asked seriously. “The harvest will be over then and things should be slow at the clinic.”
“Part of me does but part of me is — I don’t know — nervous about going back. I mean we see the news on the satellite LA has practically become a killing field with drugs and gangs and all.”
“Is that the real reason or are you just afraid to see Kel again?” he asked. He had always known there had been something between them.
She laughed. “Are you still going on about that? No, it isn’t Kel. I mean, I’d like to see him again. I’d like to see them all again. I’m curious about them. It’s just that, well that was a long time ago. We were different people then. At least I was. I’m just not sure……..”
“Well, it’s up to you.”
“You want to go?”
“Sure, don’t you want to hear what they say when they find out kindly old Doc Early has become a hippie,” he grinned and shook his head. His snow white hair was in a pony tail but he was tan and he looked vibrant and healthy.
Dixie thought that maybe Joe wanted to show them that they had made a big mistake by forcing him to retire. He was still a far better doctor that most medical schools were turning out these days. He’d saved many lives here in this remote clinic because of his medical knowledge. The same knowledge society tossed aside. “Okay, we’ll go,” she told him. LA was a stupid throwaway world. She’d go back, for Joe’s sake but they wouldn’t stay long. This was where they belonged.
***
“You have to go, Roy,” Joanne said firmly. “You were in the first class of paramedics. That class is what got the program off the ground. Not only in LA but practically everywhere in the country. Around the world. It’s important.”
“Not to me. Not anymore.” He walked up to the picture window and looked out. Rain clouds billowed on the horizon. It took awhile to get used to the weather in the northwest but now that he had he really liked it. He liked the clean smell of the air. And he liked the people here in this small town outside of Seattle. When they had agreed to take their kids out of the crime ridden mess LA had become he had had his doubts but Joanne had been right. Life here had been so much better for the kids and for them also. It wasn’t like he could have continued to be a paramedic in LA forever and that was what he really loved. He now worked for one of the major ambulance services in the area. He and his brother-in-law ran it together. He was in charge of training the staff. He had put paramedics and EMTs in his ambulances and it had made a difference in many cases. He still kept his hand in it but he also worked better hours. He had been there with Joanne for all the major events in his kids lives. That was what was really important. Joanne and the kids. Still, he did wonder about all the people he had worked with and called friends — especially one of them.
“You can lie to me if you want, Roy. But don’t lie to yourself.”
He spun around and looked at her. Her eyes were on the needlepoint she was working on but he still felt like she was looking right through him. She has always been able to do that, ever since they were kids.
“What are you talking about?”
“About you. Pretending this is not important.”
“I never said it wasn’t important. It’s just not important to me. Not anymore.”
“Are you going to hide your head in the sand forever?”
“What —” Anger flashed in his eyes. She was pushing him and he hated it. Even though he knew she only did it when he really needed it.
“You don’t want to go back because you don’t want to face Johnny. How long are you going to hold a grudge it’s been, what almost sixteen years?”
“Me hold a grudge?! I’m not the one that is holding a grudge. He was mad at me, remember?”
“Well, it was a long time ago. I’m sure he’s over it by now.”
“You don’t know Johnny.”
“Yes I do. And I know you too. You both had a special friendship for a lot of years and I think you’re both being a pair of asses to not forget the past and make up.”
“Well, I’m willing,” he admitted.
“Prove it! Go back to LA for the ceremony. This is a good excuse to get together on neutral ground. You were both a part of that pilot program and you both should be proud of the fact.”
“Well, yes. I suppose we both are…”
“Then put your personal differences aside and do it — for the good of the Department and all that.”
“You have to come with me.”
“No, Joy’s baby is due then. My job is to be Grandma. You have to do this on your own.”
“You’ve been Grandma before,” he muttered.
“And I’m very good at it,” she smiled but then became more serious. She walked up and put her arms around him. “Roy, you always did the right thing, even when it was hard. This is the right thing.”
“I suppose,” Roy admitted.
“Good. I’ll go write to Doctor Brackett telling him you accept before you have a chance to change your mind.”
“Why do I have the feeling I’ve just been steamrollered?”
“Because you have, my dear,” she grinned. She kissed him on the cheek and ran off to RSVP.
He shook his head. He marveled at how much energy she still had. He definitely felt like he was slowing down. He was planning to retire soon but maybe it would be more restful to keep on working. He’d never be able to keep pace with Joanne.
***
“Big damn doings, that’s all I can say,” Captain Chet Kelly said with some disgust as he sipped on a Guinness.
“Aw, Chet you’re just jealous because you never were a paramedic,” Captain Marco Lopez teased.
“Hey, who needs it? I’m still where the action is. I made Captain. I’m sitting pretty,” Chet returned.
“Yeah, with our help,” Marco laughed, “If me ‘n Mike here hadn’ta tutored you, you never would have made it, would he, Mike?” Marco teased.
“Nope,” said Mike Stoker who was also a captain.
Both Chet and Marco made a mark on their napkins. Keeping track of the number of words Mike spoke was an old game with them.
All three of them were looking at retirement. Marco had a catering business on the side with some members of his family. Chet restored and sold old cars and fire engines. He’d gotten hooked on restoration years ago and looked forward to doing it full time when he retired. Mike was just going to head off to a little place he had in Costa Rico where he could relax and not talk all he wanted. Battalion Chief Stanley came in and joined them.
“Hi fellas, what’s the count?” he asked nodding at the bartender to bring him his usual.
“Four,” reported Chet.
“Three,” Marco corrected. “You can’t count it when he said ‘Hey’ because you spilled beer on him.”
“‘Hey’ is a perfectly acceptable word,” Chet argued.
“You guys never change,” Stanley laughed. “I don’t know how I lived through being your captain. I shoulda got a medal.”
“Hey, at least none of us set your hat on fire,” Chet reminded him.
“You never forget a thing, do you, Kelly?”
“Nothing important, Cap,” Chet grinned.
“That’s Chief now, ya twit. And don’t forget it.”
“Like you’d ever let us,” Chet complained.
Hank just smiled. Being the captain of Station 51 was one of the best times of his life. He wished it could have gone on like that forever, but things change. People change. Still, those were good times.
“So, you hear about this big shindig the department is having for the paramedics?” Chet asked off-handedly.
“Hear about it? I’m on the committee. Some people are pretty excited about the whole thing. They want to give awards to some of the first paramedics.”
“Like Roy and Johnny?” Marco was the only one that dared ask.
“Yes, they are both invited.”
“Think Roy will come all the way from Seattle?” Mike asked.
“Nine words!!!!!!” Chet and Marco were astounded.
“Shut up, you two, and yes I think he will. I – ah- I called Joanne and she said she’d have him here with bells on,” Stanley told them.
“Bells, really? I’m impressed,” Chet admitted.
Mike and Marco hit him with a barrage of peanuts from a nearby bowl.
***
Roy DeSoto looked out the window as the plane taxied up to the terminal. SeaTac had been enough of a shock to his system after the rural living he’d gotten used to. How in the world was he going to handle LAX? Luckily he had been very busy the past few days or he surely would have chickened out. Two days ago his daughter Joy had given birth to her second child in the back of one of his ambulances. He had no doubt at all the it was the paramedic that was on duty that had saved the loves of both mother and child. He was the one that had led the crusade to get paramedics into the ambulances in their rural area. And because he had, they were alive. It was not a fight he would have known enough to have if he had not been trained to be a paramedic himself twenty-five years ago. Trained in this very city by the people he was now going to see again for the first time in more years than he cared to count. He knew that Joanne was right. He did belong here and he would have regretted it if he had not come. That knowledge did not make him any less nervous, however. Suddenly he felt like a hayseed on his first visit to the big city.
People started hurrying to get off the plane. He stood up and wrestled with the over head compartment which held his carry-on luggage. He hadn’t actually checked any luggage. He wasn’t going to be here that long. He had a brand new granddaughter to go home and spoil. With a sense of purpose he picked up the garment bag with one hand and slung the strap of the duffel bag over his shoulder. It was heavy. Joanne had insisted that he bring his camera. She wanted pictures. Joy had even been bold enough to ask for pictures of Johnny. He hadn’t promised anything. He had no idea what was going to happen on that score, if anything. But he had vowed to be open to it.
