The Gage Surprise-21
The blue edsel slowly strolled up and down each row of the parking lot looking for an empty spot. Finding none, Mrs. Stanley silently cursed her procrastination and pulled back out onto the highway. She had seen several other cars utilizing the unmarked parking lot of a warehouse which now stood in disrepair. She pulled into a cramped but empty slot between two vans. She eased the nose of the car up near the ragged metal building and shifted into 'park.' Hope they're gone by the time I get back so I can see to get out. With one final glance at herself in the rearview mirror, she clutched her purse and squeezed out of the door locking it as she exited and began the long walk across the street and into the shopping center.
E!
Alyssa parallel parked her small car and stepped out into the light breeze. She pulled the gray lever that released the back of the driver's seat and folded it down. She reached inside and began to clip the leashes to Patches and Gage.
"Now, you two take it easy on us, ok? I can't walk as quickly as I could a few months ago." Her words caught in her throat as the impact of what she'd just said began to fully sink in. Us? She had acknowledged the growing life within her for the first time without consciously thinking about it. The thought warmed her heart and exhibited itself in the form of a broad smile across her pixy face.
Gage heard the click of the leash being attached and quickly sat on her right side. "Good boy, Gage." She acknowledged. She then attached the other leash to Patches' collar and coaxed her out of the car. Patches was not as obedient as Gage but Alyssa hoped that in time she'd be able to train her in the basics of obedience.
Alyssa walked at a leisurely pace around the park with a dog on either side. Looking at Patches brought a sense of melancholy to Alyssa. She and Johnny hadn't really talked about the heated conversation they'd had on Thanksgiving Day. They had been civil to each other but their conversations had been short and she knew he was feeling the tension too.
She had spent a lot of time thinking about his statement and she'd come to realize that she truly had been blaming herself for her father's death, the death of Katherine Gage and with her delivering midwife, Alice Keener, being saddled with a child she hadn't wanted but was left to raise. Now, she was pregnant with a child who would never know his or her maternal grandparents. And no matter how hard she tried to push the nagging feeling down, she kept sensing that somehow she was going to cause this child harm as well. Are all expectant mothers this anxious? She really wished she had Katherine or Alice with her; a mother to help school her in the mysteries of motherhood.
She began her final lap around the park knowing that she needed to get to the grocery store before it closed when suddenly both dogs stopped in their tracks; ears perked. Alyssa heard it too and instinctively lowered her leash-wrapped hands around her midsection as the screeching sound brought goosebumps to the surface of her skin; the sound of a thousand fingernails scraping down a chalkboard but amplified immeasurably.
E!
Hank pushed back away from the table and silently thanked his wife for her tender loving care of him and his crew.
"I'll give you a hand with that, Cap."
"Thank you, Mike."
"Mighty good, mighty good." Johnny reiterated the sentiment of all the others throughout the meal. "Cap, you're a lucky man."
"Well, John, I have to agree with you there." Hank said as he placed the left over ham back into the Tupperware container and sealed the lid. He walked to the refrigerator opening the door and placed it on the second shelf, holding the door open for Mike to add his armload.
"Plenty of it left for dinner too, huh?"
"That's right, DeSoto. Mrs. Cap knows how to keep her men happy." Chet grinned; suddenly jolted by a slap on the back of his head.
"Chet…why don't you think before you speak?" Johnny admonished glaring at the curly haired lineman with the look of a stern school principal.
"What? What'd I say? Alls I….ooohhh. Yikes, uh…" He cast a sheepish glance at his superior. "Sorry, Cap. I didn't mean anything by that. I mean, I'm a married man too and…well, I just…"
"Chet, would you shut…!" Johnny began; his words halted by the sound of the klaxons.
E!
Alyssa walked the dogs back over to her car and returned them to the back seat without unleasing them. She then walked towards the area where a crowd was gathering. Sirens were heard in the background growing louder and louder as the crowd seemed to expand. A black and white patrol car pulled to a screeching halt as a young officer parked cross ways in the street so as to block traffic.
"You people keep back!" He admonished as he halted traffic for the approaching engine and squad.
E!
Two blocks away a haggard Mrs. Stanley tried to peek through the throngs of last minute shoppers to see the source of the horrific grinding sounds she'd heard just as she exited the store. She'd heard Hank complain often about the 'rubberneckers' as he'd always called them and now she found herself becoming one of them. She couldn't help it though. Her curiosity was killing her and she wanted to know what could have caused such an ominous sound.
