First Class Rescue (First Class Novels) Read Free Page B

the
pictures before she shows them to us.” She was still concentrating on
her crayons.
    “Well I can see how that would upset you,” Mark grinned at
his niece.
    “But I guess she’s okay,” Ella conceded. “And I only have to
go…have to go…how many days mommy?”
    “You go three days a week,” Janie answered.
    “I think I like the drive the best,” Ella stated.
    “The drive?” Katy asked.
    “Uh-huh,” Ella nodded. “With Ray. I love Ray.”
    Ray was Matt and Janie’s driver. He was a trusted employee
and had become a good friend. Matt wouldn’t trust just anyone with his
daughter.
    A plate of warm bread and butter was placed on the table by
their waitress and finally Ella looked up and grinned. “May I have some
please?”
    “You may,” smiled Janie, and she began to feed her children.
    Halfway through lunch they heard the sirens before they saw
the fire engine race past. Well, as fast as one can race through
Manhattan. Then the ladder truck drove past the restaurant.
    “That’s Tim,” Mark frowned. He made the sign of the cross
across his body. “Keep him safe God.”
    *****
    The building was made of brick, pre-war construction, but
there was black smoke billowing out of the windows of the upper floors. Tim’s
truck was the third ladder to respond to the fire, meaning it was a big one.
They needed to get it under control fast.
    Hoses were being run and firefighters ran in organized
chaos. Onlookers stood, mouths opened, down the street behind the police
barricades. The driver moved Ladder 5 into position and Bud, an experienced
firefighter on Tim’s team, began climbing to reach a window several floors up.
The window was already open as Bud reached it and he crawled inside the
building. Jeff, climbing quickly, was almost to the top of the ladder ready to
assist as needed.
    They appeared to be on the floor below the fire, with one of
the other ladder trucks trying to access the floor above the smoke. Tim
silently prayed that they could get everyone out. Tenants from the lower floors
were running out of the front door obviously scared to death.
    As Tim looked back up, Bud radioed that he had three adults
coming out to the ladder as the stairs were now unusable…the smoke was too
thick. An elderly woman came out first and with the help of Jeff she started
down the long ladder after being hooked in for safety. Then a young woman
climbed from the window and Bud hooked her up to the safety harness, and she
followed Jeff and the old woman down. Tim could see that she was extremely
agitated and was screaming at Bud, but Bud was trying to get an old man out of
the window and wasn’t paying any attention.
    Tim helped the old woman that Jeff had safely brought down
the ladder, and the paramedics took her as soon as her feet hit the street.
Jeff carefully guided the young woman, who was now all but hysterical, off the
ladder and handed her off to Tim.
    “My dog!” she screamed. “Cleo is up there! Let me go back!”
    Tim grabbed her arms, trying to get her attention.
    “PLEASE!” she screamed, tears streaming down her cheeks.
    Bud had the old man on his back and was almost down the
ladder.
    “CLEO!” the woman sobbed.
    Tim climbed back on the truck and up to the ladder. He
helped Jeff and Bud get the old man off the truck and the word came through the
radio that the building had been cleared. Tim pulled the radio to his lips and
asked if anyone had recovered a dog. The answer was negative.
    “Where did the young woman come from?” Tim asked Bud.
    “One apartment over,” Bud nodded to the left.
    “I’m going in,” Tim yelled as he grabbed the ladder.
“There’s a dog still in there,” he screamed over his shoulder as he raced up
the steps.
    By the time he got to the window, smoke was filling the
floor and visibility was becoming difficult. With his mask on and oxygen
flowing, Tim shone his flashlight and found the front door of the apartment.
Black smoke engulfed the hallway and Tim had