Dr Brackett was supposed to be meeting him. He had said that was unnecessary, that he could probably remember how to hail a taxi but Brackett had insisted. He wasn’t sure if Brackett would recognize him. Hell! He wasn’t sure if he would recognize Brackett.
He tried to appear cool and self-assured as he exited the corridor to the gate. He casually looked around at the crowd. More people milled around this area than he laid eyes on in a month in his little neck of the woods. Suddenly he heard his name called and he turned around. It was Doctor Brackett. A little greyer, perhaps but essentially the same. He pushed his way through the crowd and was pumping Roy’s hand before he could respond.
“Glad you could make it, Roy. Damn, it’s good to see you. How long has it been?”
“Too long,” Roy said around a lump that suddenly appeared in his throat. Years of memories that he thought he had filed away forever came flooding back to him. Time seemed to slip away and they were both the men they had been twenty five years ago.
They stood in silence for a moment then Brackett said, “Come on. Baggage Claim is this way now. I bet this place has changed a lot since you were here last.”
“It sure looks different but this is all I have. Honest.”
“Man after my own heart. Travels light. I picked Joe and Dixie up last night and you would have thought they were going on safari,” he laughed.
Roy thought he saw just a flicker of sadness touch Brackett’s eye when he mentioned Dixie. Roy had been surprised when he had heard that Dixie had married Joe Early. He had always thought that there was something between Brackett and Dixie. ‘Guess a girl can only wait so long, then she moves on,’ was what Joanne had said on the matter. He definitely got the feeling that Joanne felt Brackett had blown it.
They made small talk on the way in from the airport. Brackett told him about all the improvements at Rampart and he told Brackett about Joanne, the kids and the grandchildren. Finally Roy’s curiosity could be contained no longer. “Doc, is Johnny coming to this?”
“Ah, I can’t say for sure. He’s been invited. Both Hank Stanley and I have left messages in his office to remind him.”
“His office?”
“Oh yeah, you two have kind of been out of touch over the years, haven’t you?” Brackett tried to say tactfully. Tact was never his long suite but he had had to learn to use it since becoming a hospital administrator.
“Yeah, I’m afraid so.”
“Mind if I asked what happened? I mean, you two were so close.”
“You know, Doc, I’m not ever really sure. Maybe if it had all happened at a different time we would have — I would have handled it better. It’s just that a lot of things all came to a head about the same time and well things happened. I’m sure I said some things to him that I should not have said and he said some things he may not have meant either. It’s been gnawing away at me all these years. At first, we kept in touch with people — a few calls, cards at the holidays but I never heard from Johnny and no one ever mentioned him. You know, one night a few years ago, I sat up all night on Chris’ computer searching the LA Times obits just to be sure he was still alive.”
“Why didn’t you just call him?”
“That’s what I kept asking myself, but somehow I just couldn’t make myself do it. Not after all these years. I mean, what would I say?”
“How about ‘hello, junior’?” Brackett asked with a smile.
Roy smiled too. He knew Johnny always hated that nickname. That was why he used it so often. “I hope he comes. I really would like the chance to sit down and talk to him.”
“He knows you’re coming. Or he should, we left enough messages.”
“Do you ever see him? I don’t even know what he does these days. You said office. Is he still a paramedic?”
“No, none of the guys you worked with are still in the program but you guys are the ones that got the ball rolling so you are the guys we want to honor.”
“Doc, are you avoiding my questions?”
“No, I’m not. I’m just answering them out of order. Johnny is not a paramedic anymore. I do see him on occasion as his job brings him to Rampart at times. He is part of a special arson investigation task force made up of people from both the police and fire department but under the direct jurisdiction of the LAPD.”
“He’s a cop?”
“He’s an arson investigator but I guess technically, he’s a cop too.”
“Johnny, a cop,” Roy muttered with disbelief.
“The division is headed up by this guy named Crockett — I think you knew him. He recruited Johnny personally. He’s damn good at it, Roy.”
“You know, I bet he would be. He’s curious, he asks a lot of questions and he’s nothing if not tenacious. When he gets a hold of something he just won’t quit till he has the answers he wants. While those traits can be irritating in a paramedic, they are just what a person would need to be an arson investigator.” He suddenly felt proud of Johnny. He finally found his niche.
Brackett filled Roy in on the other guys he had worked with as paramedics. Most had gone on to take the engineer’s or captain’s test. Bob Bellingham had left the department and started a small chain of ice cream shops, Tom Wheeler had left the department for show business and sadly, Craig Brice, after organizing the fire department’s computer system had been killed in the ’94 Northridge quake.
“Nobody could organize like Brice could,” Roy commented.
“And he loved computers. The Department had sent him to school to learn all about it. They just named one of the new administration buildings after him,” Brackett told him.
Brice had had no family but his name would live on anyway. Roy had reluctantly had to learn about computers. They did aid in running their relatively small ambulance service. They must have revolutionized the LA County Fire Department. And Brice was just the guy to have pulled that off. Good for him.
Maybe things worked out exactly the way they were supposed to, just as Joanne always said they did.
“So, Roy, you hungry?”
“Well, I could always eat something, Doc. You know me. I’m just an agreeable guy,” Roy grinned. One of the drawbacks of living in a small town was the fact that very quickly you ran out of exciting new places to eat. That never happened in LA. He wondered what exotic place Brackett had in mind. They never fed you on planes anymore.
Unfortunately, the exotic spot that Brackett wanted to show off was not a restaurant at all. It was the new cafeteria at Rampart. Roy forced himself to smile. Hospital food? I fly over 1,000 miles for hospital food?!!
Before long Roy found himself in a fancy new employees’ lounge at Rampart. It was not far from the all new food courts that was run by several actual restaurants. Fast Food restaurants but after so long in a small town, variety, even if it was in fast food, was welcome. He had seen Carol Williams and Mike Morton in passing and they had both promised to join him to catch up on old times as soon as their patient load would allow. Some things never changed.
Brackett had excused himself to run to his office and check on a few things once Roy’s food tray was overflowing with things Joanne no longer allowed him to eat. He sat by himself in the lounge observing. The lounge itself was vastly different than the one he’d known. Gone were the banks of vending machines. It was a bigger, brighter room. There was a large screen TV in one corner and exercise equipment in another. Two locker rooms lead into this room. The furniture was comfortable. There was carpet on the floors and it had more of a homey look to it. Well, Rampart was a teaching hospital so it was home to some.
It was a large room but at the moment there were few people in it. There was a very pregnant nurse sitting on one of the couches. She was crocheting, listening to a walkman and blowing bubbles with her bright pink bubble gum. She was oblivious to anyone else in the room. A young man in surgical scrubs was on one of the bank of phones at the far end of the room. Just then two paramedics came into the room. He didn’t know them, of course, but he recognized the uniform. He recognized the banter too. These two were partners. The team was made up of a slim woman in her mid thirties and a blond guy who looked at least ten years younger.
” I don’t care if she was an old lady,” the young man complained, “She had no right to…” he sputtered as he poured himself a cup from the ever present coffee pot. One of the old standards had remained in place.
“She couldn’t help herself,” the woman laughed as she too availed herself of a cup of coffee. “She just saw your cute butt leaning over her and she had to grab a pinch.”
“You’re sick, Grady. You’re going to wind up just like that crazy old lady some day!”
“Lighten up, Johnny. You take things way too seriously,” she advised as they headed toward the door with their Styrofoam cups in hand.
He never heard Johnny’s comeback as the two left but the name and the situation put him in way too melancholy a mood. That could easily have been him and his partner years ago. What the hell had happened between him and Johnny anyway? How could he have let it happen?
His reverie was shattered by Dr Brackett’s voice. “Hey, Roy, look what the cat dragged in.”
He looked up. Brackett stood over his table with two people it took him a minute to recognize.
