Part IV

Mace took five of the gang members that he considered most loyal with him when he left to go to the next building on their torch list. Once they arrived, Chet was unceremoniously dumped in a windowless room with a chair jammed up under the door knob just in case he got the energy to attempt an escape.

With the fireman secured, the men began getting everything in place for setting the fires. Mace's plan was to start a fire on every floor except for the one they were going to leave him on.

"He's a fireman. He should get to enjoy the sensation of his last fire for as long as possible. Shame we don't have one of those air masks of theirs. We could have him lasting until the fire actually reached him."

Inside the room that was small enough that he suspected it had been a storage closet, Chet was trying very hard not to move more than he absolutely had to. Breathing hurt, which made him suspect bruised ribs at best - cracked or broken at worse and maybe some internal bleeding. Moving his head made him want to vomit, so that generally meant a concussion.

Even so, he was feeling strangely calm - part of which he was attributing to the concussion and the inability to think clearly for very long at a time. Chet had heard the plans for him, but felt detached from them like they'd been talking about something else. He supposed it was a little pathetic that right now? He was just grateful no-one was still hitting him.

This reminded him way too much of when his older brother decided he didn't want his kid brother following him around any more. Chet hadn't paid attention to where his brother was going, he'd just tagged along behind Patrick like he always did. That is, until something distracted Chet and his brother had used that as his opportunity to slip away and left his little brother to go home by himself.

Trouble was that the then six-year old Chet had no clue where he was or what direction home might be. The end result being that he went even further in the wrong direction so that by the time Patrick had confessed to their mother, Chet hadn't been anywhere near where he'd been left. He'd gotten a pretty good beating that day too from some older kids until a grandmotherly type had rescued him. Chet didn't know a word of Spanish back then and the lady didn't know a lot of English, but they seemed to understand the basics just fine. It was odd, he hadn't thought about Mrs. Herrera in years. Now he was wondering if she was still around. He supposed she'd be in her late eighties by now.

He wasn't aware enough to recognize what was happening to him, but the wandering thoughts were part of Chet's slipping into a state of barely conscious. He had been dehydrated before the ordeal started. The beating he'd taken certainly hadn't helped that. By the time Mace reopened the door to take a look at his 'prize', he frowned when Chet hardly responded at all.

"Bud - Leon. Come get him. We're moving up the schedule. I don't want Kelly to miss his own party. We're doing it all for him. Hey - no rough stuff. I already said I want him awake for this. Kansas - go find a first aid kit and grab us some smelling salts."

Mace lead the way to the concrete support that he'd chosen. Being moved and getting fresher air actually revived Chet somewhat. Though he was far from convinced that was a good thing.

"Put his back against the support and keep him upright."

The chain was taken across Chet's stomach and around behind the support. Mace pulled it tight until the chain was indented into Chet's flesh, then secured it with a padlock. A few concrete nails hammered through the link openings insured the chain wouldn't be able to be slid up or down the support.

"You're going to leave his hands and legs free?"

Mace just laughed at that.

"What's he going to do? Break the chain with his bare hands? He's not going any where."

Kansas showed up then and Mace broke one of the capsules under Chet's nose. The acrid smell brought Chet more fully back to consciousness.

"That's better. Show's about to begin. Alright men, let's go get this fire underway. We'll leave Kelly here alone to enjoy it all. Don't worry though, Kelly. We'll be back once it's over to collect what's left of you and drop it back at your old station."