America's Bravest Read Free Page A

Captain.”
    “Hand the helmet to me.” He scanned her with
the light. “Your hair’s a mess. You have a bruise on your cheek.”
He checked her hands. “Scratches, is all.”
    “It’s a freakin’ miracle we’re not injured
other than your back.” Though her shoulder ached some.
    He coughed from the dust, which still clung
to the air in little particles that they could now see floating
before them in the light. “Let’s hope our luck holds out with the
radio.” Into his lapel mic, he said, “Rescue 7. Malvaso and
Wellington reporting.”
    Nothing. He tried again. Still nothing. “I’m
not surprised. We’re boxed in pretty good to get any reception. Or
it broke in the fall. Try yours.”
    She did, with the same negative result.
    He swept the area with the light. “Walls are
ten courses. Area’s about eight by five. Chunks of concrete and
timber sealed us off.”
    Sealed off. Which meant they had limited air.
And she bet the makeshift walls were thicker than iron. Her heart
rate sped up.
    In the dim light, they met each other’s gaze.
“This isn’t good,” she whispered.
    “Nope,” he answered. “It isn’t.”
    oOo
    His back hurt like hell as he maneuvered his
coat off, then went for his turnout pants. After he refused her
offer of help, Rachel shed her pants and boots, too, as the
temperature in the closed-off space had spiked. He thought about
how she’d touched him through the heavy material. Even in dire
circumstances, having her hands press his cock, and his face buried
in her breasts, affected him. How could that be when they were in
so much trouble?
    When he was down to his white shirt and navy
pants, he managed to lean back against the wall again.
    Wearing just her uniform, too, she began to
unbutton her light blue shirt. Hell. “W-what are you doing?”
    Without looking up, she said, “I got a clean
white T-shirt under my uniform. I’m going to tend to that cut with
it.”
    “Want me to close my eyes?”
    “No need, unless you feel like it. You can’t
see much anyway, but I’ve got on a sports bra, and it covers as
much as what I exercise in at the house. But go ahead, Galahad, if
you want.”
    “That’s Sir Galahad to you.”
    Chuckling, she removed the outer shirt,
reached to her waist and yanked up the tee. He didn’t avert his
gaze and was treated to a hazy view of her toned skin and even more
toned breasts. After she re-dressed, she sidled in close and knelt
up. “I wish I had water.” Gently, she touched the wound on his
head. It stung. “I’ll get the worst of the grime off, though.”
    “You know that no water down here means more
than not being able to clean my cut.”
    She sat back and looked him in the eye. “I
know. We can’t hydrate and we could run out of air before they
rescue us.”
    “If they rescue us.” He reached for her hand.
Squeezed her fingers. “We entered the building at ten a.m.” He
checked his watch, which miraculously hadn’t broken. “Eleven. They
won’t know where we are. I didn’t relay our whereabouts when we
headed down here.” He shook his head. “The fire was really rolling.
They probably had to evacuate and might not even have a head count
yet.”
    “They’ll put it out, Gabe.” Her voice was
full of bravado. “And find us.”
    “I hope so. But we need to be realistic.
We’re in pretty deep.”
    “Should we, I don’t know, try to dig
ourselves out?”
    He scanned the area with the light again.
“Too much debris to make a dent.” Silence. “We should conserve the
light.”
    “Well, we might as well get comfortable
before we go dark.” She stood, grabbed their turnout gear and
formed their coats into two piles, their pants like a pillow of
sorts.
    “Good idea.” If they were going to die, at
least they’d be resting easily. Besides, they could conserve air by
lying still.
    They both slid onto the makeshift beds, and
Gabe switched the light off. The area around them turned pitch
black. “Holy hell.”
    “It’s