Chapter 11
Gage sat there with nothing to do. The Maggie's mother wasn't in any physical distress, emotionally he could only imagine what was racing through her mind. He knew what was speeding through his. Anytime Roy or one of the guys was in a dangerous and possibly deadly situation there was fear and dread of what could happen. This was different, nothing he had ever experienced before. Gage's situation was unique, since there had never been a woman in the fire service before now.
"Gage, DeSoto come over here!" Captain Morgan was yelling for them.
"Alright boys, this isn't going to be easy. The tanker is stable, taking all of its own weight. This is the plan, we are going to toss in the grappler and see if Wolf can get it hooked in place. As we wind it up hopefully we can lift the car off of the girl long enough for A.J. to pull her out. Then we'll keep a focus of water on their location. She'll have to whisk her out the same way she came in. Their coats should hold up for that long. They have to."
"Could we move the tanker instead?" Johnny spoke up for the first time.
"No, its' jack knifed. In that position, it would never move far enough for us to get to the car." Stanley was having flash backs of A.J. falling into the darkness at that factory fire a year ago.
"I want another line on them, dosing them in case any of their clothing catches. The rest of the lines need to keep the tanker cooled down."
"Maggie, what is your favorite thing to do?" She knew keeping her conscious and alert was the best thing she could do for now. Brice had come through and got the IV supplies and BP Kit to her. Maggie was being so brave and calm, which was something A.J. had not expected.
"Horses, I love horses. I always wanted to ride a horse!"
"I'll make you a deal, alright? When we both get out of here, I'll take you riding. A good friend of mine has horses and I know he would be happy to meet you. So you just think about that. The wind in your hair, feeling free."
"I didn't think that girls could be firefighters!"
With a smile at her shocked look A.J. replies, "Well now you do! Never forget you can be anything or do anything that you want to! We are going to get out of here."
"A.J, this is Captain Morgan, how are you both doing in there?"
"Now that we got our tans we're ready to go home now!" That made Maggie giggle.
Morgan goes over the plan, making sure A.J. thinks it will work from what she could see from her side of things.
"It's now or never, Cap. Let's do it."
The plan was working perfectly, the car lifted up the few inches it took to loosen the crushing grip it had on Maggie. Johnny in full turn out gear and air pack waded into the flames long enough to take Maggie from A.J.'s arms.
Gage handed the small girl over to Roy then turned back to get A.J. The repositioning of the car had taken away the barrier that was keeping the flames at bay. The crew watch in horror as A.J. was encompassed by a fiery blanket.
Pulling her towards him Johnny tosses her down to the ground and begins slapping out the flames, while Marco and Chet gently(as possible)spray water over her smoldering clothes.
Overcome by utter exhaustion and the pain of her blistering skin, A.J. gratefully sinks into oblivion.