“Hello, ladies. How’re you all doing today?” I asked, giving them a dazzling smile.
“Ohh, we’re a lot better now,” one of the women spoke up.
“Glad to hear it. Generator not working?” I questioned, passing them.
“No! But I can show you where the elevators are,” a second woman answered, taking my arm in hers, and blinking her eyelashes at me. I moved forward but looked back at Corey and Eric, amusement all over their faces as they saw my dilemma. We’d made a number of runs to this building for different reasons and … well, like most women who saw firefighters, these elderly ladies turned it all the way on when it came to flirting. Whoever said that you lose it once you hit your sixties, obviously hadn’t been dressed in firefighter gear in an apartment building full of elderly women, most of whom were widows.
“Thank God! My friends are trapped.” A short man in his sixties came up to me. “They’ve been screaming that it’s dark in there.”
I pulled out my flashlight, since the entire hallway was nearly pitch-black save for the flashlights of the residents. I heard the sounds of the trapped residents the closer I got. Scanning the outside of the elevator to make sure there was no obvious damage, I lowered the crank I’d brought in with me to pry the doors open. I would have to wait until the doors were open to see where exactly the shaft had gotten stuck. Hopefully it wasn’t in between floors and the elevator would be there with the residents once I got the doors undone.
“He’s so strong.”
“Look at those muscles.”
“Handsome thing he is.”
I chuckled to myself at the sounds of the women behind me. Instead of just the original three from outside, a larger crowd had gathered, in part due to residents coming out of their apartments to see what was going on. I ignored the banter of those around me, working to free the trapped residents. By the sounds of the voices they sounded like they were doing okay in there, but that could change at any moment, given the circumstance. I didn’t know the age or health of the two people inside.
“Oh, thank God!” The first man praised, hand raised in the air when the doors pushed open.
The second man moved out, yelling, “I was stuck in there for an hour!”
“Are you gentlemen okay?” I questioned.
“No, I’m not alright. This building is a piece of crap. As much as we pay in rent!” I stepped out of the way as one of the men went toward one of the building’s administrative staffers.
“Two males, free from the elevator,” I stated into my walkie-talkie. “Going to check the rest of the elevators just in case,” I told Eric when he came back over the line.
“Don’t get caught in there too long. Might not make it out,” Corey laughed into the line.
“Fuck you, Sanders,” I retorted.
“No thanks, but maybe I’ll see if that pretty, thick thing you had at the station is available.”
My entire body stiffened at the rage that rolled through me. I squeezed the walkie in my hand so tight I heard a small cracking sound.
“Corey, if you value for your fucking life, you’ll never say anything like that again.” My voice was deadly calm. I’d used that same voice countless time while serving my country. Right before I ended another man’s life. It wasn’t a practiced voice. It just came out whenever this feeling came over me.
“Shit,” I heard Eric curse into the walkie.
I didn’t have time to analyze my feelings that moment. Instead, I went back to what I was doing in the apartment, letting my feet carry me around the corner to the next set of elevators to make sure no one was trapped in those. After checking a few more doors and the rooms where the trash was kept just to make sure no one had gotten stuck in those, I emerged from the building. Eric and Corey were waiting for me, standing at the sides of the rig. Both eyed me warily.
“All clear,” I grunted, tossing the equipment into the bottom of the truck in the compartment where we kept it.
“Ready to roll?” Corey asked, sizing up my mood, no doubt.
I nodded and went to climb in the passenger seat. Once inside, I felt something vibrate in my pants. I lifted to pull out my phone. It was a text message from Andy.
Andy: 123 Lennoxville Rd. Apt.320.
I grinned. Short, sweet, and to the point.
“Hey, Carter, you know I didn’t mean that shit, right? We always joke,” I heard Corey yell from the back of the rig as I continued to stare at Michelle’s address in my phone.
“Don’t joke. Not about her,” I returned, not even turning back.
“Shit,” I heard Corey say at the same time Eric chuckled. “You’re worse than Eric was with Angela.”
