He found himself in Apartment 2605, mercifully away from the wind. Based on the holes in the walls, his team had cut through 2603 to reach him. The firewalls between apartments must have become unstable after the explosions for them to have reached him so quickly. Or corners had been cut during construction. Didn’t matter now.
Luna was examining the girl while he spoke to Vanessa, who was visibly relieved through her mask. “What’s our status?”
“Missing most of the hallway before the elevators. What happened to your radio?”
“My radio? I was using it.” Aiden instinctively touched the radio on his left shoulder.
Kevin pointed at it. “No, you weren’t. It’s in pieces.”
He was right; Aiden’s radio had been crushed, and Aiden hadn’t realized. “You guys didn’t know if I was alive.” He loaded his SCBA on, resealing his mask. They wouldn’t be able to keep the SCBA on Trina while they moved her.
“I took a chance. There’s a full building evac,” Vanessa said. “We called Mayday. Stairway A is full of fire. We’re trapped up here.”
“No, it’s not,” Aiden disagreed.
“The door was hot. There was a second explosion,” Vanessa was trying to be reasonable.
“Yeah, the second explosion blew out the fire. Stairway A should be safe now,” Aiden said.
“How do you know?” Vanessa asked.
“I can’t be sure about anything, but I didn’t see any fire below me, so we should take Stairwell A. We don’t have a choice with her.” He indicated Trina.
“Red tag moving toward black,” Luna said, using the triage tag system. Green tags were the walking wounded, yellow tags were borderline, red tags were critical, and black tags were the dead or dying. Every second counted for Trina now, who was barely breathing. “We need to decide.”
“We could cut through the other apartments all the way along the length. Get past the hole to Stairwell B,” Kevin suggested.
“Not on this side. The elevator banks are in the way. We’d have to start on the other side, which is time she doesn’t have. On the other side of this wall, the balcony came off with her parents on it.” Even in the darkness, Aiden knew they understood. “I told them I would get her out. I’m going to save her.”
“Open the stairway door, and it could backdraft. Kill us all,” Vanessa warned him as if he didn’t know the risk. A backdraft occurred when oxygen was suddenly introduced to fire and a huge ignition occurred, typically killing anyone near the door.
“Then you stand back as far as possible when I open the door. Jones, pick her up.”
Now that they had a purpose, they moved at a good clip through the other apartments and to the dark, smokey hallway. Aiden placed his hand on the door. No heat, but the door was singed. “Stand back.” He slowly started turning the handle and pushing it into the stairwell.
The moment of truth.
Nothing happened; the door revealed a dark, smoky, flame-free hallway. “Looks clear. Let’s go to 22.” He took Trina from Kevin. He wasn’t taking any chances on leaving her behind.
It was a bit slower going than he preferred since the emergency lights were out. They passed the smoke curtain and the tangle of hoses connecting Sector 24’s the attack lines to 25. The hoses were blistered but didn’t appear too burned. Whatever happened happened fast.
Section 24 was silent and dark. They kept going down. By Sector 23, the emergency lights were back, and they could hear noise from Sector 22.
Aiden ignored the huge number of people and activity on the floor. He fought his way to the elevators, cutting in front of everyone. He pressed the button with his left hand, daring anyone to stop him.
Luna was right next to him, having examined Trina. “I’m coming with you because you need another pair of hands. Knight, you can put a PAR in to whoever is in command here. Find McClunis.”
“Is that you, 15?” Chief Baker hurried over with Erin Hudgens hot on his heels. Tension was radiating off the Chief and Aiden’s junior firefighter. “I thought you were trapped on 26.”
“We escaped. Fire blew itself out on 25 and 26. I’m taking a civilian down. Blunt trauma to the head and chest, thready pulse.”
Smoke streaked and stained, but still fully in command, Chief Baker assessed Trina. Then he looked at his subordinate’s eyes. Aiden waited for the Chief to tell him it was a lost cause—a black tag. He didn’t. “Fine. Who’s giving report?”
“Knight,” Luna said. “I promise Clarke and I will get checked out downstairs. Where’s McClunis?”
Baker turned away as the elevator reached 22. He was already back to work. “McClunis is down. Knight, collect your team. I need a PAR now!”
Erin was grinning and gave them both a double hug before racing to Vanessa. The Chief was taking reports and ignoring her totally.
