Charlie hung up the latest newspaper clipping for the series of articles covering his work. This particular article was an obituary. Firefighter Chad Smith was laid to rest today at Saint Mary's Church Cemetery. Smith, 34, was responding to a call on the 11th where he was shot by an unknown assailant. Smith died two days later for his injuries. He is survived by his wife, Grace Smith, and two kids, Mackenzie and Isaiah. Smith was buried with full department honors. Donations are being accepted for the Widows of Firemen fund. Charlie smiled with glee once he had it properly hung up. His first successful shooting, such a great accomplishment. Although it was such a shame that the Injun fireman had lived. His kind didn't belong with white people.
The day after the funeral was Johnny's first shift back. It was just in time too. Roy felt like if he worked one more shift with Brice he might just punch the guy. Needless to say, Roy had missed his partner. The guys had given him a welcome back slap on the back when he stepped into his spot at roll call. Roy wasn't the only one who missed him, although Chet claimed that the Phantom only missed his favorite pigeon.
Johnny had been spared latrine duty this shift. Chet had landed that job. Cap was cooking, Mike was cleaning the kitchen and bay, Roy and Marco were out hanging hoses, and Johnny had been given his favorite chore for around the station, dorms. Sometimes Johnny loved the solitude that went with the job, and this day it was welcomed more than usual. The phantom had set up more traps than usual for his favorite pigeon, and Johnny needed a break.
Johnny and Roy's day went pretty smoothly until about suppertime. They had gotten one call, an unknown type rescue call, before lunch, but it had been cancelled on the way there. They had actually gotten to eat lunch that day, which sometimes felt like a rarity. About an hour after lunch they had gotten a possible heart attack call, but the man had not gone out on them when they were caring for him and transporting him, so they were glad for that. The guy had a minor attack when he had gotten to the hospital, but the talented doctors at Rampart took care of it and last Johnny knew the guy was in the care of the Cardiac Care Unit. The only other call Johnny and Roy and gotten before supper was a woman down call. The woman had slipped and fell, spraining her ankle. She too had been delivered to Rampart without any complications.
After supper was when the squad got their first "big" call of the day. It was a warehouse fire at an abandoned warehouse that was going to be torn down soon anyway. Roy and Johnny had been sent in to do a quick sweep of the building, making sure no one was in there. No one had been, but it was better to be safe than sorry. After their quick sweep, Johnny and Roy had been assigned to the west end of the building. There were three other engines there, but Johnny and Roy were the only paramedics. They were expecting anytime to be summoned to treat a fireman with smoke inhalation or irritated eyes.
They had been working on the hose for about 15 minutes when, like expected, they were summoned by the HT, "Engine 51 to Squad 51. Roy, Johnny, I need you guys over here at the base." The voice speaking was Captain Hank Stanley, and he sounded urgent so Johnny and Roy wasted no time getting over to where the base for the fire was.
Laid out on one of the yellow blankets was a lineman from station 99. His turnouts had already been taken off, and at closer inspection, Johnny could see a hole in his uniform with blood seeping out. There had been another victim of the sniper. Johnny grabbed the biophone and let Roy treat the guy.
"Rampart this is Squad 51. How do you read?"
"Squad 51, this is Rampart. We read you loud and clear. Go ahead." came the voice of Dr. Mike Morton.
"Rampart we have a male victim, approximately age 25. He is the victim of a gunshot wound. He was shot in the lower right quadrant of the abdomen. There is an exit wounds. Vitals are BP 90/60, pulse 90, respiration 18. He is unconscious at this time. Request permission to start IV."
"10-4 Squad 51. Start an IV of D5W-tko, monitor BP, and transport as soon as possible."
"10-4 Rampart. IV D5W-tko, monitor BP, and transport." Johnny then got off the biophone and helped Roy load the guy onto a stretcher and into the ambulance. Johnny then took the squad into Rampart to pick up Roy, then the two of them drove back to the fire.
The fire had been mostly put out by the time they returned, but they took up the hose for Chet and Marco until the fire was completely out, then helped with the clean-up of the fire. They then returned to the station where they ate, showered, and headed off to the dorms where they got some well-deserved rest, until they got called out of a run at about midnight.
Charlie was delighted at the moment. Revenge felt so good right now. He didn't know that one could take such pleasure at killing so many people. Slowly, the firemen would learn their lesson about messing with a guy's wife. When he was finished with his killings, every fire-fighter would know his name and fear it.