Part XII

How things were going to go was evident as soon as the first roll call of the next rotation was over. The assignments were made and within the hour, Poole was starting to administer disciplinary write-ups for substandard performance. Nothing, from the latrine to the way the beds had been made, was up to Poole's standards. Everything had to done, redone and then redone yet again, but he still wouldn't label anything done as satisfactory. It was no surprise to anyone that he was extra-critical of anything the either Roy or Chet had a part of. It was a little rougher on Chet than Roy simply because the squad would get the occasional solo call that would give Roy a little breathing room away from Poole.

The drilling continued as well. By the time the rotation was half-over, the other shifts had noted how worn down the A Shift crew was. The men hadn't been so tired since the brush fire season had ended. Endurance seemed to be their goal now. They supported each other through small glances and smiles, making it through one shift at a time. Joanne had already informed them all that she would be picking them all up again at the end of this rotation as she had the last.

Unknown to all concerned, when the envelope from Mike had reached Chief McConakee hadn't left the inner envelope sealed as intended. He'd opened and read all three men's observations. He knew DeSoto, of course. The man was generally quiet and seemed level-headed, but had proven how passionate he could be when a cause was something he believed in. Even turned down a promotion to remain a paramedic. Mike Stoker. Very quiet, but a well-thought of Engineer who had been at his job a number of years. Not known for idly rocking the boat. Marco Lopez. Nothing in the man's jacket to speak ill of him either.

If these men were ones that he'd never had much contact with, he might have tossed the whole thing into the garbage as being the product of men with a grievance but nothing to base it on. But these were Hank Stanley's boys and he'd kept himself abreast on Hank and his career since the days that he had been Hank's captain. He decided that it wouldn't hurt to do a bit of checking up to see what might be happening down at Station 51.

The first trickles back just sounded like a crew who were too used to their usual captain's way of doing things. But then more details began to drift in and pile up. The report on Kelly's treatment for breathing too many cleaning fumes. The complaint from Dr. Brackett about not getting enough face time with his paramedics. Reports coming in from the other shifts regarding things that they'd heard and seen that began to sound more serious. Yelling. Crew members not being allowed to speak to one another. The most troubling reports were the ones mentioning how worn the crew was looking. Fatigue was an expected part of the job at times, but there hadn't been enough serious calls for that to have been a factor.

The final day of the rotation arrived and it was busy even without Poole adding to their workload. The calls were coming in thick enough that the best the men had been able to manage was to grab a bite or two from a cold sandwich or an apple. Then at around the halfway point, the tones went off for a fire in a factory. Johnny hoped Poole would put him together with Roy as this was not going to be an easy job. No such break though. Johnny and Marco were sent in to do the search in the north end of the building where the flames hadn't reached yet. Roy and Chet were sent in with a line at the south end, where smoke and flames were already starting to cause problems.

Johnny and Marco began bringing victims out and Johnny was relieved to see that another squad had arrived on the scene. It was Craig Brice and his current partner, Bob Belliveau and they had already begun to prep a triage area after receiving word that there were a dozen unaccounted for. As Craig got one victim started on oxygen, Bob gave a Johnny a puzzled look.

"Where's Roy? He's not in there on his own, is he?"

That got a scowl from Johnny, both from the question and from the answer he had to give.

"No. Captain Poole has Roy manning the hose with Chet on the south side."

Bob glanced over to Craig, then looked back to Johnny.

"So. . .? The building's clear, then?"

"Not yet. Come on, Marco."

Heading back into the building, Johnny could feel the puzzled expression of the other two paramedics following them.

Back at the south side, Chet was wary. He had been a lineman long enough to know when something just didn't feel right, whether it was something he could actually see or not. If Marco had been there, he would have known from Chet's body language to be ready to move quickly just in case. While Roy could see that Chet's posture had stiffened, he didn't have the intimate knowledge of working in a fire with Chet to read it correctly. When Johnny's posture stiffened, it meant to stop.

Chet was tired enough that it took him two beats to remember that it wasn't Marco backing him. When he stopped and turned to speak with Roy to tell him his suspicions, they both felt the creaking under their feet at the same time. Chet, already wary of the floor before that, moved quickly enough. Roy didn't.

On the plus side of the equation, only one board gave way, but his left leg losing support sent Roy down hard. On the negative side, there was fire underneath the floor. Chet grabbed the hose back and quickly adjusted the stream to a heavy mist, soaking Roy's leg as much as he was able before abandoning it to break away part of the board that was hanging up on Roy's turnout gear so that they could pull him out.

Even working as fast as he could, Roy's foot gear was smoldering by the time Chet was able to get Roy's leg freed. Roy did a rapid assessment on himself. He could feel liquid running down his leg, but without removing his gear (which he was not about to do in a burning building), he couldn't tell if he was bleeding or if that was from where Chet had drenched his leg. He didn't think it was anything too serious, but he was going to need Chet's help walking out.

While Roy was doing the evaluation, Chet keyed the HT and relayed the incident over as well as the fact that he was about to bring Roy out.

"Negative, Kelly. Maintain position. I'll send a team in for you."

Chet's eyes moved back to the broken area of floor. Fingers of flame were coming up now.

"We're not in a good spot for that. We have fire under our location. We'll be following the hose back."

Chet didn't wait for the response and shoved the HT back on his belt. The heat alone told them that the fire was getting more intense. Reaching down, Chet helped Roy back onto his feet and then positioned himself to support him. The hose had to be abandoned as they made their way out. They both had a bad moment when another section of floor creaked and threatened to give way, but this time luck was with them and they made it back out to open air.

Johnny and Marco had just dropped off a man that needed to be treated for smoke inhalation when Craig informed them that the rest of the previously unaccounted for weren't in the building. In the confusion, it had been forgotten that the others were away from the building attending, ironically enough, a safety meeting.

Looking up from where he was administering oxygen, Bob called out.

"Gage? Isn't that your partner?"

Johnny whirled and saw Roy leaning on Chet – who wasn't looking terribly steady himself. Within seconds, he and Marco were rushing over to them. Johnny grabbed hold of Roy, while Marco took charge of Chet, whose coloration indicated he might be having problems with heat exhaustion. As soon as they reached the triage area, both men were assisted in stripping out of their heavy turnout gear.

Cooler air, water and a little oxygen soon had Chet feeling better. Roy's leg was scraped and bruised but the only burns were around the ankle area. Fortunately, nothing more severe than a first degree burn, though that would be tender enough for awhile.

Craig and Bob were still attending to them when Poole stormed over and suspended both Chet and Roy for a week without pay for disobeying a direct order. The other two paramedics were stunned – especially since what had just happened didn't seem to surprise Chet or Roy at all.

Johnny immediately jumped in.

"Chet already had heat exhaustion and Roy was injured. They needed to get out of there as fast as they could."

"You want to join them on suspension, Gage?"

Mike had heard what was going on and since he wasn't currently needed to keep the water flowing, he moved closer.

"Johnny was just trying to explain why they had to get out when they did, sir."

"One more word out of you, Stoker, and you'll be suspended yourself."

Straightening his shoulders, Mike's cool stare met Poole's heated one.

"Fine."

Poole scowled.

"Anyone else?"

"I'm still here."

"You questioning me as well, Lopez?"

"I am."

"If that's the way you want it. All of you – one week without pay. Effective as soon as this shift ends."

As Poole moved off, Craig cleared his throat. His voice betrayed that he couldn't really believe what he'd just heard.

"Your entire shift just got suspended?"

Roy looked in the direction of Poole's retreating back.

"Looks that way, doesn't it?"