HERO
by ardavenport
** **** ** Part 6
Oooooooeeeeeeee-mmmmaaaaahhhh - BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
"Station Fifty-One - Structure Fire - One-One-Four-One Orange Blossom Drive - Structure Fire - One-One-Four-One Orange Blossom Drive - Time Out: Two-Fifteen."
Everyone had been sound asleep when the bell sounded. And rolling out of bed, everyone had to make a pit stop at the latrine before running to squad and engine.
"Come-on, come-on, come-on!" Stanley hustled after the last man to the engine.
"Station Fifty-One, KMG-Three-Six-Five." Roy put the microphone back on the hook before sprinting for the squad. The garage door was already up and the engine rolled out first.
The run was at the edge of Station Fifty-One's usual territory, but the trip was faster than usual because of the nearly empty middle-of-the-night streets. Engine Ten, Truck Ten and a Battalion Chief's car were already there, but Station Ten's squad was not. Station Fifty-One was the second alarm and they heard the dispatcher sending another two engines their way. A wooden sign on the lawn in front of the flaming building said "St. Dominic" in huge letters by the street.
The fire was a three story building, its tall narrow windows lit with greedy flame, lighting up the night. An older building with a brick façade, Engine Ten was already pouring water on it with two hoses. The Battalion Chief issued orders with a bullhorn.
"Engine Fifty-One - take the opposite side of the building - fire hydrant across the street!"
Marco and Chet were already out and pulling hose. Stanley ran to the Battalion Chief.
"Squad Fifty-One, take care of the victims on the sidewalk! The ladder is bringing more out!"
They were all clustered on the opposite side of the street. And they were all women wearing the same long white nightgowns. Some had scarves tied over their hair, shawls and blankets over their shoulders and heads. Laden with equipment and oxygen, the two paramedics rushed to them. One barefoot woman in a blue shawl and thick auburn hair met them. She faced them like a woman in charge.
"Is there anyone still in there? Do you have everyone here?"
Instead of answering Roy, the woman turned to the others, huddled together; they looked fearful, but most were standing and not obviously hurt or even coughing. "Sisters! Call out!" She also started pointing, counting as they spoke up.
"Benedictine!", "Maria!", "Job, Mother!" . . . "
Roy turned back to the flaming building. It was a convent.
Very quickly, they had a count. "Four of my sisters! They all sleep upstairs!"
"I'm on it!" Johnny rushed off to report to the Battalion chief. Roy turned back to the women. They were actually in good shape. The Mother Superior, and a woman who Roy immediately thought of as her 'lieutenant' told him about the fire alarm going off and everyone getting out (they conducted regular drills), but the fire . . .
"It just ran up the walls, right up to the ceiling." The 'lieutenant' shivered in her shawl. And she did not sound like a woman easily cowed. "Sister Patrice is in charge of getting everyone out from upstairs. But it was as if the fire chased them down; it spread so fast . . . Patrice never came back."
More sirens arrived. The Battalion Chief assigned the new engines to another side of the burning convent and to defend the neighboring church. New flames were reaching up into the black sky.
One elderly sister was having trouble breathing and Roy took the oxygen to her and immediately he had competent help from the others. Behind him, more streams of water attacked the higher-climbing flames. Burnt wood and stone tainted the air, but it wasn't too bad where they were. The wind was blowing the smoke away from them, but it was not helping with getting the fire under control, either.
Captain Stanley's shout rose above the noise from the scene.
"Gage! What are you doing!?"
At first Roy didn't see his partner amidst all the activity and smoke. Then he saw movement in the shadows of the overgrown bushes at a side door.
The Battalion Chief's bullhorn joined Stanley's shout. "Gage! Get away from the building!"
Helmet down, Gage suddenly came running out - -
- - just as the fire flashed and the brick façade of the building exploded.
Everyone flinched back, but Roy and the nuns were too far away for the any of the flying debris to reach.
On the lawn outside the burning building, Gage was down, but Roy hesitated to leave his charges.
"Go help him!"
Roy was off like a shot, spurred on by the Mother Superior's command.
DeSoto and Stanley reached Gage at the same time.
"What were you doing, Gage?" Stanley sounded very angry, but a new cry came up from the downed man and it wasn't Gage's voice.
"Johnny, Johnny?!" Roy kicked away smoldering bricks, but his body was curled over forward around something.
"Waaa-aaahhhh!"
"Holy smokes!" Stanley's anger completely vanished.
The tiny baby in the basket that Johnny's body had been shielding was pink and wrinkled and newborn and expressed its anger at how it had been treated with a healthy set of lungs. There was a square envelope pinned to the blanket wrapped around the baby.
"Waaah-waaa-waaaaaaaah!"