“Joe, Dix, you remember Roy DeSoto.”
“Course we do. A fellow refugee from the real world back in L A,” laughed Joe. “You really ought to try getting out of town sometime, Kel. You might be in for a shock.”
“I’ll take your word for it. Look , I’ll leave you guys here to catch up for an hour or so. I have a staff meeting and I’m running late,” Brackett said glancing at his watch.
“Staff meeting! Oh, Kel, I’m telling you, get out of this rat race and have some fun.”
“I just might take you up on that sometime, Joe. See you later, Roy, Dix. We’re all on for dinner right?”
“Sure, if you take us some place with real food and some atmosphere,” Dixie told him.
Thank you, Dixie, Roy thought. He hoped he wouldn’t spend his entire vacation dining at Rampart.
“I will. I promise. My treat,” Brackett laughed as he left.
“He hasn’t changed a bit,” she said with mock disgust.
“He never will,” Joe promised walking over to the coffee pot and picking up a couple of Styrofoam cups. “I liked this place better when we had real cups.”
“That’s because you never had to wash them,” Dixie told him then turned her attention to Roy. “So, Roy, how are Joanne and the kids?”
“Fine, great. Joy is a nurse or she was, she’s a stay at home mom now.”
“Roy! You’re a grandfather!” Dixie was delighted.
“Three times over,” Roy said proudly reaching for his wallet and the pictures. “This is Joy and her husband Sam with my first grandchild. Her name is Victoria and she is the most brilliant 3 year old on the face of the planet. Ask anyone. This is Chris and his wife Traci and their son. They had us worried because it’s a family tradition to name the first son the maiden name of the mother. Chris kind of lucked out with Joanne’s maiden name being Christopher, but Traci’s maiden name was Ford. They insisted they were going to name the baby Ford. Ford DeSoto. I had visions of the kid getting confused with a car dealership but when he was born they went and named him Roy instead. He’s almost a year old and what a brute that kid is! And then the day before yesterday Miranda was born. She looks just like Joanne, well baby pictures of Joanne.”
Roy was aware that other people were crowding around. Baby pictures seemed to draw a crowd somehow. It didn’t phase him until he heard a voice that made his stomach turn flips.
“Man, I’d always heard that ugly skips every other generation. Sure glad it’s not true. I mean, looking at these gorgeous kids and then looking at you.”
He spun around. It was Johnny! God he hadn’t changed a bit! Still skinny as a stick. Still had dark hair. Still had that annoying grin of his.
“Johnny!”
“Well, don’t look so damned shocked. I mean, I still know my way around the big city. I haven’t been off in the woods playing lumberjack the last 15 years.”
“It’s not that. It’s.. It’s just that… you got a hair cut. I almost didn’t recognize you.”
With that they both laughed. The tension that had been between them for the last few months that they both worked for the Department and that had deepened over all these years began to disappear as they laughed.
“Besides, ” Johnny said. “Who says I came to see you? I heard that a very beautiful and very rich plantation owner was in here.”
“Why thanks, Johnny. I never knew you cared,” Joe quipped.
Johnny ignored him and put his arms around Dixie and gave her a hug. “I gotta hand it to you, Dix, all those years you were pushing coffee on everyone. I never had a clue that you had ulterior motives.”
“Oh no? Some cop you are,” she smirked grabbing for him again.
He hopped back out of the way. “Ut ut ut. I’m wise to you this time.” He shook his finger at her while Roy and Joe laughed. They had both been present the last time Dixie had copped a feel on Johnny. “Besides, you’re a married women, for crying out loud.”
“Joe and I have a very open marriage. You’d be amazed at all the girlfriends Joe has back at Ocho Rios.”
“Yeah, but they are all under six years of age. By the time they get their second teeth they flit on to some other guy,” Joe acted disappointed.
“Women,” Johnny said with mock disgust.
Just then Mike Morton and Carol came in. It was like old home week for a while. The six old friends swapped stories freely but Roy noticed that Johnny only made polite conversation and said nothing at all about his private life. Soon Mike offered to show off the brand new Emergency Department of which he was the head. Emergency Medicine became a specialty right after he completed his residency and he jumped on it. Soon a tour of the Department was announced.
“Ah, Dr Brackett promised me a tour later on. They don’t feed you on the plane these days and…”
“We’ll let Roy finish eating,” Morton said.
“Just don’t fill up completely. We eat out tonight on Kel’s dime,” Joe reminded him.
“Don’t worry about that,” Roy smiled. He actually was finished eating, he just wanted some time alone with Johnny. After all these years, they were going to talk.
After they left Johnny plunked himself down in the chair Dixie had been occupying. He looked over Roy’s tray. “Jeez, Roy. Joanne let you eat all that junk?”
“No, that’s why I’m eating it now,” Roy said somewhat defensively.
They both laughed but it was forced and uncomfortable. Twice they both started to speak at once but stopped and offered the other the chance. Johnny started picking off Roy’s tray.
“Look – uh , Roy I ah—-”
“Johnny, I’m sorry,” Roy finally blurted out. There he said it and he was glad.
“You’re sorry?! I’m the one who’s sorry. I’m the one that made all the dumb lumberjack jokes when you said you were moving. I guess I was just pissed off. I mean, we had had this fight about me getting married and you disapproving. I go on my honeymoon and when I get back, suddenly you’re working your last day and moving off to the North Woods. ”
“Well, then I guess you didn’t know about Chris. I didn’t have the chance to tell you.”
“What about Chris?” This was the first Johnny had heard of this.
“About the gunman in that took over his classroom?”
“What?! I’d read about that in the papers when I got back but I had no idea that it was Chris’ class.”
“Well, you had your own – ah – issues to deal with at that time.”
“Like the fact that I wasn’t speaking to you. But if I had known, I would have understood why you left a whole lot more. Man, that’s really rough.”
“Joanne told me the she was taking the kids and going up to her brother’s whether I came or not. So I went.”
“Man. I didn’t know, Roy. Honest.”
“Well, I should have sat you down and explained it to you and made you listen. I really owed you that much.”
“Well, rumor has it I was pretty much acting like a prick in those days,” Johnny said as he got up and fixed himself some coffee.
“Well, you did have every right to be mad at me. I mean, I should have been much more supportive. It was your big day. Your wedding. Even if I didn’t agree with your choice of women. It was your choice and I should have just kept my mouth shut and gone along with it. I’m really sorry I didn’t. I was just afraid that she was using you and I didn’t want to see you get hurt. Guess I was wrong. How is……”
“You weren’t wrong, Roy. My big marriage to the stewardess lasted all of seven months. The divorce lasted longer than the marriage.”
“I’m sorry, Johnny. I really am.”
“You’re not going to say I told you so?”
“No. It was important to you and I wasn’t there for you. What the hell kind of friend is that?”
“Well, you were honest with me. I guess I should have appreciated that but I tell you, Roy, it really hurt to feel you turning your back on me when I wanted to share something like that with you.”
“I know, Johnny. I’m really sorry. I’ve been kicking myself about that for 15 years now.”
“You have? Really?” Johnny almost brightened for a minute.
“Yes, I have.” Roy looked up at him regardless of the fact that he knew he was a little teary-eyed.
“Well,” Johnny sighed, “I suppose I can forgive you for that, but I tell you one thing I cannot forgive you for.”
“What’s that?” Roy hardly dared ask.
“Letting these french fries get so cold. Yuck!”
“Since when did cold french fries bother you?” he laughed. “Don’t tell me you have gotten to have a discriminating pallet in your old age.”
“Old age?! Me?! You’re the one that’s the grandfather?! Man, that is old. I mean really old.”
“Watch it, Junior.”
Johnny slowly shook his finger at him. “I knew you were going to say that sooner or later.”
***
Roy felt like a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders. Johnny joined them for dinner and they swapped old stories. This had been so damned easy. Why the hell hadn’t he done this years ago like Joanne wanted him to? After dinner Johnny drove Roy to his hotel room.
