Chapter One
"Good morning, good morning, good morning!" Johnny says cheerily as he hops over the benches in the locker room next to Roy. Shedding his denim jacket, he whistles a happy tune until his partner, still drowsy from his "weekend off" spent at Joanne's sister's house babysitting her three kids, finally turns and stares.
"You're in an awfully good mood this morning..." he remarks drearily.
Johnny grins as he slips his uniform on. "Well that, my good man, is because I met the most incredible girl last night at the movies."
Roy sighs internally, leaning back on his locker. "And I suppose you want me to ask you all about her."
Gage raises an eyebrow at his partner's mood. "Well not if you're gonna be so negative about it."
"Good." Roy turns back to his open locker and finishes buttoning up his shirt. He ignores the irritated snort from Johnny as he, too, wraps up getting ready for their shift. The other men of A-shift pass through, say their sleepy good mornings, and disappear to the showers or kitchen without another word.
Glancing over at Johnny, Roy finds him tying his boots with a sour expression on his face. DeSoto silently groans, feeling a pang of guilt for dampening his friend's bright mood just because he had a bad weekend. So he's just opening his mouth to apologize when Johnny interrupts.
His tone is matter-of-fact when he says, "She's a lawyer, ya know."
"Who is?" Chet asks, coming around the corner with a cup of coffee in hand.
Gage grins and gives Roy a smug look before turning back to Kelly. "My date."
Chet nods, impressed. "You're dating a lawyer, huh? I gotta say, Gage, I'm almost impressed. What's she like?"
"Ya know, I thought you'd never ask..."
Oh geez... Roy shakes his head and sits down on the bench. This is going to take a while.
"Her name's Bethany. I met her at the movies last night and she is just the most incredible woman I think I've ever met! I mean, she's intelligent, she's funny, she's gorgeous...!" He shakes his head, as if still in awe. "And we got along real good, I mean I don't think I've ever hit it off quite so well with any other girl! And you know what's the best part?"
Chet shakes his head.
"We've got a dinner date scheduled for tonight." Johnny says with a big grin.
"Tonight?" Roy asks. "Johnny, I don't know if you realize this, but you're on shift tonight."
"Ohh, look who's finally interested." Gage remarks arrogantly.
Roy rolls his eyes.
"As it just so happens, I've got a lot of vacation days saved up and I plan to use one for tomorrow. Which means, no Roy, I'm not on shift tonight."
Admittedly, Chet and DeSoto exchange wide eyed looks. "You're using a vacation day for this girl? Wow, I don't think you've ever done anything like that before...so you really are serious about this chick, huh?" Kelly comments, earning a nod from Johnny.
"I'm tellin' you, she's really something else..."
"Who is?" Captain Stanely asks as he joins the group. But before Johnny gets another chance to gush on his new lady friend, they're interrupted by dispatch tones.
Squad 51, Engine 51, people trapped in elevator, 247 Summit Avenue, 2-4-7- Summit, timeout 733.
They're moving even before the dispatcher finishes. Johnny hops in the passenger side of the squad and scribbles down the address, while Roy takes the wheel and maneuvers them onto the street, sirens wailing.
The engine sticks close on their tail as they head toward the very familiar address of the local shopping mall. A favorite of Joanne's and many other residents of the county...
The firemen are greeted by a frantic young man in the parking lot of the mall. He waves and yells for them to hurry.
"Where's the elevator?" Johnny asks as he grabs the drug box from the squad.
"Straight back! You'll have to take the steps." The man replies, "And you better hurry. I heard one of them yelling earlier. Sounded like he might've been having a panic attack or something!"
"What floor is it stuck on?" Roy asks.
"Uh, the seventh."
"They're pretty far up there." Cap mutters, shielding his eyes from the sun as he counts the windows up to seven. Turning back to his men, he calls out for the jaws, some lifelines, and the stokes. "Gage, DeSoto, you two head in see if you can make any headway getting into the elevator."
"Right." They say, jogging to the double glass doors.
"Sir, what's your name?" Captain Stanely asks the young man.
