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Nate comes down the ladder with the hose and heads for the door. He’s moving fast, and I know damn well he wants to turn around and go right back up after Novak.

I look at Rob.

He’s already looking at me.

“Command, Raines,” I say. “Wallace and I are at Engine 1. We’re available for rescue, but we’re still in wildland gear.”

“Copy, Raines. Weber’s RIT is moving to the barn. Get into structural gear and report to me. Do not enter until you’re assigned.”

I turn toward Lindsey.

She’s watching the barn, and when she looks at me, the color has drained from her face. She knows somebody is trapped in there, and she knows what I’m about to do.

“Honey.”

“Go,” she says.

I hesitate long enough to take her hand.

Her fingers tighten around mine.

“Go get him, Travis.”

I squeeze her hand once before turning toward Engine 1.

Rob is already pulling equipment out of the compartments. We keep spare structural turnouts on the engine, and fortunately, there’s a set that fits me. I strip off my wildland gear and step into the bunker pants, pull on the boots, and get the coat on while Rob does the same beside me.

I spent fourteen years running toward danger in the Army. This is the same.

Nate is at the pump panel, making sure the rescue line is charged. His face is red where the mask seal was, and he’s breathing hard after coming out of the loft.

“Where’s Novak?” I ask him.

“East end. He was dragging the line around the stack when the fire took off. There’s a wall behind him, but the hay’s piled high all along it. I couldn’t get to him.”

“Any other way out?”

“East loft door. It’s big enough, but there’s no ladder on that side.”

Caleb comes around the engine with Weber’s captain and two firefighters in full structural gear. Their rapid intervention crew has brought a rescue air pack and tools, and they’re already getting a report from Nate.

“Get a ladder to that east opening,” Caleb tells Weber’s captain. “If we can reach him from outside, that’s our first choice.”

The captain sends his crew around the barn while Caleb looks at me and Rob.

“You two are my second rescue team. I want you on the interior line to the base of the loft ladder. Weber’s going up the east side. If that floor’s compromised or conditions get worse, you back out. Understood?”

“Understood.”

“Novak’s low on air. I don’t want anybody else getting trapped in there trying to reach him.”

I pull the SCBA mask over my face and check the seal, then pull my hood up over the edges and put my helmet on. Rob checks my cylinder and straps, and I do the same for him. Once we’re both ready, I open my cylinder valve, check the pressure, and take a breath through the regulator.

Nate is still at the pump panel, watching us.

“Keep that line charged,” Caleb tells him. “I want pressure the entire time they’re inside.”

“You’ve got it.”