“Are you sure you wouldn’t rather stay with at my place? Hotels are so cold and impersonal.”
“You probably still have that damned convertible chair and you’re still trying to convince me that it’s comfortable,” Roy accused. It was like the last 15 years hadn’t happened. It was like they were still partners and working at Station 51 again. They had been laughing and joking around for the last few hours.
Suddenly Johnny became more serious. “No, Roy I don’t have it. I lost it. I lost everything in a fire a few years back.”
“Really? Hey, Johnny I’m sorry to hear that.”
“Well, it might have been what you call a blessing in disguise. See, it was an arson fire and I got so damn mad that I set about catching the guy. It led to my getting the job I have now.”
“Do you like it? Brackett says you’re good at it.”
“He does? Well, yeah I guess I am. I always get my man, shall we say.”
“I still can’t believe you’re a cop.”
“I’m actually a special investigator assigned to Arson. No more uniforms for me.”
“Still, it is a little ironic that it was an arsonist who got you into this line of work.”
“Well, that guy made me mad. He left me homeless and with nothing to my name. I lost all the pictures I had of you and Joanne and the kids.”
“I can get you some more and now there are more kids even!” Roy promised.
“Grandpa Roy. I don’t believe it,” Johnny laughed as he pulled up to the hotel.
“Me either, to tell you the truth. I remember when Joy and Chris were babies, now they have babies. Ah, did you want to come up to the room or anything?” Roy suddenly felt awkward.
“No. I have to stop by my office and check for messages yet.”
“At this hour?!”
“A cop’s work is never done,” Johnny grinned. “Besides you need to call Joanne and everything. Say hi to her for me, huh?”
“I will, Johnny, I will. Look, will we have time to get together before the ceremony, do you think?”
“I’ll make time. Maybe we can go bowl a string or two for old time sake or get together with the old crew. I know they still see each other quite a bit. Stanley is a Battalion Chief now and Stoker, Lopez and Kelly are all captains. Still can’t believe Kelly made it,” Johnny said shaking his head as Roy got out of the car.
“Me either,” he agreed. “Hey, Johnny — be careful out there, huh?”
“Roy, you watch too much TV,” Johnny laughed. He waited till Roy was safely inside then he drove down to police headquarters where his office was. Why the hell did you wait so long to do that? he asked himself the whole way.
***
Roy went inside the hotel and checked in. The young lady at the desk referred to him as “sir” as if he were100 years old. She spoke to him slowly as if he were mentally incapacitated. People were not allowed to look anything but young in this town. What a phony way to live. He was glad he could go home to the real world, as Joe Early had called it, when this weekend was over.
Since it was much later than most people checked in, Roy ran into the problem that the hotel elevators were being vacuumed. One of the workers told him there was a service elevator he could use if he didn’t want to wait. He really just wanted to get to his room so he walked around the corner and down the hallway the man had indicated. He pressed the button and waited for the elevator. He had time to notice that the elevator was coming up from a floor beneath the lobby. He was not, however, prepared to be nearly knocked off his feet by the guy that ran out of the elevator. He thought it a little odd that this man was not wearing the coveralls that the other hotel maintenance workers were wearing. This inconsistency made him take note of the guy’s face. Johnny’s right, he thought, I do watch too much TV. He got on the elevator and went up to his room on the 36th floor.
Once Roy got settled in his room he saw that the red light was flashing on his phone so he called for his messages. Two from Joanne and one from Johnny. Since the one from Johnny was from before they had run into each other he ignored it but had the hotel operator place a call to Joanne for him. He glanced at the clock. Almost ten. He hoped he didn’t wake her.
“Hello,” Joanne answered.
“Hi, Honey it’s me. Were you asleep?”
“Not really. I’m just resting my eyes and watching TV.”
“You were asleep,” he laughed.
“So how’s LA?” she asked, ignoring his jibe.
He knew she hated LA. She had hated it ever since Chris’s 5th grade class had been held hostage for six hours by a crazed lunatic who was armed to the teeth with guns and bombs. Crime had started being a factor in their lives even before that. Break-ins in their neighborhood. A girl who attended Joy’s school abducted from a nearby mall. Two different acquaintances being carjacked. Not to mention the amount of gang violence he saw everyday on the job. Throw in Joanne’s brother teasing them to come up to Washington state to live the good life. Joanne had left LA and had never looked back. She swore they’d all be killed in LA if they didn’t leave or if they ever returned. He was a little surprised she’d been so in favor of his coming to this ceremony.
“More confusing than ever.” He made light of it. “You should see all the changes at Rampart. You’d never know the place. Makes our little county hospital look really archaic.”
“They can keep it. Look, Roy — how about Johnny?”
“I saw him. We talked. Things seem to be alright now. I guess we’ve both had long enough to lick our wounds and realize that we were being complete asses about this whole thing.”
“Roy, that’s great!! So how is he?”
“He’s actually fine. He looks almost the same as he did, which I find pretty annoying now that I think of it.”
“Oh, Roy, you know I find you just as handsome as I ever did. Is Johnny still a paramedic?”
“No. He’s not even with the department any more. He’s an arson investigator with LAPD.”
“Johnny’s a cop!!!”
“That’s what I said but I guess he’s damn good at it. At least, Brackett says he is and he doesn’t exactly pour out the compliments. Joe and Dix are here too.”
“How are they?”
“I’ve never seen either one of them more relaxed or happier. Joe says that we were the smart ones that people had to be nuts to stay in LA.”
“He’s right about that.”
“So how are the kids?”
“Fine, Grandpa. They brought the baby home today. After about an hour Tori thought it was time that the baby left.”
“That’s going to be a big adjustment. I remember Joy was not too thrilled with Chris at first either.”
“She says that she never did get used to him so she is sympathetic to Victoria. Grandma is going to have to do some special things with her for a while like your mother did with Joy when this happened to her.”
“That’s a good idea. Well look, honey, I just wanted to let you know I made it one piece. I’m really starting to feel beat now that I’m stretched out here on this big old bed all by myself.”
“Roy, don’t give me that — you’d be nodding off if I was there with you wearing the latest from Fredericks of Hollywood.”
“Are you calling me old? Johnny called me old.”
“Roy, how are Johnny and his wife working out?”
“They aren’t. The marriage broke up after a few months.”
“Oh that’s too bad and he’s alone now?”
“Joanne. He likes being single. He said that was the one thing he learned from being married. He says to say hi for him, by the way.”
“Well, you give him a great big kiss for me and make sure you invite him up to see us.”
“I’ll invite him up but I don’t kiss cops, Joanne. They can get kind of funny about that.”
“Oh ha ha, Roy. You’d better go to sleep if you’re making stupid jokes it means you’re tired. Have a good time. I love you.”
“I love you too but my jokes are not stupid.”
“Go to bed, Roy,” she laughed hanging up the phone.
Roy got ready for bed and once he was in it he grabbed the remote. They sure didn’t have this many channels were he lived. He channel surfed for a while then nodded off with the TV still on.
***
Johnny grabbed his mail and messages out of his box and headed for his office. His hands were pretty full as he turned the knob on the door marked ARSON INVESTIGATION.
“Damn it to hell! MALLOY!!!” he cried out in disgust and headed toward the watch commander’s desk.
“You got a problem, Gage?” Pete Malloy asked with a smile.
“Why the hell is my office locked?”
“You know the new rules, Gage. Offices not in use are locked up tight after five.”
“Who the hell works nine to five around here?” Johnny grumbled grabbing the key that Malloy dangled in front of him. “Jeez give a beat cop a little authority and all of a sudden he’s power-hungry.”
“Who’s a beat cop, hose jockey?” Malloy teased.
“Oh, go find some donuts and let the rest of us get to work.” Johnny turned and headed back to his office. He and Malloy teased each other as only old friends can.
“Don’t forget to bring my keys back,” Malloy warned.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Johnny called over his shoulder.