"Alvey," he says. "James Alvey. I'm the manager of the store the elevator got stuck in."
"Alright, you stay with us, we may need to ask you some questions about the layout of the store."
"Of course! Anything you need!"
Up six flights of steps, Johnny and Roy are out of breath but in full rescue mode. "Hello?" They call down to the elevator, theoretically stuck right below them. "Hello? Can anyone hear us?"
There's a moment of concerning silence before the voice of a woman calls out to them. "Yes! Yes, thank God! We're trapped in here!"
"Don't worry, we're with the Los Angeles County Fire Department, we're here to get you out!"
"Please hurry! There's a man sick in here!"
"We'll be right down!"
"I'll head in," Johnny says, securing a lifeline around his waist. "Get on the line with Rampart and send down the drug box."
"Alright."
Chet and Marco pry open the elevator doors with the jaws while Johnny finishes readying his line and Roy ties the drug and trauma boxes to the other ropes. A few minutes of steel screeching and bending results in a gap just wide enough for Gage to slip through.
Inching close to the gap, he peers down to find the roof of the elevator just about ten feet down. The hatch leading inside is directly under his feet as the firemen lower him down. And when he finally reaches his destination, he hears the people inside gasping with terror at the loud bang of his boots hitting the metal above them.
"It's alright," he says, as soothingly as possible. "I'm coming in. Clear the way of the hatch if you can."
He hears movement inside...and a few whimpers of pain. "Hey, Roy?"
"Yeah?"
"Send down the boxes, sounds like we've got injured inside as well."
"Right."
Johnny opens the hatch and climbs down, landing in the dimly lit elevator full of nervous, trembling shoppers. Four in total. A middle aged woman who looks to be in fine health, who Gage can only assume to be her young son, who is sitting on the ground clutching his slightly swollen leg, a hefty man laying on his back covered in sweat...and...and...
For a moment, Johnny can only stare in disbelief. "Bethany?!"
"Johnny? Everything okay down there?" Roy calls out, once it's been quiet for too long. The kits have been lowered down to him but Johnny hasn't asked for Rampart yet...
"Uh...yeah, yeah, everything's fine...uh...just hang on...!"
At that, the firemen exchange confused glances.
"Johnny, you want me to come down there?" Roy offers.
"Uh, no. No, just get ahold of Rampart, would you? We've got two victims in here. Standby for vitals."
"Aaalright..." Picking up the biophone, Roy begins the transmission. "Rampart, this is rescue 51. How do you read?"
"Reading you loud and clear, 51."
"Rampart, we've got two victims trapped in an elevator. Standby for vitals."
"Standing by, 51."
"Roy? You ready for those vitals?" Gage asks, his voice echoing in the large elevator shaft.
"Yeah!"
"Alright..." Roy can hear Johnny shuffling around in the elevator, probably going back and forth between victims. "Patient one is male, age 45, obese. He's pale and diaphoeric. Also seems to be in a great deal of pain but there are no visible injuries. Vitals are: pulse 40, respirations 23, BP 140/90.
"Victim two is also male, age 13. Suffering from a probable sprained talus with minor swelling. Vitals are: pulse 90, respirations 17, BP 110/80."
Roy repeats the information to Rampart as Johnny continues shuffling around below. Distantly, he notices his partner talking in a hushed tone to one of the trapped shoppers. One of the women. "10-4, Rampart. Johnny!"
"Yeah?"
"On victim number one, establish IV D5W and start an EKG."
"Right!" A few seconds later, he calls up that the he's done and Roy begins transmitting to Rampart.
"This will be lead two, Rampart."
"51, the patient is in sinus rhythm. Are you able to transport?"
"Uh, that's a negative, Rampart."
"10-4, continue monitoring victim one and transport as soon as possible. For victim two, immobilize the ankle, keep it elevated, and transport."
"10-4, Rampart. Over." Roy hangs up the phone and advises Johnny before turning to Captain Stanley. "We've got a possible cardiac victim in there, so we need to move fast."
