Chapter 3

"Stop him!"

A few of the guys hesitated, then closed in around me anyway.

"Move," I said coldly.

Nobody moved.

They were my brother-in-arms. We'd trained together, answered calls together, and carried fallen comrades out of fires together, never knowing if they'd make it.

But now, they'd become a wall standing in my way.

"Sorry, guys."

With a low growl, I put all my strength into it, slammed through the two men in front of me, and charged forward.

At that moment, a dark figure rammed hard into my side.

It was Vince.

He knocked me to the ground.

I felt like a few of my ribs might have cracked.

The pain knocked the breath right out of me.

He straddled me, grabbed my collar, and punched me in the face again and again.

"You little punk! Give you an inch and you take a mile, huh? Today I'm going to teach you how the world works!"

The taste of blood filled my mouth.

My vision started to blur.

All I could see were my comrades around me, turning their heads away.

I saw that influencer's phone camera in the distance, aimed right at us.

I saw the fire on the twenty-eighth floor, staining half the sky red.

"Stop! You're going to kill him!"

Larry and a few of the veterans finally snapped out of it and rushed in to drag Vince off me.

I lay on the ground and coughed up a mouthful of bloody spit.

My face burned, but that was nothing compared to the cold in my heart.

Even after they pulled him away, Vince kept cursing.

"Cuff him for obstructing official duties and violent resistance!"

Two firefighters stood there with handcuffs, looking at me with obvious reluctance.

"What are you staring at? Do it!" Vince roared.

I braced myself against the ground and slowly sat up.

I looked at the two young firefighters. Their eyes darted away, unable to meet mine.

"I'll come quietly."

I held out both hands.

The cold cuffs snapped shut around my wrists.

Just then, a piercing alarm blared over the radio.

"Captain, small explosion in Unit 2801! The fire is completely out of control! Requesting backup! Requesting backup!"

It was the other team, the one that had already gone inside the building to lay hose.

Everyone's face changed.

"Damn it!" Vince spat, finally showing a hint of urgency.

He snatched a radio from one of the guys. "All units, listen up! Full attack! Hit it with everything you've got!"

He'd finally given the order.

But I knew it was too late.

From the moment we arrived on the scene until now, a full twenty minutes had passed.

In fire rescue, every second counts.

Twenty minutes was more than enough to decide who lived and who died.

The main water valve was opened again, and several hose lines roared toward the twenty-eighth floor.

But the fire had grown too big to control.

Black smoke and sparks churned upward into an enormous mushroom cloud.

The window where that man had leaned out moments ago was now completely engulfed in flames.

No more cries for help came.

It felt like an icy wind was howling straight through my heart.

Vince stared at the scene in front of him, his own face gone a little pale.

But he quickly regained his composure.

He walked over and looked down at me.

"See that? This is what happens when you don't follow orders.

"If you'd just listened to me in the first place and stayed out of the way instead of fighting me and wasting all that time, maybe they could've been saved."

He was actually pinning the blame on me.

I was so furious I laughed out loud. "Vince, you really are an animal."

"You..."

Before he could finish, the sound of hurried footsteps cut him off.

A group of men in suits was striding toward us, surrounding a middle-aged man.

The man at the front was in his fifties and carried an air of authority without even trying. It was Director Colter Prescott, the highest-ranking official in our fire department.

Vince's eyes lit up.

He hurried over in a few quick strides to greet him, his face plastered with a fawning smile.

"Director Prescott! You came in person? For something this minor, you can just leave it to me!"

He glanced back to glare at me as he spoke.

Director Prescott didn't even look at him. His eyes were locked on the burning twenty-eighth floor. His lips trembled, and he couldn't get a single word out.

The man standing behind him, who looked like his aide, turned anxiously to Vince. "Captain Hudson! The person trapped in Unit 2801 is Director Prescott's daughter!"