He unlocked the door and groped around for the light switch. Once he got it on he walked over to his little corner of the room. He dumped the armload of stuff he was carrying down on his desk and collapsed into his chair. He reached for his glasses and gave everything a cursory once over. Nothing he was looking for. He flipped on his computer to check his E-mail. As it was booting up he looked up at his trusty poster of Smokey the Bear that was in a position of honor in the cork board over his desk.
“We gotta nab this guy, Smokey,” he said absently. He checked his E-mail. Damn! Nothing there either. He’d been working this case for weeks and he hadn’t gotten a break yet. He had worked up a preliminary profile on his suspect. He had set four fires so far. The first one was at rundown hotel. Luckily, no one was hurt there but the building was a complete loss. The next one had been at an abandoned building that had, in its day served many functions. It had once been a hotel also. That was the connection. Four fires all at hotels but the locales were all completely different. Half a dozen firefighters had been injured fighting that one when a roof collapsed. The third fire had been at what was billed as a retirement hotel and this fire had claimed three lives. All elderly residents. More firefighters were injured in this one when a stairway collapsed. The collapse of the stairway had him baffled. It was not consistent with the structural damage done by the fire. He almost had himself convinced that the firebug had sabotaged the stairs as well. It didn’t make any sense. Firebugs were attracted to the fire and the excitement. They seldom gave the victims a thought so if this guy had intentionally trapped the people in the building they were dealing with something a whole lot worse than just a firestarter. Those old people seldom used the stairways anyway. Maybe it was just poor maintenance. He still had lab reports out on this fire. He still had interviews he was conducting also.
Then there was the fourth fire. It was at a popular hotel in a tourist area. It had been the arsonists boldest move yet. Three firefighters had been seriously injured fighting this one and one had since died of his injuries. It was almost like this guy was out to get firefighters, he mused. Wait a minute! That’s what didn’t fit. That’s why those stairs were bobby trapped! This guy knew that it would be firefighters that would be using them!!
It was a new lead and he called up the arsonist database once more to look for some sort of connection to someone who would hate firemen. An amazing number of arsonists loved firemen. It was the thrill of the fire equipment arriving on the scene as well as the fire itself that gave them their jollies. He searched for someone that had maybe been a fireman and been fired or someone who could not get into the academy. Some kind of a grudge against the fire department. He came up empty. Damn! He slammed his fist onto the desk. The precarious pile of files, manilla envelopes, memos and several days worth of newspapers avalanched into his lap and onto the floor. He sighed and started picking them up.
“What is it with this guy and firefighters and hotels any way?” His eyes fell on one of the newspapers. There on the front page was an article about the big celebration that the Fire Department was having for the paramedic program. Right there in plain sight of this lunatic the name of the hotel was given. The article went on to say that many of the firefighters who had been invited to participate from out of town were staying at the hotel. Like Roy.
He got a cold feeling in the pit of his stomach. He tried to tell himself that he was wrong. This guy had never attempted anything this big before. And yet, he knew with every fiber of his being that the ceremony was going to be targeted by this guy. He’d catch a whole roomful of firefighters that way. His investigations told him that this guy generally set up his fires the day before and then remotely set them off at a time when he, very likely, had an ironclad alibi.
The ceremony was tomorrow night. Maybe he could nip this thing in the bud and catch this guy red-handed. He wondered about getting some back up but then, what if his wild hunch turned out to be just that. No, he’d check it out on his own first. He was authorized to pull fire inspections. If he found nothing he’d just piss off some of the hotel’s night crew but if he found something it could save a lot of lives. He called up a copy of the hotel blueprints and printed them out.
He grabbed his jacket, stuffed the printout in his pocket and headed for the door. A mischievous grin played across his lips as he stopped to be sure it was locked. He knew full well that Malloy’s keys were still inside.
***
Roy was awakened by the sound of a scream. It startled him. It took him a minute to figure out where he was. Then he realized that it must have been the TV that he heard. He grabbed the remote and turned it off. He couldn’t wait to get back home.
He rolled over and tried go back to sleep but he heard the scream again. He jumped up, threw on his pants and went to peek out into the hallway to see what was going on.
Several panicking people were running up and down the hall. A few more were at the elevator doors, desperately pushing the button to summon the car. A woman stood behind them screaming. A couple of pajama-clad children were crying as they wandered aimlessly in the hallway too. The thing that got his attention the most was the thick, black smoke that billowed overhead. It was pouring in from the door that opened to the stairwell. He ran to it and yanked it shut. Then he picked up the two kids and hurried down to the foyer in front of the elevators.
“This place is on fire!!”
“Where are the elevators?!”
“We have to get out!!”
“Alright! Alright!! Everyone calm down. The safest thing to so is to return to your rooms. I’m sure the Fire Department is on its way.” Roy found himself taking charge.
More chaos erupted and he shouted over it.
“No, the last place you want to be in a fire is an elevator. The power is out anyway, by the looks of things.”
“How about the stairs?” one man suggested, heading toward the door.
“No!” Roy grabbed his arm. “That stairway is full of smoke. It’s acting like a chimney and funneling the smoke up here. The fire must be below us.”
“Well, we could go up — to the roof,” another man suggested hopefully.
“You don’t get it, do you?” Roy couldn’t believe it. “You wouldn’t get two up flights before you were overcome by smoke. I’m telling you, you wouldn’t make it.”
“How the hell do you know?” the first man challenged.
“Because I was an LA County firefighter for 15 years. Trust me on this. The best thing to do is to go back to your rooms and just wait. We will be rescued by people who have the training and the equipment to get up to us and to get us out.”
As it turned out, only Roy had not taken the time to close his room door so everyone else was locked out without a key. Everyone went into Roy’s room. He knocked on all the other doors in the hallway but got no answer. He looked up at the sprinklers that were overhead. They were not coming on even though the smoke was fairly thick near the ceiling.
He was now sharing his room with nine strangers. There was no power and the only illumination came from the exit sign over the door.
“Try opening the drapes,” he commanded. He wasn’t sure he’d get any light from outside but he wanted people to be seen in this window, if at all possible. Firefighters couldn’t rescue you if they didn’t know you were there.
One woman had tried the phone but reported it was dead.
The six year old boy was looking out the large plate glass window. “Wow! Look at all those cool fire trucks. There must be a million of ‘um!”
“They’ll have us out of here before long,” Roy promised, even though he knew there were no ladders that could reach this floor on any of these trucks.
***
With a major high rise hotel involved it was automatically a multiple alarm fire. As part of the mutual aid agreement that the County and the City had in these situations units from both departments answered.
Battalion Chief Stanley pulled up to the scene. The chaos was fairly well controlled. Police had the area cordoned off making way for the emergency vehicles. There were red flashing lights as far as the eye could see. They reflected off the glass windows of the hotel The Gabrielle Towers and off other buildings in the area. The hotel was fifty stories tall. He had been there quite a few times lately making arrangements for the awards ceremony. It looked very different at the moment. Instead of the ultra modern structure that was the pride of its developers, it now reminded him of an angry animal. Flames, that could be seen for miles around, lashed out of the building in several places where windows had been broken out.
“Oh my God!” he couldn’t help but say as he got out of his car.
The City had several ladder trucks in place. They were pulling people out of the lower floors. More people were milling around aimlessly. He spotted the red coats of the hotel employees as they tried to aid the guests that had been able to escape through the lobby. A triage area had been set up by the county paramedics.
He walked over to the command post and introduced himself to the City guy who was apparently in charge of their forces. They had more experience with high rises he was going to let this guy call the shots. More companies were arriving. The captains reported to them for deployment.
“The first fire is apparently on the tenth floor. We have a staging area set up on eight. Everyone below that is evacuated. We are working on the upper floors. I’ve got all the ladders working and I‘ve got more on the way from Long Beach and Pasadena. We’re pouring all the water on this that we can but the weight of the water is something we have to consider as the structural integrity of the building begins to erode. Power and water are off inside the building so we have to mule hoses and lights with us. What we really need are victim searches. Luckily the hotel was only 3/4 full but that is still a lot of folks unaccounted for.”
“You said the first fire. Is there more than one? ” Hank asked in amazement.
