"Gear up," the dispatcher said, "Car accident at the parking garage on Wood Street."
The team burst into action, grabbing tools and heading to the truck. Nick took a seat in the back of the truck with Leah and Matt. Ben drove the truck with Andy in the passenger's seat.
"Alright, what's the situation?" Andy asked the dispatcher as they screamed off towards the location.
The dispatcher looked at the information he was given, "Looks like a man may have accelerated his vehicle after being rear ended. The car crashed through a wall and is now hanging over the street."
"If that's true we don't have a lot of time," Andy said as he nodded to Ben, who promptly sped up.
They arrived at the scene and saw a few ambulances and police cars already there, Andy spoke into the radio, "Dispatch, this is Ladder 432. We arrived on scene."
"Roger," the dispatcher said, logging the fire truck's location.
"Leah, Jake, Kim and Matt," he said pointing to the car hanging out of the garage, "Get up there and stabilize the car. Nick, Ben, clear out any non-essential personnel, I don't want anyone to get hurt doing something stupid."
The firemen nodded, heading off to their respective areas. Leah and her group rushed up the stairs with their tools, five flights of stairs later, they reached their floor and the scene of the accident.
Paramedics were standing by and taking care of an injured man who was sitting on the curb. A police officer was asking him what had happened.
"I'm not sure," the man said, "I can't remember, it was all a blur."
Leah and the rest of the team headed to the car that was perched precariously on the edge of the floor, hanging over the street. The front end was crushed from the impact on the concrete block it slammed through. Jake spotted the driver who was currently panicked as she saw her predicament.
"Alright," he said to the team gathered, "Leah, Kim, do what you can to stabilize the car, we need static rope, chocks, anything. Matt, get the Jaws we're going to extract her."
Leah and Kim searched their packs for ropes and chocks as Jake rushed to the car, he was careful not to do anything to mess up the equilibrium of the car as he opened the driver's side door in the back seat. He sat behind the woman as he pulled out a neck brace, "Alright ma'am, can you tell me your name?"
"C-Caitlin," the woman said as she tried in vain to keep calm, "Please, my baby's in the back seat."
Jake looked to his right, the baby wasn't there, "I'm sure the paramedics have them," he soothed, "Why don't you tell me your baby's name?"
"Jason," the woman said trying to breathe deeply and calm herself down. Not easy when in a wrecked car and hanging 5 stories above a busy street.
"That's a good name," Jake said to the woman, "My name's Jake. Can you tell me if you have pain anywhere?"
Caitlin winced and said, "Yes, my leg."
"Alright, anywhere else? Neck? Back?" Jake asked as he felt her pulse, it was a little fast but normal.
"No," Caitlin said blinking, "Just my right leg."
Jake nodded, "That's good," he said as he waved Matt over with the Jaws of Life, "Could you take over for me for a few minutes?"
"Yeah," Matt said as he set the tool down, "No problem."
Jake and Matt quickly switched places and Jake went off to the paramedics. He tapped a paramedic on the shoulder, "Excuse me sir, did you rescue a baby from the car?"
"Uh, no, there was no baby that we could see," the paramedic said, "The woman was unconscious at the time, we couldn't ask her."
Jake nodded, "If you see a baby," he started.
"We'll keep our eyes peeled," the paramedic said as he picked up his bag and made his way down the stairs.
Jake ran back to Leah and Kim, "You guys stabilized the car yet?"
"Yep," Leah said as she tied off the rear axle to the rope and tied it to a chain that attached to a pillar, "I'm good here."
"I am too," Kim said as she tied off another rope.
Jake nodded, "Kim, get into a harness and tie off, I need you on the wall, Matt, you go on the other side of the car."
"Got it," they both said as they harnessed up and tied off to the pillars. They leaned out over the road as they went over to the outside wall.
Jake took up the Jaws of Life, "Caitlin," he said to the driver, "We're going to cut you out now."
Leah sat inside the car and placed glasses on the woman and put in earphones, "We'll have you out in no time," Leah said as she got back out of the car.
The extraction was simple, Jake sliced through the posts that held up the roof of the car, then they peeled the roof back and placed Caitlin on a backboard. Kim and Matt both pushed the backboard towards Leah and Jake. The backboard cleared the wreck and Caitlin was secured in the safety of the ground.