Hank nods. "I'm thinking we try one floor down. They're a little further away than I thought, so we might be able to reach them from down there."
"Good idea."
"Chet, Mike, Marco, let's go. Bring the jaws!"
"Yes sir!"
As the firemen jog back down the stairs, Roy glances over the edge of the elevator shaft. "Johnny? You doing okay in there?"
"Yeah, just finishing up with victim two!"
"Alright. Cap and the others are gonna try to get in there to you, but Rampart wants you to keep a close eye on victim one until they do. You want me down there to help out?"
"Yeah, I've got my hands full!"
"Alright, be right down! I'm sending the biophone first so watch your head!"
Johnny's got his stethoscope pressed to the possible cardiac case when Roy lowers himself in. Admittedly, the younger paramedic's own heart skips a beat when the metal trap around them sways and grinds on its track with the added weight. The man's blood pressure hasn't moved much, so he switches to pulse.
"Beth, you can hand that IV off to Roy now. Thanks for your help."
"Glad to be of some use..." Says the pretty young blonde sitting in the corner. Roy takes the drip with a raised eyebrow.
"Beth?" he asks softly, leaning toward Johnny, who gives him a weary look.
"Yeah. Roy, meet Bethany. Bethany, that's my partner, Roy."
"Nice to meet you, Roy..." she says, her voice trembling slightly as the elevator gives another jerk and shrieks a bit against the left wall.
"You too, Johnny's told me all about you."
"Really," she mutters, "I hope that's a good thing..."
"It is," he assures her, trying to be comforting even as the lights flicker and there's a loud creak above them. Where are the captain and the others?! "You're looking a little pale, are you feeling alright?"
Johnny looks up, hearing that.
But Bethany only laughs shakily. "Yeah, I'm fine. I guess hanging in an elevator seven flights up is a little different from a courtroom though...although not by much."
Roy chuckles and tells her they'll be fine. As if to punctuate his promise, they can finally hear the voices of the firemen outside the door, just a few feet below them. And there's a knock on the wall.
"Johnny? We're gonna go ahead and try to get these doors off so keep everyone clear of them, okay?"
"Right, Cap!" Roy replies, ushering Bethany into the back corner of the elevator beside the mother and her son, whose leg is now swaddled in a splint. There's not much they can do for the three hundred pound man sprawled out on his back, but Roy positions himself so that if sparks and chunks of steel start to fly, they'll hit his turnouts, not the patient.
And then the silence of the elevator is drowned by the horrid gnashing of the jaws shredding steel and drywall. Dust and even a little bit of smoke sprays in through the hatch overhead... However, so does light.
The ruckus goes on for what feels like an hour, though it probably can't be more than fifteen minutes before the doors are fully open, and the machine goes to work on their own escape route. Roy offers a calm smile to the other shoppers, just as the beeping of the EKG machine starts to pick up pace...
"Roy, he's going into full arrest."
"Rampart, this is squad 51! Patient one has entered cardiac arrest."
Johnny snaps open the defibrillator and squeezes gel onto the paddles, already predicting Rampart's advice.
"51, defibrillator the victim and send another strip."
"10-4."
"Clear!" With an electrified thump, the man spasms and jerks against the floor.
"Rampart, this is lead two."
"51, I'm still reading sinus tach. Defibrillator again."
"Clear!"
"Lead two, Rampart."
"The victim has entered sinus rhythm. 51, what is the status of your transport?"
"Approximate ten minutes."
"10-4, 51. Add a drip of heparin to the patient's IV and continue monitoring closely. I want an update on the victim's status every five minutes. Transport as soon as possible."
"10-4, Rampart." Roy hangs up and turns to Johnny. "You hear him?"
"Yeah, I heard." Johnny takes a drip of the anti-coagulant and adds it to the man's IV. Meanwhile, Roy is listening to the progress of the other firemen just outside their door. There's now a gap about four inches wide show the sixth floor to be at Roy's head level. That will make it difficult to get the victim out...but the stokes will make it a little easier.
So for now, they wait...