“I bet there’s at least five,” said a voice familiar to Hank. A voice that had no business here. He spun around and looked into the smoldering, angry face of John Gage.
“Your arsonist?” he surmised.
“Yeah, but according to his pattern he should have stuck tomorrow night.”
“YOU EXPECTED THIS?!!” the City commander exploded.
“I just figured out that this place would be a target but this guy always sets multiple fires and it appears that he is targeting firefighters for injury.”
“That’s just swell! You think there will be five fires. We only have three at the moment — only three –listen to me.”
“Then you have two that are not yet triggered. Lend me some gear. If I can get to them now maybe I can—-”
“Not on you life, Pal,” Stanley said firmly. “You don’t go into fires anymore. You’re a cop, remember?”
“Look, Cap, I —”
“It’s Chief and I say no,” Stanley said firmly. He knew Johnny too well. He figured that if anyone could nail this arsonist, Johnny could but he had no business in there now and he wasn’t going in.
Johnny glared at him. “Do you have any idea how much evidence is destroyed in a fire like this — if I could get a hold of it now I might —”
“No.” Stanley was equally forceful. He knew how driven Johnny was to get the arsonist but he also knew that this was not the time to be gathering evidence.
“You can interview all the witnesses you want out here but stay the hell out of the way and stay away from that building. You got that, Gage?”
“I got it,” he muttered angrily as he walked away. If Stanley wasn’t buying the evidence angle he’d never buy the Roy angle. He knew that Roy was on the 36th floor right between two of the fires and close to where another one should be set to go off. He was going to get in there one way or another. He made a pretense of interviewing people. He was delighted to see Dixie and Joe among the people who had gotten out. They had apparently been in the bar. That Joe Early always could party till the cows came home, Johnny laughed to himself.
He hung back till he saw some other familiar faces. Chet was the captain of Station 42. How tight a ship could he run? Johnny slipped up and pulled some extra gear from Engine 42 while Chet deployed his men. Then he slipped away and put it on. Adjusting the now unfamiliar SCBA mask he went into the hotel in search of Roy.
He joined the throng of firefighters inside the hotel. He was just one more guy in full turnout gear. He knew Roy’s room number because he had finally plucked up the courage to call him. He found out he had not yet checked in and with judicial use of his LAPD title he was able to secure the room number. When he found out he had not yet checked in he figured that Brackett must have brought him to the hospital so he went there figuring that it was a less public place than the awards ceremony to try and talk to him. Roy was coming all the way from Seattle. He could come across town. He hadn’t been sure how receptive Roy would be to burying the hatchet but he’d had to at least try. It had been remarkably easy. Once they had been together twenty minutes it was like the whole feud had never happened. Now that he had his old friend back again no damn fire was going to screw things up.
He had checked out the blueprints. He knew where he was going. It was simply a matter of squirming by ten or twelve fire companies and two separate fires in the pitch dark and back out again all on the 60 minutes of air he had in his dual tanks. Hell, it’s not like I had anything better to do tonight.
Auxiliary lighting had been set up in the lobby area. Preliminary staging was being done there. The command post had been moved to the front desk. Johnny looked over and saw Stanley and the City guy conferring with the head of Hotel Security and some other hotel officials. Johnny looked twice at the Security man. It was Vince Howard. So that was how he was spending his time since retiring from the police dept. Johnny stayed clear of the command post. The elevators were obviously not working, so he headed for the stairs. Thirty six flights! Well, here’s where we get to see what kind of shape you’re in, Gage, he told himself.
There were two lines of firefighters going up and down the main staircase. The ones coming down assisted terrified hotel guests. The ones going up were muling hose packs, air tanks and other necessary tools for fighting a fire. So as not to look conspicuous Johnny grabbed an extra air tank. He’d need one for Roy anyway.
By the time he reached the fifth floor Johnny was beginning to feel the climb. At the staging area on eight he had to stop and rest. There was a City Captain in charge here. “Okay,” he hollered to be heard above the din. “The fire on ten has been pretty well knocked down. We’ve gotten all the victims off that floor via the ladders and most of the floors below us are also clear. We are working evac on the floors between 10 and 27. There is a second fire on 28 and a third on 42 which is cutting off the roof as an escape. I’ve got guys working their way from the roof to 42 and evacuating those rooms that way. Our real problem is getting the people on the floors between 28 and 42. I have companies attacking the each fire with water and you know what that added weight is liable to do to the building. We need to get at least one of those fires knocked down as an escape route. Our interest here is lives only. The building is probably lost. Okay, people, you have your duty assignments. Move out.”
***
Chet hated this type of fire. There were lots of reasons, not the least of which was that captains ended up being right in there working closely with the hose jockeys. That wasn’t the hard part. He’d walked into more fires than he could shake a stick at. The hard part was putting up a good front and acting like all these stairs weren’t killing him. He tried to control his breathing. Huffing and puffing would definitely suck up the O2 too fast. He arrived at his duty station and motioned his men to go ahead and join up with Station 20′s men. He walked over to the captain of 20. Once all the men had passed he said. “Okay, Marco, no one can see you — wheeze all you want.”
“Speak for yourself,” Marco tried not to pant, but finally admitted. “Man, I’m getting too old for this.”
“You’re out of shape, I keep telling you to come to the gym with me,” Chet teased.
“There’s nothing more frustrating than a reformed drunk — unless it’s a reformed junk food eater. I liked you a whole lot better before you got on this damn health kick of yours,” Marco growled.
“Hey, Marco, I’m the picture of health now. I feel twenty years younger than my age.”
“Oh yeah? Well, feel free to run on up the stairs with all the young kids then. I’ll be right behind you.”
Station 69 came up the stairs next.
“Chet will be happy to lead your crew up, Mike,” Marco told Stoker. “He may even do it walking on his hands!”
“Boy, somebody sure got out of the wrong side of the bed, but yeah I’ll take them up. Come on, boys and girls, let’s go work on the fire. These two old fellas will be along as soon as they can,” Chet said to the engine company.
Both Mike and Marco snarled at him. It wasn’t really all that likely that Mike’s crew even understood what he was saying considering the noise in the building and the fact that the SCBA muffled Chet’s voice. They just followed when he motioned them to because he was a captain. But Mike and Marco understood, that was the important thing. Still haven’t lost your touch, Chet old boy! he said to himself. He regretted that phrase as he mounted his second flight of stairs.
Johnny hurried by Mike and Marco hoping his helmet and mask would hide his identity. By the time he got to the 27th floor, Chet and the others were launching a full assault on the fire on floor above. The hose packs they had carried up all those flights had been joined as they went along and now three separate hoses attacked the blaze in this area.
Johnny joined in with the team working the part of the fire that was nearest the stairwell. He needed to get up those stairs. They kept pouring water and manpower at the blaze. They all knew time was running out for the people who were trapped in the hotel.
It was the carpet and wall coverings that were burning in the stairwell and once these were doused they were able to contain the blaze. Chet was in charge of this sector and he was really annoyed when one of his crew went past where he was giving assignments for the room searches and continued up the stairs. Somebody’s ass was grass when this was over and he would personally act as lawnmower.
***
Roy knew he had to keep these people from panicking. First he kept them busy helping him secure the room as much as possible. They had wet towels and stuffed them under the door and over the AC vent. They had written messages on the window with shaving creme and then they had cut out the words HELP 10 PEOPLE HERE on a sheet and hung it on the window hoping it could be seen and read by someone. He had them sitting on the floor so they would be lower than any smoke that might waft in. He had had everyone introduce themselves, he showed everyone pictures of his grandchildren, anything he could think of to keep their minds off what was happening. He showed no outward signs of panicking even though he knew what their real chances were of surviving this fire.
At first people made small talk but soon everyone fell silent. Each one deep in his or her own private thoughts. The little girl fell back to sleep in her mother’s arms. He looked at the pictures from his wallet. The grandkids. The kids. Joanne. Would he ever see them again?
***
Johnny had to bend over and catch his breath when he finally reached the 36th floor. When he was able to, he stood up and cleaned the soot off of a sign. Roy’s room was to the right. Hang on. I’m coming, Partner.