Nick watched as the rescue unfolded on the upper levels of the garage, Ben had kept him busy on the ground, setting up tape and cones, they watched as the man was led out of the building. The paramedics set him in a stretcher and cut off his shirt. A nasty seatbelt bruise had set into his right shoulder and gone diagonally across his chest.
"Wait a minute," Nick ran to the paramedics, despite Ben's shouts.
"Was there anyone else in the car?" he asked the medics, they shook their heads.
The man in the stretcher retorted angrily towards Nick, "I was driving the car you idiot."
Nick shook his head, "If you were driving the car, then the bruise would be on the left shoulder, not the right. You were the passenger."
The man sighed, "Alright," he said, "So what if there was a driver?"
"He needs medical attention sir," Nick said calmly, "Tell us where he went or if he dies, this is going to be on you."
One of the medics looked up at Nick questioningly, as if asking why he'd place the blame on a man who was injured. Nick returned the gaze evenly.
"Look, all I know is that he wanted to take that baby from the car. It was his apparently," he said, "He paid me 50 bucks to sit in the driver's seat after the accident."
Nick looked over at a police officer who was standing by, he nodded, "I think I've heard enough."
"No one left the scene, right?" Nick asked.
The officer shook his head, "Didn't see anyone. I arrived 5 minutes after the perimeter was set up, you're going to have to talk to the incident commander for details. I'll go and alert other patrols about the child."
"Alright, thanks sir," the fireman left and ran up to Ben.
Ben was livid, "I was calling for you to fix the tape! What's your problem?"
"What's yours?" Nick retorted, "Ever since I've been on the job, you guys have treated me like an outsider. If we want to be successful, we stick together, like a team."
The superior officer was taken aback by Nick's comments and Nick continued, "I was questioning the man over there, apparently there was a baby in the car they hit. The driver took off with the baby. Apparently the driver's the father."
Ben looked around, "They'll both need medical attention if that's the case," he ran up to Andy, "Cap, the accident wasn't really an accident at all. It was staged so the father could kidnap his kid."
"What?" Andy asked, "No one's left the scene without my knowing, especially no one injured."
Nick's eyes widened, "He's probably still in the garage," he yelled, taking off.
"Wait!" Ben ran after Nick as they both entered the garage, "I swear . . ." he growled.
Andy shook his head and turned to a police officer, "There's an infant who was kidnapped by his father in the accident. I need you to block off the perimeter, no one leaves or enters, you got that?"
"Yes sir," the officer said as he ran off to the rest of his teammates.
Andy looked up at the garage, where Jake and Leah were securing Caitlin to the board and giving her oxygen. Jake heard a faint crying noise, "Hey, hey, everyone quiet."
The room fell silent as Jake held up his hand and listened hard, dark brown eyes scanned the area for the source of the sound.
"Sounds like it's coming from," Kim looked up.
"Above us," Jake finished.
Caitlin began hyperventilating, "That's Jason, I know his cries from anywhere!"
"I need you to relax," Leah said placing the oxygen mask gently on Caitlin's mouth and nose, "We'll get your son back."
Matt looked over at Leah, "Jake, we've got it handled here. You go up with Kim and take the medical kit."
"Kim, let's go," Jake said as they rushed up the stairs, the blonde followed closely behind the dark haired man as they went up a flight and burst into the parking deck. A man stood at the edge of the roof.
Jake and Kim both pulled up short as the man glared at them, he staggered a bit. "I'm not letting any of you get to my kid!"
"We've got to radio this in Jake," Kim said calmly, "It's pretty high up here."
"I think I can convince him to get down," Jake replied just as evenly, his heart rate was going at a mile a minute though.
"What the hell Jake! We're not the fucking SRU," Kim snapped from behind him, "Let them handle this!"
The shake of the head from the fireman in front of her signaled that her warnings were going unheeded, "You see that head wound Kim?" Jake pointed to the bleeding wound on the man's head, "He probably has a severe concussion, if he has a head bleed, we don't have five minutes before he goes over with Jason."
"Alright, but I will radio this in," Kim said as she walked off into the stairwell.
The man glanced uneasily at Kim's departure, "Hey? Where's she going?"
"She needs to get a medical kit," Jake said calmly, "My name's Jake, could you tell me yours?"
"Uhh, Hank," the man said as he staggered around a little on the wall, almost losing balance.
Jake started a little before calming down, "Hank, I need you to get off that wall alright? You have a pretty traumatic head injury there, it would be very bad if you lost consciousness and fell off. I'm pretty sure you don't want to die, do you?"