Finally, after being shoved and pulled along with several others in the crowd, her eyes caught a glimpse of the disaster. "No…Oh no!"
E!
Mike pulled the engine to a stop on the street that had been blocked off by law enforcement; pulling in directly behind the squad.
"Would you look at that?" Marco mumbled as he and Chet exchanged weary looks.
Hank quickly exited his tall frame from the cab and jogged over toward the nearest police officer while his crew began their preparations for whatever task lay ahead.
"What've you got, Jim?"
"Well, from what Pete and I have been able to find out from witnesses, two sports cars were vying for a parking spot over by that old warehouse. Tempers flared and each one tried to beat the other one to the spot. That semi tried to miss the altercation and swerved into that row of cars." He gestured in the vicinity of where a pile of twisted metal now stood.
"What row of cars?" Hank questioned with a look of dread on his face.
"The one underneath that rubble, Hank. There're at least four cars under there and we don't know if they're occupied or not. Truck driver got out under his own power but he seems pretty shaken up. He's in the back of our car if one of your men can take a look at him. I've called for additional manpower, Hank. I hope I didn't jump the gun, here."
"No." Hank hesitated before continuing. "No, Jim…I'd say you didn't."
E!
She watched as the squad and engine from station 51 rounded the corner and pulled to a stop. Be careful, Hank. She watched as her husband leaped from his shotgun seat and loped to the place where a couple of officers now stood. She recognized them as officers Reed and Malloy; friends of Hank's and she felt a tiny bit of relief wash over her tense shoulders. Somehow, she felt that their presence would provide some sort of safety net for Hank and his crew. Her years as a firefighter's wife had taught her not to look at what she didn't need to see and with that thought in mind, she returned inside the building and took a seat on a vacant bench near the restrooms. She opened up her purse and found a dime to call home. Their kids needed to know that she would be much later getting home than she'd thought when she left.
E!
Hank's crew gathered around him waiting for instructions. He tried to give them as many details as he could but he was still a bit stunned at the wreckage.
"Whole damn thing looks like it's gonna collapse, Cap."
"I know, John. We got at least four cars in there but you men can't go in until we can get this more stabilized."
"But if there're people trapped underneath that stuff then..."
"Then they'll just have to wait." Hank stared into the eyes of his crew. "I won't authorize anybody to go in there while that thing is still unstable."
A thunderous crash caused Hank to jump and duck his head slightly. He quickly turned around and saw that two additional pieces of metal from the third floor had just dropped down like a guillotine.
"John, you and Roy check on that truck driver over there. He's in the back of that patrol car. I'm going to take the HT and go survey the west side of this thing. Marco, you and Chet take your HT and take the south side. Mike, direct the other crews when they get here if I'm not back."
"Got it, Cap." Mike knew he had to do as he was directed but it was never easy to stand near the relative safety of the engine while his crewmates went into the danger zone. This was especially true on this particular run since normally it was Hank who took over the incident command position instead of him. He huffed in frustration and moved with the paramedics to assist them as much as he could at the moment.
"How ya doin'?"
"Sh..uh…kind of shaky feeling." The driver looked up and saw a dark haired paramedic removing his helmet and kneeling down beside him.
"Well, let me take a look at ya." Johnny began assessing his patient by taking his pulse and respirations as Roy returned with the trauma box and biophone. Mike followed on his heels with the drug box.
"Umph…oh, sorry, Roy." Mike apologized to his shift mate for banging the drug box into his head as he kneeled down opening up the biophone. Mike set down the black box and stood up looking back over his shoulder at the decaying and now cavernous looking building; the exact behavior that had caused him to practically run Roy over.
"It's ok, Mike…..Rampart this is squad 51. How do you read?"
"Go ahead 51." The voice of Dr. Mike Morton answered.
Johnny released the bulb on the blood pressure cuff then wrapped his stethoscope around his neck. "160/86 Roy, pulse 80 and respirations 18." He then removed his pen light from his pocket and returned back to his patient.
"Ok, I want you to look at the middle of my forehead for me a'right. I'm just gonna shine this light in your eyes for just a second." He used a sweeping motion as he flashed the tiny light across the eyes of his patient. "Equal and reactive, Roy."