He finally found the right room and knocked on the door.
Everyone jumped at the sound of the knock and Roy jumped up to answer it.
“Roy!” Johnny called out after lifting his mask so he could be heard clearly.
“I don’t believe it!” Roy groaned once he recognized the voice.
“Is it the fire department?” one women asked hopefully.
“Not exactly,” he told them as he pulled the towels away from the door so he could open it. He saw Johnny standing there in full turnout gear. He held a helmet in one hand and his mask dangled on his chest. He wore that damn lop-sided grin that drove women insane. Roy wanted to kill him. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“Hey, Roy, you’re in trouble. Where else would I be?” he shrugged.
Suddenly there was an explosion. It knocked Johnny forward into Roy, who grabbed him and pulled him inside. He quickly closed the door and put the towels back in place. He wasn’t sure how long they’d stay wet. There had been no water in the taps. He knew that would hinder the firefighters. They had wet the towels in the toilet tank.
“What the hell are you doing here?!” Roy repeated. Maybe he’d feel better if he screamed at Johnny.
“I came to help.” Johnny was startled by Roy’s attitude.
“How? By getting yourself trapped too?”
“Well, I figured once I found you we’d just leave the way I got in. I – ah I didn’t know you were having a party though,” Johnny admitted, eyeing the other people in the room.
“Johnny, sometimes….” Roy muttered angrily. The fact that Johnny had risked his life to save him was not lost on Roy. The fact that Johnny was throwing that life away was what made him angry. It was the most stupid thing he’d ever heard of. And it was just like Johnny.
***
Marco and Mike had drawn the 36th floor to check for victims. They had finished checking rooms to the right and had just started down the left corridor. Suddenly there was an explosion. It knocked them both to the floor. Marco rolled over and cleared the debris away from himself. “Mike,” he called. “Mike!!!” There was a pile of rubble where Mike had been standing. Beyond that, Marco could plainly see that a fire had cut off their escape route.
***
Inside Roy’s room things were a little tense between Roy and Johnny. So Johnny tried to make light of it. It calmed the other people a little but he could tell Roy was still miffed. He knew that if the people lost hope they could panic.
“Look, there are probably lots of ways they could be coming to rescue us. All we have to do is sit tight,” he grinned.
“Lots of ways?” Roy questioned him in a quiet but sour tone. “How do you figure that?”
“They probably have a blueprint just like this one.” He pulled the blue print from his pocket.”The computer age is a wonderful thing, Roy. We use them for everything. I don’t know what I’d do without them.”
“For your information. We use computers. I even have one at home.” Roy was annoyed.
“Really? I kinda figured you were roughing it. No electricity. No running water…..” Johnny teased.
Roy stared at him with complete disbelief.
“It’s true, Roy, I had this picture of you guys living in a log cabin and Joanne going down to the creek to get the water and do the laundry……”
“Joanne!!!!” he laughed. Joanne was the original city girl. He’d always had trouble even getting her to go camping, which Johnny knew full well. “You’re pulling my chain,” Roy decided.
“Well, yeah,” Johnny grinned.
“Johnny,” he asked honestly. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“I’ve come to get you out. Now let me study this blue print and see what I can come up with.”
Roy just shook his head. As Johnny laid out the blue print so he could study it another printed page fell to the floor. Roy picked it up. It seemed to be a page full of mugshots. This took his interest so he picked it up. The file name that was printed in the upper left hand corner was arson suspects. His mild curiosity picqued when he saw a picture he recognized. It was the guy who had almost bowled him over in the service elevator earlier tonight.
“Johnny, who is this?”
Johnny looked up. “Oh, he’s one of my prime suspects in a rash of arson fires we’ve been having. Like this one. He always has an airtight alibi. Was never anywhere near the fire.”
“Well, he was tonight. I saw him earlier.”
“You’re kidding!!”
“No, as I was coming up here. He almost knocked me over getting off the elevator. He was in a BIG hurry to leave.”
“Roy!! That’s it! Our big break. Finally a witness that can place him at the scene. I’m going to call Crockett and get a warrant for him.”
“The phones are out, Johnny.”
“Naw, not this one,” Johnny grinned pulling a small cell phone from his pocket. Johnny had his boss on speed dial and soon he was dragging the poor man out of bed.
“It’s the middle of the damn night, Gage. Why can’t you get your own warrant?”
“Well – er um I’m a little tied up at the moment. I’m sort of in the burning hotel.”
“Well get the hell out of there, you horse’s ass!!!”
“Now you’ve gone and hurt my feelings.”
“That’s not all I’m gonna hurt—”
“Well, I’m afraid that’s not going to be that easy. An explosion seems to have cut off my escape route and I’m here with 10 hotel patrons and —-”
“I’m gonna kill you, Gage. That’s a promise. I’m on my way. Stay away from that fire. Nothing is robbing me of the joy of killing you myself. Nothing!!!”
“I love you too, Crock,” Johnny grinned as he hung up.
“You don’t suppose you could call the fire department and let them know exactly where we are, do you?” Roy asked with mock patience.
Johnny snapped his fingers “Good idea — ah, you remember the number?”
“Out in the sticks 911 does the trick.”
“911? They don’t just knock on hollow tree?”
“I’m gonna knock on your hollow head in a minute,” Roy threatened.
“And I always tell Crockett that you were much nicer to me than he is?” Johnny complained.
“Well, I’ve turned over a new leaf,” Roy told him.
Johnny used his position as arson investigator to be transferred to the Incident Commander on site. He really didn’t want this message to not get through.
“Stanley speaking,” the commander answered.
“Oh ah.” Johnny’s confidence faded a little “Hi ya, Ca– Chief, this is Johnny Gage.”
“Gage? Where are you?”
“Um, I wanted to report some people trapped in room 3615 and there has just been an explosion — probably another fire set by our friend.”
“I have people in the area they are evacuating those floors right now. They — ah, they won’t find you up there when they do, will they, Gage?”
“Not if I’m careful.”
“I ordered you not to go in there!!”
“It was worth it — I found out the ID of my arsonist!!”
“Gage, I oughta —”
“Take a number, Crockett is ahead of you.”
“I’ll let him do it then since he’s a cop.”
Johnny hung up. It was getting harder and harder to be a hero these days. He looked at the other people in the room. “I just talked to the guy in charge of the fire. He says he’s got people in this area and we should all be out real soon. All we gotta do is sit back and relax,” he told them with his classic smile.
Roy noticed they seemed to be at ease right away. What the hell magic did Johnny have anyway? He did feel better that the fire department knew exactly where they were. That crackpot Gage might pull off this rescue yet.
***
Marco unburied Mike as best he could but he needed help to get him out of there. He ran down the hall banging on doors. There was somebody here and they were going to help him. He went around a corner and continued to bang on doors and call for help.
***
Suddenly there was someone banging on the door. Both Roy and Johnny got to the door within seconds. Roy pulled the towels out of the way and Johnny pulled the door opened. At the sight of a fireman a cheer went up in the room.
Marco stepped inside the room and shoved the door shut. The hall was filled with smoke again. Marco pulled off his mask and gasped for breath. Once he caught his breathe he was astounded to stare into the faces of two old friends. “John? Roy?”
“Marco,” Roy greeted him warmly.
“That’s Captain Marco now, Roy,” Johnny grinned. “You here to save us, Marco?”
Marco looked past Johnny to the anxious civilians that were gathered in the room. He said in a hushed voice. “Not exactly. I came looking for help. There was a blow out and Stoker is in trouble.”
“Let’s go get him,” Johnny said with purpose. The three of them headed toward the door. “Not you, Roy. You aren’t dressed for it. You hick lumberjacks don’t know anything about fashion.” Johnny referred to the fact that only he and Marco were wearing turnout gear. Roy glowered but Johnny was firm. “If you wanna kill me you have to get in line behind Crockett and Stanley. Man, It’s dangerous being a cop.” He followed Marco out into the hallway and pulled the door shut behind him.