Johnny fell away, completely limp, as a shocked Roy cradled the basket. Stanley's shout broke through his surprise and spurred him into action.
"Go! I've got him!"
Roy jumped up and ran as Stanley hauled Johnny over his shoulders.
The nuns across the street greeted them with gasps and Roy was able to hand the basket off to safe hands before helping Stanley lower Gage to the grass. His turnout coat was only singed in places; there were no dents or cracks in the helmet that they took off his head. Stanley opened the Biophone and contacted Rampart while Roy checked his partner's vital signs. Pulse: rapid and thready; skin: pale but not cyanotic, breathing: shallow, blood pressure: low. And unconscious. Possible concussion.
"How's he doing?" The Chief had come over. More sirens had arrived, including an ambulance.
And the four missing nuns, having been rescued by the ladder truck crew were welcomed by their sisters. The Mother Superior, tears running down her cheeks, held the note open when her lieutenant held the crying child.
"He'll be fine, Chief, just got knocked out." Roy hadn't found any broken bones and his reflexes were good, but Roy wanted to use the back board, just in case.
The Chief looked at Gage, the basket, the baby and correctly assessed what had happened. "You've got a good man there, Stanley."
Stanley got up. "Yes, Sir. Take care of him, Roy."
"You bet, Cap."
Stanley left with the Chief. They still had a fire to put out.
"Sister Therese, go with the baby to the hospital. Its name is Sarah. And have your foot looked at. We'll come for you later."
Sister Therese had cut her foot on something during the evacuation. The other nuns had apparently helped themselves to whatever they needed from the drug box to competently bandage the injury. Roy refrained from saying anything about it; if you couldn't trust nuns, then could you trust?
Roy and the ambulance attendants got Johnny on the gurney and loaded into the ambulance and then helped Sister Therese and the still crying baby inside as well. The Mother Superior shut the doors and banged on them that they were secure. The siren started up and they moved out.
"Waa-waa-waaaah!"
The volume of the baby had gone down, but it was still crying as Sister Therese cooed, rocked and comforted it.
"Oooh, you poor thing. You poor thing."
Therese allowed Roy to take baby Sarah and check her for injuries, but there was nothing. No singes, burns or bumps at all. And she quieted more.
"You have gentle hands. Do you have children?"
Roy nodded. "Two." He wrapped the baby up again in the threadbare blanket and handed her back.
"You must be a wonderful father."
Roy shrugged. "Uh, they don't think so around bedtime."
"Unh!"
They both jumped when Johnny suddenly came awake. Roy clamped a protective hand onto the arm with the IV in it.
"Hey, Johnny, it's okay, it's okay. Just lie still."
Johnny's startled brown eyes darted from side to side before he let his head drop.
"Waah-waah-waah."
Johnny's head shot up again. "Baby! There was a baby! Was there a baby?!"
Pointing to Sister Therese who leaned forward so he could see, Roy grinned. "Sure was, partner."
Gage gaped at it for a moment before letting his head fall back on the pillow again.
"Whoa! It was really a baby! I can't believe it."
"And you saved her." Therese touched the tiny face. "It's a miracle."
"You got her out just in time, just before the whole side of the building went."
"Really? Is that what happened?"
"Yep. We found the basket right under you."
"Is she okay?"
"She looks fine. I think she's a newborn. How did you know she was there?"
"Well, you know, I saw the basket by the door and I thought I heard it cry and you know, there are nuns and people leave babies on their doorsteps all the time and, you know, I couldn't leave."
"I've never had a baby left on my doorstep before." Therese turned the little face toward him again. "Her name is Sarah,"
"Woooow." Gage stared at the little miracle for so long that Roy nudged his shoulder.
"Hey partner, you okay?"
"Hunh?"
"How's your head?"
Gage's eyes unfocused as if he was just remembering he still had a head.
"Uh, okay, I think. Kind of hurts. I guess" He closed his eyes and Roy nudged him again.
"Hey, Johnny, eyes open. You know the drill."
"Yeah, yeah, I know. I don't feel nauseous and I'm not losing consciousness on you. Hey, how long was I out?"
Roy checked his watch. "About ten minutes. We're on the way to Rampart."
Johnny moaned. "Oooooh, Brackett's going to want skull x-rays. Is it Brackett?"
"Yep. He'll probably want to keep you overnight, too. Just in case. And you might miss your next shift."
Johnny moaned again.
"Waaah-waah-waaaaah!"
"Ssshhhh," Sister Therese rocked the child and she quieted a bit. "Shhhhhhhh."
Roy leaned on an elbow on one knee and gestured toward nun and baby. "I don't know, Johnny, sort of looks like that's worth missing a shift or two."
One side of Johnny's mouth curled up in a crooked smile. "Yeeeeaah."
** **** ** End Part 6