"Rampart we have a male approximately 35 years old, victim of a TA. His vitals are…."
"Ok, did you hit your head? Lose consciousness?" Johnny asked as Roy began their transmission to Rampart.
"No."
"Feelin' any pain anywhere?"
"No, just shaky." The driver responded scrubbing his hands across his face.
"Yea..well…that's a normal reaction to what you've been through. You got quite an adrenaline rush when you slammed into the building."
"Rampart, patient denies pain but complains of feeling shaky. He also denies hitting his head or any loss of consciousness."
"10-4, 51. Does the patient have a history of hypertension?"
"Do you have high blood pressure?" Johnny asked having heard Dr. Morton's question.
"No…never had any health problems."
"Negative, Rampart." Roy answered
"Are ya taking any medication for anything?" Johnny asked continuing to assess his patient.
"No, not even an aspirin."
"Medical history is negative Rampart. No current meds."
"Ok, I don't see any injuries but we'd like to keep you here for a few minutes until the ambulance gets here and watch that blood pressure a'right?"
"10-4, 51. Is ambulance on scene?" Dr. Morton's voice could be heard in the background.
"Negative."
"Ambulance? I don't need to go to no hospital, man."
"A'right, a'right….just take it easy. We can't make you go in but at least stay here and settle down and let us check your blood pressure again. If it's still up then you might want to go in and let the doctors take a look at ya."
"Alright….sorry man…I'm."
Johnny held up his hand. "No problem…you just rest a minute and try to relax ok?"
The driver shook his head in agreement and leaned back in the seat with an audible exhale.
E!
"Holy shit! Would you look at that, Marco?" Chet peered up at the rusty and ragged pieces of metal and glass left dangling above them. "Hey, anybody in here?"
"Yea…stay back." Marco turned at the sound of approaching sirens. "Here comes the cavalry."
"Yea but….what the hell are we gonna do when they get here?" Chet quizzed.
"Don't know, man. I don't see any way to shore it up any. It almost looks like we'll have to pull it apart piece by piece until we can get to the cars and just pray that what's left hangs on until we can get'em out." Marco was scanning the scene with his dark eyes; a sickening feeling beginning to form in the pit of his stomach.
Chet gave Marco a sideways glance. "Yea….if there's even anyone in there." He then keyed the mic on his HT.
"Firefighter Kelly to Cap'n Stanley."
"Go ahead Kelly."
"Cap, it ain't lookin' good on this side. Rickety and unstable. Don't see anything stable enough to anchor to over here. No response to our calls either."
"Yea…same on this side. Station 99 is pulling in now. Let's go regroup and see what we can come up with."
The two linemen walked gingerly away from the hanging metal swinging in the wind and walked around the front of the building back towards their engine.
Hank gave one more call out before turning to leave. "Hey…fire department….anybody in here?"
Again, a metallic groan answered him followed by a shattering crash. The metal pieces brushing part of the debris away from a section of the building that was now at eye level with Hank. He shifted from side to side peering into the newly opened portal and felt his heart drop to his feet.
"No…oh no, Honey!" He stammered as he saw the back of a blue edsel and recognized the license plate.
Raw emotion over took him as he momentarily forgot about his previous orders, his crew and his last transmission with Chet. He pulled out his gloves and felt his breath hitch in his throat as he stared into the mouth of a monster. Jagged edges of metal and glass reminded him of the teeth of a jack 'o lantern on Halloween. He felt his heart beating in his throat and his stomach slipping down around his knees. His thighs began to feel the rush of the adrenaline that was now flooding his system as he began to pull back pieces to give him access to the beast. What he couldn't pull away he kicked at until he'd finally managed to form a hole big enough to allow his 6'4" frame to squeeze through and rushed to the place where the crumpled corpse of his wife's vehicle lay still.
"Hey….honey, you in there?" He called to her as he pulled away debris not feeling anything when his flesh was torn away in multiple places. His need to locate his wife overwhelmed any feelings of pain or discomfort. Finally, gaining access to the driver's door he looked inside and released his breath. She wasn't there. The door locks were in the locked position which meant she wasn't in the vehicle when the accident occurred. He turned to head back to the hole through which he'd entered when the creaking and groaning began again. A rush of claustraphobia assaulted his senses as he was hurled into a tunnel of darkness and searing white hot pain…..then nothingness.
