“Sir—” Riya started.
“Desai! Stay put,” he ordered. She heard him mumble. “Last thing I need is to have to go in after a rookie.”
Riya heard the cry for help again. “Well, fuck that.” Without waiting for a response, Riya dropped the line and bolted for the other side of the house. This was what it meant to be a firefighter. Saving lives, not protecting fragile male egos.
She wasn’t going to let someone die because she was following protocol. The heat hit her like a wall: it was incredible she didn’t melt right there. The thick smoke slowed her down, impeding her vision. She moved toward the sound, calling out as best she could. Ambrose came up behind her. “Desai! We have to work as a team.”
She heard the scream again. She ignored whatever Ambrose was trying to say and called out to the voice. “Hello! Hello!”
“Over here,” someone said roughly.
Riya followed the sound of coughing and found a young girl, maybe twelve years old, sitting in a corner. “I’m coming.” The girl was shaking and crying. “It’s okay.” Riya was able to skirt the closest flames and reach the girl. She gently pushed the girl’s head down close to the ground to help her breathe. “Can you walk?”
The girl shook her head, fresh tears filling her eyes, as she indicated her foot. “It hurts.”
Riya swept her gaze over the injury. The girl’s foot was at an odd angle. Didn’t need a paramedic to diagnose that. “What’s your name?”
“Christi.” Bright blue eyes shone from her grimy face.
“Okay, Christi. I’m going to pick you up, all right?”
Christi nodded, clearly holding back a sob.
Riya picked her up like a baby. “Put your arms around my neck.”
The girl did as Riya asked but paused to look at her first. “You’re a girl.”
“Mmm-hmm.” Riya focused on finding the safest route out for them.
“Cool.” Christi buried her face in Riya’s shoulder as Riya ran.
The fire roared around her, and she focused on getting out, wondering for just a second where Ambrose had gone. She looked around, just as a loud crack split the air and a beam fell in front of her, just missing them. Christi shrieked. Riya’s heart pounded way too fast. Her head was light, and her vision blurred in and out as nausea gripped her. Determined, she took a step, but the ground felt unsteady, and she faltered. A strong hand caught her, and she looked up to see Lieutenant Ambrose at her side.
“Come on, Desai,” he grunted and took Christi from her. “Before you pass out.”
“I got this.” Her feeble protest barely made it past her mask, and she was unable to hold on to the child anymore. She forced herself to follow Ambrose out of the house, barely able to stand.
The three of them navigated the fire and made it out. Riya made it as far as the hose before collapsing to the ground. She ripped off her SCBA and welcomed the humid air into her lungs.
She was fine. Ambrose had been out of line.
A paramedic approached her and began assessing her, though she attempted to brush them off. Ambrose stood with Christi, a paramedic assisting the little girl. Once she could breathe, Riya laid into him.
“I was fine. You did not need to come after me. Just because I’m a woman.” She coughed.
“I came in after you because we don’t go anywhere in a fire alone. You know the rules. Two in, two out.” Two firefighters in the danger zone, in touch with two firefighters outside the zone at all times. The lieutenant grunted at her. “And you’re a rookie.”
“I was fine.” She coughed and cursed her body for betraying her.
Ambrose spoke plainly. “You were not. You didn’t see that beam coming. You could have hurt her as well as yourself.”
“I heard you,Lieutenant.” Damn the extra rasp in her voice from the smoke. Wasn’t the SCBA supposed to prevent that? She narrowed her eyes at him and brought herself up to her full height. “I heard you mumble to someone you didn’t want to have to come in after me.”
Ambrose gave her a withering stare. “I’m not going to apologize for that. If you can’t follow orders, you’re a liability. Not to mention you lack experience.”
“I can do the job as well as any of you.” That beam could have fallen in front of anyone.Right?
“Not from what I saw today.” Ambrose walked away.
