She has to be alive but how? Flames chew at the wood, my lungs burn, and some guy tries to pull me back but I shove him away. I need to find her and the others. Maybe she got clear.
I remember Suds has a headset but he’s not responding either. This has to be a nightmare so I pinch myself.
The scene doesn’t change.
Sirens sound in the distance as I run up and down Seventh Avenue looking for her pretty blond head. The buildings on either side of the restaurant collapsed as well, but aren’t on fire. I’m sure I’ll see her any second now. She’ll wave and call out to me.
“Callie!” My voice goes hoarse and tears flow freely but I don’t give a shit.
My phone buzzes, a call from my buddy, Slate. “What happened? Are the girls alright?”
Hell no.Nothing’s ever going to be right again but I can’t tell a mate his wife may have died. Certainly, not over the phone.
“Just get down here. Bring everyone.” My throat’s so tight, I can barely choke out words.
For the first time since I was a kid, I can’t do anything to fix what I see in front of me. Tears roll down my fucking cheeks and for a moment, I consider jumping into the flaming wreckage with her.
That’s how the first responders find me.
A fireman grabs my arm. “Was anyone in there?”
“My wife and four other women. They were having a baby shower.” I fall onto my knees at the sight of a piece of Callie’s bright pink scarf.
Ah fuck, she didn’t make it out.
“You need to back up, sir.”
“No, I need to find her.” I pull out of his grasp and jump onto the wreckage, burning my hands as I toss bricks to the side.
“Callie! Izzy? Are you in there? Shout out if you hear me, luv.”
It takes four policeman and a taser to pull me off the debris, sit me on the tailgate of a paramedic’s truck, and treat my burns. When I promise to behave, they let me stay.
Grayson arrives about twenty minutes later with his eyes and nose red. He raises his fist and punches me in the jaw. Then, we hug like brothers, neither able to talk.
Slate shows up a few minutes later, then Jack, followed by CJ and Andy. This was supposed to be a happy reunion. We had a guy’s night out planned after we got our ladies safely tucked into bed.
Jack grabs my t-shirt ready to hit me, too. “What the fuck happened, Lochlan?”
Grayson pulls him off me but I deserve to be beaten. Even though I wasn’t officially on duty, I had a comm unit on. I was one of the team of two that fucked up.
“Well?” Jack glares while his fists clench and his jaw muscles tick.
Swallowing hard, I try to sift the grains of truth from the nightmare that followed. “They were fine, having a great time. Callie asked me to take a couple presents to the car. I swear, I was only gone five minutes when she texted 911. A few blocks away, I dropped everything and ran but the front door had chains. I was going to shoot the lock off but there was the smell of gas. Maybe if I had taken a chance…”
“The restaurant would’ve blown sooner and you’d be gone.” A cop standing close by offers his two cents while taking notes on a tablet.
The agony piercing my gut makes me wish for death but not until I find out who did this.
“Did you see anything suspicious?” Jack clenches a fist around the neck of my t-shirt.
“You think I’d have left them if I did?”
I turn to Slate. “You’re the one with the sixth sense. Did you feel anything?”
“Shit, no. I wasn’t close enough. I wish to hell I’d been here.”
Closing my eyes, I work to recall the moments before the blast. There were no strange vehicles, no pedestrians, no nothing.
