The Fire Talks
Chapter Twenty One
by GCS and Hotshow
DISCLAIMER: "Emergency!" and its characters © Mark VII Productions, Inc. and Universal Studios. All rights reserved. No infringement of any copyrights or trademarks is intended or should be inferred. This is a work of fiction, and any similarity to actual persons or events is purely coincidental. This story is only written for entertainment. No financial gain is being realized from it. The story, itself, is the property of the author.
At Captain Stanley's house the rest of 51's A-shift had gathered and were waiting on Johnny and Roy to arrive.
"So Cap do you know what's going on?" Chet couldn't stand not knowing why Johnny had asked them all to meet. He fidgeted in his seat on the sofa.
"Yes Chet I do, but it's not my place to tell you." Hank sat back, raised the foot rest on his recliner and grinned knowing his answer would serve to drive Chet crazy.
"Aw come on Cap. We won't tell him you told." Chet begged moving to sit on the edge of the cushion.
"Don't whine Chet." Mike handed Chet a beer and moved to sit on the sofa next to Marco handing him a beer as well.
"Shut up Stoker." Chet slunk lower in his seat and leaned back again.
"Original Chet." Mike smiled and sipped his beer casually crossing his leg over his knee and resting his ankle there.
Before Chet could give a retort to Mike the front door opened and a tired Johnny Gage followed by Roy entered the house. "Hey guys thanks for comin'."
"John, have a seat pal." Hank stood up to let Johnny have his chair. Johnny looked pale and shaky. He looked like he needed to sit down.
"I'm okay Cap." Johnny wavered slightly, and Roy took him by the elbow and led him to the chair.
"Sit Junior before you fall." Roy turned to the others and saw their beers. "Got any juice or milk Cap?"
"I'll get it. What about you Roy?"
"I'll take a beer." Roy reached for Johnny's wrist to take his pulse. It had been a busy day for his recuperating friend.
Johnny jerked his arm away from Roy. "Stop that."
Roy rolled his eyes at his friend and took a seat in the other recliner.
"What's this all about Gage?" Chet asked. Again sitting up and leaning forward eyebrows raised.
"Just hold your horses Chester B. I'll get around to it as soon as Cap's back." Johnny leaned back and tiredly closed his eyes. His head hurt, but he'd never admit it to anyone. He was nervous and excited all at once.
"Here Pal." Hank handed Johnny a glass of pulp free orange juice and two Tylenol.
Johnny took the two tablets and swallowed them down with the juice. "Thanks Cap."
"Why don't we move to the dining room table?" Captain Stanley clapped his hands together taking charge of his men in his usual fashion. Once they were all seated around the table he looked to Johnny and raised his eyebrows.
Johnny smiled at his Captain and laid the two envelopes from his apartment on the table. Slowly he opened the first one and took out the contract with the publishing company spreading it out on the table before him. "I uh…I need to share something with you guys. I should have told you a while back, but I…I didn't…"
"Just show them Junior." Roy put his fingers on the corner of the paper Johnny had his hand on. "They'll understand." He slid the paper from beneath Johnny's hand and to the center of the table.
Chet and Marco craned their necks to see the paper. Mike seemed to already have an idea of what it was. "So Johnny you get a good deal?"
"Huh?" Johnny looked up at Mike. "Yeah, I guess. How…?"
Mike shrugged. "I remembered that incident where you described the crew in the novel responding to a bombed building. You got your leg hurt in that one. Roy got you out just in time."
Chet and Marco looked at each other with open mouths. "What are you talking about Mike? Is this some kind of joke? Come on Gage. I know you've wanted to get back at the Phantom for a long time. This is just a fake contract right?"
"No." Johnny looked over at his friend. "No joke. It's real."
"No way man." Chet leaned back and took a long drink of his beer. "I mean I thought some of the stories sounded familiar. Like the one where the guy slipped on that tower and nearly fell off. His crewmate had to help him down only to find out there was a dummy on top of the tower, but that could have happened to anyone; besides everybody in the department heard about that one."
"Johnny, how did you get the idea to write a novel?" Marco asked.
"Well, I 've been keeping notes on things for a while. On my legal pad. I thought you guys would think it was stupid so I wrote it in my native language. That way you couldn't read it." Johnny ran his hands through his hair.
"So that's what you had on the notepad. You said it was about Jennifer's birthday." Chet couldn't believe Johnny had told him that if it wasn't true.
"I did have that too. I…" He stopped and opened the other larger envelope and pulled out a thick bundle of papers, handwritten papers. "Here." He slid the papers to the center of the table. "Here's the novel."
Chet grabbed the papers before anyone could look at them. "Well so you say. We can't read this." He flashed the papers above the table. "This chicken scratch is in your language. How do we know what it says?"
"Keep looking Chet. The back pages are in English." Johnny sighed.
Chet flipped to the back of the stack and leaned back in his chair again, mouth and eyes open wide. "No way."
Johnny chuckled as did Roy and Hank. "Yes way."
"So you're some kind of millionaire now?" Chet wondered aloud.
"No Chet."
This statement caused the others to look back at Johnny.
"But why not? That book has sold millions of copies Gage. Didn't you get a good deal?" Chet spoke what the others were thinking. Only Cap knew the truth.
"I did get a good deal Chet. I'm not stupid ya know."
"Humph." Chet guffawed.
Johnny's face reddened and he shot a glare at Chet. "Well I'm not!"
"Ahem." Hank cleared his throat loudly. "John, why don't you explain? I think the guys would like to know what happened to the proceeds of your contract."
Johnny slipped additional legal documents from the envelope that had held the contract along with seven small white envelopes. He handed each of his crewmates an envelope with their name on them. He handed Roy two. "Before you open those I want to tell you what is inside."