Page 43 of Inferno

I spotted the chief and shouted over the racket. “Hey! You got anybody inside?”

The chief shook his head, not even looking at me. “No reports of occupants. Building’s supposed to be empty, so I didn’t risk it.”

The hardware store next to Juniper’s bakery was already being licked with flame, whorls of orange peeling the paint. That’s when I remembered an old squatter who often camped between the buildings, or slipped in the back of the hardware store. He’d likely been passed out when everything went to shit, what with the rotgut I often saw him drink.

“Fuck,” I swore, jogging around the back of the building. It took longer than I’d like and not only was it hot as shit, but any water making it to the ground was hot enough to burn.

The back of the building wasn’t fully engulfed, but the smoke inside would still be thick and acrid. Sure enough, another scream sounded, but from the bakery instead of the hardware store. Had the old guy gotten inside the shop while Juniper had closed it?

Without thinking about it too much, I kicked in the back door. I couldn’t let anyone burn alive. That was too cruel for words. Smoke hammered my lungs before I even stepped inside. The bakery was a Goddamn hellish landscape. The fire was mainly in the front, but the smoke still rolled at me in wave after scorching hot wave. I skirted the wall, one arm up to shield my face, and barreled through the back door.

Inside, the heat was intense, the smoke choking and blinding. I called out, my voice ragged from the heat. “Hey! Fire! Move your Goddamn ass, or you’re dead in here!”

I heard coughing to my left and I whirled around to move toward the noise. There, curled on a mattress under one of the big, wooden tables, a skinny man with a tangled beard had one leg trapped under the table, preventing him from escaping.

The table wasn’t that heavy, but with the angle he’d been caught at and the lack of oxygen, he hadn’t been able to manage. I lifted it. Thankfully, the guy was able to move, and I didn’t have to do more than hold the table until his foot was clear.

I hauled him upright and helped him toward the exit. We stumbled out onto the pavement behind the bakery as the ceiling started to singe and drop flaming bits of debris.

We scrambled away from the building as fast as we could. Once across the road in the grass, we stopped, and I dropped the guy to the turf just as the second crew rolled up.

I bent at the waist, bracing my hands on my knees while I coughed and spat out soot and grit. One of the firefighter/medics in the new engine shoved an oxygen mask on my face. I took a few deep pulls, but I waved him off after that. “He needs it worse.” I motioned to the man I’d helped out. “I’m just winded.” I did take the water he offered and rinsed my mouth out before taking a good, long, hefty pull.

When the medic moved on to the other guy, I took a knee without meaning to, my head swimming as I coughed up soot. Someone slapped a mask on my face, and the world slowly righted itself as my lungs got what they needed. I watched as they loaded the man I’d pulled out of Juniper’s bakery onto a stretcher. He had an oxygen mask on his face too, and he nodded at me when he passed.

The view from where I now sat on the ambulance bumper was pure hell. Flames shot out of the bakery through every window and out the roof. Shingles curled up and blew away like burning leaves.

A paramedic crouched beside me, checked my pulse, and made noises about smoke inhalation. I took a few more pulls off the oxygen mask he offered but all I cared about was who’d done this and how I was going to pay them back. I’d brief Knight the second I could talk, and he’d check into the guy I’d pulled out. My throat felt scraped raw and my chest hurt with every breath I took. The guy I’d dragged out of the bakery complicated things because Brett could easily blame the fire on the old guy if he had to. Which was likely why the man was in Juniper’s bakery in the first place. To serve as Brett’s alibi. He’d probably made sure the man had a key and everything. Something for Knight to work out because right now, I knew I couldn’t be objective and the last thing I wanted to do was taint the investigation. It would only hurt Juniper in the long run.

I’d had ample time to talk to Knight and Knuckles while I watched the crews do their best to save the surrounding structures. I knew Knuckles would use the full weight of Kiss of Death to take care of this fucker. I knew the bakery was a lost cause from the outset, so I wasn’t expecting much by way of them saving it. I did, however, need to see the people in the surrounding area. If Brett was in the area, I wanted to find him.

By the time dawn peeked over the river, I was dead on my feet and my chest ached like a motherfucker with every fucking breath I took. I found Danner standing next to my bike a short distance from the second engine on the scene. His jacket hung loose and he had a notebook in hand. Same as the old days.

He saw me and met me as I headed his way. “Wondered if you were here. You the one who dragged out the old man?”

“Yeah. I’m a little out of practice.” My voice was husky and rough from the smoke and I still coughed occasionally.

He snorted. “Bet you’re still better than my best man.”

“Obviously not, since I went inside a fully engulfed building without any gear,” I said dryly before another coughing fit hit me. “That’s askin’ to die, and I’m not too proud to admit I was stupid.” More coughing.

When I finally stopped, Danner handed me a bottle of water. “Well?” he asked when I stopped coughing. “What did you see?”

I shook my head. “I’m too close, man. I’m seeing conspiracies all over the Goddamned place when for all I know it could really be just faulty wiring.”

Danner shook his head. “No. The explosion will make reconstruction difficult, but I have no doubt this is the same as the other fire, only on a larger scale. Whoever did this has definitely done it before.” He paused. “You need me to keep your involvement in that rescue out of my report?”

I shrugged. “I don’t suppose it matters, but I’d really prefer you not mention my name. Last thing I need is my ex coming around, thinking she can bleed me for money.”

Danner snorted. “I hear you, brother.”

“Appreciate that.”

“We always look after our own.” He walked me back to my bike and I slung a leg over, settling on the machine while he stood there. “You want my honest opinion, Jonah?” he said, voice soft, like he didn’t want to say what he was about to.

“Always.”

“If this goes to trial, they’ll never stick a charge. And the only guy smart enough to see through it will have to explain why he’s been looking so close.” He jerked his chin at the shell of the bakery. “But you and I both know who did this.”