"No," Hank said, "Butyou'lltakeJason."
Jake heard the slurred speech, Hank was going downhill fast, "Hank," he said, "You've got to listen to me. That head wound is bad, I bet you have a head ache, sensitivity to light and you're a little unclear on the fine points, am I right?"
Hank nodded drowsily, "Yeah, that'sright."
Jake managed to get closer to Hank, "Okay," he said calmly, "Just take my hand and we'll step down from this ledge."
Hank slowly kneeled down and then lost consciousness, the car seat holding Jason fell and landed on the deck. Hank began convulsing and was going over the edge, Jake leaned forward and caught the man, "KIM!" he yelled, "KIM!"
Kim quickly ran and grabbed Jake's harness and pulled him and Hank to safety. Hank was still jerking around, which was a tough grip for Jake and Kim. Kim and Jake both hauled Hank up and onto the deck, Hank had stopped jerking and Jake laid the man on his side as he looked for a pulse. It was very weak and erratic, "He needs to get to a hospital quickly," Jake said.
Kim glared at him and slapped him, Jake reeled back and glared, "What the hell was that for?" he shouted as Kim got to her feet.
"You risked your life," Kim said, "Unnecessarily," tears began to form in her eyes, pricking them like needles, "I can't lose any of you guys, not after losing Johnny."
"Sorry Kim," Jake said as he looked behind her and saw the rest of the team running up.
"Jake! Kim!" Leah yelled, "Are you guys alright?"
"Yeah! We need to send this guy to the hospital though," Jake said as he looked at Hank, "He has a pretty nasty concussion."
Ben radioed for paramedics as Nick picked up the baby and hurried to the ground level, the paramedics took Jason and they placed him in the same ambulance as Caitlin. Hank was airlifted from the top of the garage, he was in critical condition.
Jake and the rest of the team headed down from the garage top, he received pats on the back from his teammates as they reached the ground and Andy ushered him aside.
"What the hell was that Jake?" Andy asked, his tone scathing.
Jake glared back, "That was called saving lives Cap."
"That was called being rash and impatient," Andy countered, "You could have gotten killed out there. What if Kim hadn't of arrived on time? You should have let the cops deal with this!"
"And what? Wait for him to have a seizure and fall off that ledge? No thanks Cap," Jake retorted, "I know that Johnny's death has affected us all. And we're still reeling from that. Don't tell me what I already know," he said, "But I made a judgment call and I saved that man's life. I saved the baby's life."
Andy's eyes widened in realization, "I know what's going on Jake, I know you wanted to save Johnny. I know you blame yourself. But you can't save everyone Jake, you can't. It's part of the job and if you can't handle that, you're going to need to find another job."
Jake huffed and left as Andy dismissed him, leaving to collect his thoughts for a while.
Later that day at debriefing, Jake sat at the table as Andy went over the events, finally he said, "15:30 pm, Hank McLaughlan dies of his injuries at the hospital, Caitlin and Jason McLaughlan are hospitalized in fair condition."
The whole team nodded in agreement with the events and Nick left the table with a quick, "One sec."
The table grumbled, all the firemen gathered there wanted to do was to get home and sleep. Nick came back with a box and he opened it up, "I know that it doesn't seem like much," he said earnestly, "But I lost a man in the field to. This helps a little, this way, he's always with you."
The team glanced at the box and its contents, it held bracelets with little metal plaques that were engraved, "Johnny Snowden, Ladder 432".
Without further prodding, the team took the bracelets and put them on their wrists. Leah smiled as she thought of the wall outside that recognized the fallen heroes of South Command. Johnny's picture was on a plaque and below it was the fireman's prayer.
When I am called to duty, God
whenever flames may rage,
Give me the strength to save some life
Whatever be its age.
Help me to embrace a little child
Before it's too late,
Or some older person
from the horror of that fate.
Enable me to be alert
And hear the weakest shout,
And quickly and efficiently
to put the fire out.
I want to fill my calling
and give the best in me,
To guard my neighbor
And protect his property.
And if according to Your will
I have to lose my life,
Please bless with Your protecting hand
My children and my wife
I thought the fireman's prayer was a nice touch to the whole chapter :)
As for the garage incident, the car crashing through the wall and perching precariously above the street isn't as farfetched as it seems. A similar incident happened in Tulsa, Oklahoma on April 28, 2010 . . . minus the whole dramatic baby-napping and staged car crash incident. Everyone made it out of THAT situation without injury.