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Weber’s captain hands me their spare rescue air pack. “For your man,” he says. Rob slaps my shoulder twice.

I turn toward him, and he gives me a nod.

My radio hums. “Command, Novak.” His voice is muffled through the mask. “I’m still at the east wall. Got fire moving overhead. Air’s getting low.”

“Copy, Novak,” Caleb says. “We’ve got crews coming to you. Stay low and keep us informed.”

I glance back toward the ambulance.

Lindsey is sitting on the back step with Alison beside her, the oxygen mask over her face and both hands gripping the edge of the bumper. She’s watching me, and when I lift a hand, she gives me a small nod.

I turn back toward the barn.

“Command, this is Raines. Wallace and I are ready at the entry point.”

Caleb checks with the accountability officer, confirms Weber’s crew is moving into position on the east side, and gives us our assignment.

“Copy, Raines. You’re cleared to enter. Get him and get out. Nobody gets brave.”

Rob takes the line behind me, and I pull my gloves tight before stepping through the barn door.

Then I go in.

Chapter Thirty-Three

Travis steps through the barn door with Rob right behind him on the hose, and the smoke closes over both of them.

I start counting.

I don’t decide to. Grandma taught me to count between the lightning and the thunder when I was little and scared of storms. Mostly it gave me something to do besides cry.

I’m sitting on the back step of the ambulance with the oxygen mask over my face and both hands wrapped around the edge of the bumper. Alison is beside me with her radio turned up, so I can hear every word on the fire channel.

Engine 1 is maybe thirty feet away. Nate is at the pump panel, watching his gauges and the hose that runs across the black and in through the barn door. Around the east end of the barn, two of Weber’s firefighters are climbing a ladder to the loft opening.

I’m at twenty when the smoke coming out of the roof turns darker.

Somewhere around forty, something inside the barn groans, long and loud, like a tree going over.

“Alison,” I say through the mask.

“I hear it.” She puts her hand on my knee. “Barns make noise when they get hot. The old wood moves.”

I want to believe her. I keep counting.

The hose on the ground jerks and goes slack. Then it jerks again.

Nate glances back at me. “That’s them moving,” he says. “When the line moves, they’re moving. That’s good.”

Rob’s voice comes over Alison’s radio. He’s breathing hard through his mask. “Command, Wallace. We’re at the base of the loft ladder. Fire’s in the center of the loft. Raines is going up. I’m on the nozzle.”

“Copy, Wallace,” Caleb says.

Travis is climbing into a burning hayloft. I press a hand to my chest and make myself breathe.

A voice I don’t know comes on next. “Command, Weber Rescue. We’re at the east loft door. Hay’s stacked against it on the inside, floor to ceiling. We can’t get through. We’re putting water in over the top.”

“Copy, Weber. Keep it on him.”