Page 75 of Fighting For You

I showered at the station until the water ran cold. When I came out of the locker room, Thompson stepped out of his office.

"Sullivan. Come in."

He closed the door behind me. I sat in the chair across from his desk. He leaned against the edge of it.

"Don't beat yourself up over what happened to Travis. I sent him back in. That was my call, and I'd make it again. Travis was doing his job." He looked at me. "He went in on my order. The structure failed. That's the job. Don't put that on yourself."

"Yes, sir."

"I'm not going to pretend I don't understand why you went back in. A kid was standing there screaming for his dog. You heard it, you made a call, and you got the animal out alive." He crossed his arms. "I respect that. I do."

He paused.

"What I can't tolerate is you going off radio. I called you twice. You didn't respond. Those communication protocols aren't suggestions, Knox. They exist so that I know where every one of my firefighters is inside a burning building at all times. The second you stop talking to me, I'm blind. And when I'm blind, I have to send someone in after you."

He let that sit.

"I'm pulling your name from the eligibility list this cycle. You're off the promotional track until further notice."

The words landed and I let them. Thompson had told me twice, in this room, what would happen if I kept pushing. I kept pushing.

"I still think you'd be right for lieutenant. But I can't put you in front of a board with this in your jacket. Not this year."

"I understand, sir."

He held my gaze, then stood up and opened the door. "Get some rest."

Barking. Somewhere through the fire, through the smoke, through the roar of the building coming apart around me.

"Beckett!" My voice was so small it disappeared into the noise. "Beckett!"

I could hear him barking somewhere deeper in the warehouse. I tried to go toward it, but the corridor was a wall of orange and the floor was too hot under my feet.

"Knox!"

My older brother grabbed me. He hauled me up over his shoulder, one arm locked around my legs, as he ran through the warehouse that was rapidly getting consumed by the flames.

"Gage! Beckett's still in there! I heard him, he's still in there!"

"I'll come back for him. I need to get you somewhere safe first!"

He set me down on the grass next to my friends, then ran back to save our dog.

I watched as Travis ran back into the building.

The structure came down. Walls folding, roof caving, everything collapsing into itself.

"Travis!"

The beam came down on me.

Suddenly I was thirty years old.

I couldn't remember hitting the floor. My neck was wet and hot from my ear to my collarbone.

"Knox! Talk to me, brother!"

Wyatt's voice cut through my PASS alarm. He pulled me out into the parking lot where I saw her.