When they got to the debris they unburied Mike. Johnny felt odd. He hadn’t done rescue work in over ten years but it all came back to him. He checked Mike for a pulse.
“Is he alive?” Marco asked. He had every bit as much confidence in Johnny as he ever did.
“Yeah. We really need a backboard to move him, though,” Johnny said nervously. They had to move him. This burning hallway was not safe.
“No problem,” Marco said. He broke the glass on a fire emergency box with his elbow and pulled out the ax. He made quick work of one of the hotel room doors and soon they had a manageable backboard. They carefully got him onto it and headed back to the room. The smoke in the hallway was getting worse as the fire burned their way.
Roy yanked the door open and they carefully placed the door onto the bed. Now Roy took over Mike’s care. As Johnny started to jump in also but Roy asked, “Have you kept up your paramedic certification?”
“No but -”
“Well, I have. I still do this work and there have been some changes so stand aside, Junior.”
“You’re not certified in this state –”
“Shut up, Johnny. I’m the guy with the rank here now. Go ahead, Roy,” Marco had gotten used to giving orders since they had worked with him at Station 51. Roy began to examine Mike and Johnny made a face behind their backs that the six year old boy found very amusing.
Roy did all he could for Stoker but he had a serious back injury and Roy had no equipment or drugs to help him. Mike needed some LA County paramedics and he needed to get out of there. They all did.
***
Chet and some of his crew had been searching the 37th floor when the explosion took place. It took him a while to get them regrouped and then they attacked the fire while one of the City crews led some hotel guests past them to safety.
“It’s clear to the roof now. Everything above has been checked,” the City Captain hollered at Chet. “If it goes sour you can get out that way. This don’t look at all good.”
“We’ve got people on the floors below us,” Chet called back.
“Maybe they can get out below but with this floor collapse I wouldn’t stay here very long.”
“We’ll give you cover. Get going. We’ll probably follow soon.”
“You’d better, unless you want to get out in a body bag.”
“Ha ha,” Chet muttered. Those City guys thought they were so damn smart. His crew had high rise training too.
Once everyone was clear Chet had his crew go down a floor. He knew that Mike and Marco had been down here. He had to at least check as long as he deemed it to be safe. The 37th floor had partially collapsed on the 36th. There had been no fire in that area so he found that to be very odd unless another fire had started or had been started. He had worked on some of the other fires this current arsonist had set and he knew the guy liked to set multiple fires.
Once they got to the36th floor they poured water on the blaze. He saw chalk marks on all the doors to the right so he left the hose operation and began looking to the left. Wondering off alone in a fire. He’d skin alive anyone in his crew that did that.
***
Mike started to moan.
“Easy, Mike,” Roy said. He knew he’d be in a lot of pain but there wasn’t a thing he could do about it.
“Roy?” Mike croaked. “Long time no see.”
“Just like old times,” Roy smiled.
“Not quite,” Mike gasped. “In the old days I was smart enough to be working the engine not the fire.”
“Guess you screwed up big time, eh Mike?” Johnny grinned.
“Gage too? It is like old times,” Mike had trouble saying. “Best paramedic team back together again?”
“Yeah, Mike. You don’t have a thing to worry about now,” Johnny encouraged him, “All you gotta do is relax.”
“Why don’t we call room service and order some beer?” Mike had difficulty saying.
Both Roy and Johnny came close to check him.
“You guys used to take….a joke….better than that,” Mike’s breathing was becoming labored.
“Yeah, well you never used to be the one making them, that’s what threw us, right, Roy?”
“Johnny’s right. You just relax. You took in a little smoke, looks like so you’d better not talk, okay.”
“You know I never in a million years ever thought I’d get to say this but — shut up, Stoker,” Johnny grinned.
Mike shot Johnny the finger.
“Oh nice,” Johnny complained “There’s kids here, you know. Guess he’s got mobility in his right hand and arm, Roy.”
“It looks that way,” Roy agreed. He pulled the blankets off the other bed and put them over Mike.
Just then was another knock at the door.
“Hope it’s room service with the beer,” one of Roy’s guests remarked. This time Johnny answered the door.
“Chet, what the hell do you want?”
“I just heard on the HT there were survivors in this room. I’m here to rescue them. And what the hell are you doing in gear belonging to my station. There’s laws against stealing Fire department property.”
“I didn’t steal it I commandeered it –”
“Shut up, Johnny. Chet, can you get these people out of here and can you get us some paramedics?” Roy took over.
“What the hell happened?”
“He’s got a back injury he needs MS,” Johnny said under his breath.
“No problem,” Chet pulled the HT out of his pocket. He reported the code-I to Stanley and requested that his paramedics get a ride to the roof with the next chopper and get down to this room.
Chet had his crew assist the civilians to the roof but both he and Marco waited. Chet answered the knock . “Grady, John-Boy get in here. We have a fireman down.”
Roy and Johnny sat back and let the paramedics work on Mike. Chet teased him that he had planned this back injury just so he could be the first one of them to retire and Marco confessed that Mike had been talking and he had failed to keep track of the number of words he had spoken.
The paramedics contacted Rampart and Mike Morton himself handled the call. Before long they had him packaged up in a stokes and ready to be moved. Chet had secured turnout gear for Roy and they all moved out toward the roof. The rest of Chet’s company was there to cover them with hoses should fire flair up.
“You guys were supposed to leave with the civilians,” Chet hollered at them.
“Guess we forgot, Cap,” one called back.
“Forgot my ass! Wait till we get back to the station. You guys have NO idea how many rotten jobs there are to be done around the station!” Chet complained loudly.
***
Within twenty minutes they were back on the ground. They had been checked over by the paramedics and were given a clean bill of health.
“I don’t know about me,” Roy was saying, “But I’m sure you’re going to live forever.”
“I wouldn’t bet on that,” Johnny said sourly as he spotted both Crockett and Stanley heading his way.
Roy went over to the spot where he’d seen Dixie and Joe Early. They were behind a barricade with other survivors and they were being served coffee. Joe motioned to Roy.
“So, Roy, get this much excitement up your way?” Joe asked
“No, I’m happy to say,” Roy smiled as Dixie offered him a cup of coffee.
They made small talk. Dixie told them that the awards ceremony was now going to be held at Rampart and was still on for tomorrow night.
“Good, then we can still get out of here on schedule. I will not be sorry to leave this place behind.”
“My thoughts exactly,” Dixie agreed. “There was a time when I lived for the excitement but now I know better.”
Johnny came over and joined them. “They got him!!! Crockett picked him up right here. He confessed to everything. Seems his mother was killed in a hotel fire. He blamed the fire department for her death.There was one more of his damn devices set to go off in the basement and it’s been disarmed!! A hotel employee accidentally set off the devices that weren’t supposed to go until tomorrow when he had an alibi. Best news I’ve had all day, I can tell you.”
“That is good news!”Roy was almost as overjoyed as Johnny.
“You wanna hear some even better news than that?”
“What?” Roy almost didn’t dare ask. He had a sixth sense where Johnny was concerned and it was activated right now.
“I’m gonna be able to come up and visit you and Joanne real soon. In fact, I can even go back with you when you go.”
“You can?! Aren’t you in the middle of this arson thing?”
“Hey, I can make time for my friends. I have my priorities right,” Johnny argued.
“Besides, he just got suspended,” Chet was delighted to report.
“Chet, I oughta … I oughta….”
“You oughta what? You haven’t been able to come up with a decent comeback in 25 years, you sure as hell aren’t going to start now. I just heard from Grady, Stoker’s going to be okay,” he reported as he helped himself to Roy’s coffee.
Roy just sat there and drank in the whole scene. He wanted to remember it in every detail. Being here with with these people again felt both strange and completely natural. Chet and Johnny were arguing just like they did nearly everyday that he had worked with them. The more things changed the more they stayed the same. The years that had passed hadn’t changed the important things. Old friends were the best friends. Their lives were different now but they were still the same people. Joanne was right, everything did usually work out just the way it was supposed to.