E!
"What the..?" Johnny twisted to look in the direction of the horrific sounds and saw that a corner of the entire building had collapsed. "Shit!" His sense of urgency to get inside for search and rescue just increased exponentially.
"Sir, I'm going to check your blood pressure again and see if it's coming down any. Now you just relax and take it easy, ok?" Roy began pumping up the bulb as their patient once again leaned his head back on the seat.
Johnny watched as his partner's calm demeanor helped to relax the anxious truck driver. He picked up the biophone prepared to relay the information Roy was about to give him.
"150/82"
"Rampart this is squad 51. How do you read?" Johnny uttered.
"Loud and clear 51." This time the voice belonged to Dixie.
"Rampart we have updated vitals on our male patient. BP is 150/82, pulse is 82 and respirations are 14."
"Stand by 51." The smoky voice responded.
"10-4 Rampart but be advised that patient is still refusing transport at the present time."
"10-4 51." Dr. Morton's frustration evident in his last transmission.
"Rampart, we are still on scene with possible additional victims. Patient has agreed to allow us to continue to monitor his vitals."
"10-4, 51. Keep us updated."
"10-4." Johnny said hanging up the biophone; his eyes wandering around him seeing Chet and Marco standing near Mike and the Captain and crew of Station 99. Where's Cap?
E!
"Where's Cap?"
"Don't know, Stoker. He said for us to meet him here to regroup." Marco explained.
Chet keyed up the mic on his HT. "Firefighter Kelly to Captain Stanley."
The silence was deafening to those who were waiting to hear from Hank.
Mike stepped up to the engine and keyed up the mic. "Engine 51 to Captain Stanley."
Again, no response.
Pandemonium set in as the Captain of 99's began barking orders. The men were ordered to search the perimeter of the warehouse but were not to go in; they could only report back on what they found. If Hank or any other person could be visually located then they would devise a plan to attempt a rescue. But there would be no sweeps made until stabilization could occur.
E!
Alyssa was close enough to Pete to overhear his conversations with his partner. What she heard made her stomach tighten. Cap is trapped? No one is going in to try to find him right now? She felt torn; she wanted Captain Stanley to be rescued but she didn't want to see Chet or any other firefighter to be the ones to go in. But what if it was Chet in there? What if it was Johnny? What if it was her baby?
She did a quick about face and headed back to her vehicle. As she approached the vehicle she saw Gage's brown tail wagging in anticipation of being reunited with her. She quickly retrieved him from the backseat still leashed.
"Sorry, Patches…..not this time, girl."
She kneeled down beside the sitting dog and gave him a command that caused the eager animal to tense his muscles, perk his ears and begin to strain to be released from his leash. He nearly pulled her down as he eagerly made his way forward on the path; coughing and gasping against the restraints of the collar and leash.
"Sir…sir, I can help with.."
"Ma'am stay back and keep that dog away from the scene." The young rookie who had previously been directing traffic said harshly.
"You don't understand….my husband is one of the firefighters over there." She hurriedly pointed across the street where a multitude of firefighters in full turnout gear were busily working. "My dog can help with lo.."
"Ma'am, I'm not going to say it again. Now STAY BACK! And that's an order" He glared at her pointing his finger in her direction.
Her breath caught in her throat as anger began to boil through her veins. She knew Gage could provide the assistance that Cap and the rest of the crew needed…..and any other victims who might be trapped. She couldn't stand by and just watch this play out badly. She moved slowly around the crowds and out of the site of the young rookie cop. When she reached a point where no one seemed to be watching her she crossed over the street getting as close to the wreckage as she could. She gulped as she surveyed the carnage; reaching down and feeling for the button that would release Gage from his leash.
"Find."
Gage tensed up as he felt her fingers fumble near his collar for the button and he poised himself ready to spring into action. He lifted up slightly from his haunches as he awaited for the click he knew was coming.
Alyssa glared in the direction of the officer who now had his back turned to her. He wouldn't hear her but she didn't care. This was something she had to do and he was not going to stop her. She drew her lips into a thin line and proclaimed through gritted teeth.
"To hell with the order!"
E!
We're almost finished with this story. I hope you enjoy and thank you for your support.