I down the Milo, and Heidi’s grip catches my forearm as I rise, her brows dropping.
“Be right back.” I slip from her hold and walk for the stairs. I don’t look back. I don’t want to see the look on London’s face if I do.
I fly down the stairs and am in the captain’s office a beat later.
“Shut the door,” he says, his tone clipped.
I haul in a breath, close the door, and turn back to stand with my hands clasped in front of me, shoulders back, attention trained on the man who paces behind his desk.
Not good.
He stops, a hand rubbing over his jaw before he sighs and meets my gaze. “It’s come to my attention you’ve asked your crew to disregard direct orders from Schmidt on his weeks as acting captain.”
I feel the urge to relax but tamp it back, stiffening my shoulders further.
“It was a matter of safety, sir.”
“You didn’t think you should have come directly to me if you had concerns, Hammond?”
I thou?—
“You know, this type of thing I actually expected from Schmidt. You? The thought never crossed my mind that you would destroy the morale of this unit so easily.”
Morale?
“Sir?”
“You undermine your acting captain on his weeks, and you confuse the crew. Not to mention the probies, who probably feel lost and unsafe. This one I can’t explain away.”
“Schmiddy is dangerous. He’s lax, breaks rules that keep the crew safe. Not to mention the fact he’s barely engaging with most scenes. I thought I could control the situation, sir. I didn’t think it would?—”
“It wasn’t your call to make!”
A grind my molars down hard.
“Yes sir.”
I can feel my chances at the captaincy dissipating more and more as the minutes tick on.
“The way I see it, I have two options. I promote Schmidt to captain in light of your sabotage. Or I put you on a desk and hope like hell he transfers out, and you have the position by default. I hate both options, Miles. But so help me god, I will do what policy dictates. Because this station is hanging on by a damn thread as it is. With funding rerouted to stations with EMS capabilities, we’re a relic compared to other stations. Other engines. This isn’t something I want to write up. It’s just another excuse for the department to decommission us.”
“Yes sir.”
I don’t know what else to say.
I’ve let every single person in this house down.
I’ve let London down. If the firehouse closes, she loses her job. So do Sandy, Heids, and Davey.
Schmiddy can walk the streets for all I care.
“Sit yourself at the front desk. You can catch up on the service reports. No more callouts until I say so. Limit your interactions with the crew to the fitness assessments. Am I clear?”
“Yes sir.” Every muscle in my body is alive with a tension I’m barely reining in.
“Dismissed.”
I walk out, dazed.
