Lana chose a place on the wall and gripping her ax, she struck firmly. Plaster sprayed, hitting her SCBA mask and bouncing off. Wood splintered and flew all around her as she relentlessly attacked the wall.
She turned to check Angie. When she saw the little girl’s eyes drooping, she called out, but Angie didn’t respond. Lana abandoned the wall, grabbed the little girl and shook her.
Angie’s blue eyes popped open.
“Stay awake, sweetheart,” Lana pleaded. She took her air mask and put it over the girl’s face.
“Breathe.”
After Angie had breathed in the oxygen, Lana replaced the mask over her own face. She went back and started to attack the wall again.
The wall gradually gave way. As soon as she could see through to the other side, she went back to Angie, picked her up and ran at the partially open wall.
Crashing through, Lana landed heavily on her right shoulder. She went to the window. They were already wheeling the ladder into place. As soon as hands reached out to help her, she gave the girl over.
“She’ll need an EMT. I’m going back for O’Neill.”
Through the chopped hole in the wall, Lana reentered the bedroom emerging into the living room.
“Sean?”
“I’m almost through,” he yelled. Lana once again swung her ax. The familiar sound of her SCBA whistling told Lana she had a quarter of a tank of air left.
She started to pant inside the mask, knowing that her exertion was using up the precious oxygen more rapidly.
When the whistling stopped, Lana doubled her efforts, her swings increasing at a rapid pace. She only had ninety seconds of air left.
Just when she felt the blackness playing around the edge of her consciousness, she could hear Sean’s efforts on the other side.
She broke through, Sean grabbed up the girl. Lana gestured Sean ahead of her.
As Sean handed the girl through the window, Lana fumbled with her mask, going down to her knees. There was no air, and her hands couldn’t seem to grasp the straps to get it off.
“Dempsey?”
It was Sean’s voice, and she couldn’t respond.
She started to black out, but he ripped the mask from her face.
Grabbing her under the arms, he pulled her toward the window. Pure sweet oxygen flowed against her nose and mouth, and she breathed in greedily. When she opened her eyes, Sean was holding her up, his handsome face covered with soot and sweat.
Her heart turned over in her chest. On the job, she was always professional around Sean, never letting on about how she was feeling, but for a moment her emotions rose up and broke away from her control.
He stared into her eyes for that moment, and in them she saw the worry and the concern and something dark and tempting.
“Can you move? It’s too hot to hang around here,” he said, breaking the mood.
She smiled at him and nodded. “I’m fine. Let’s go.”
Lana climbed down the ladder, shocked to see how much of that floor was engulfed in flames. When she reached the bottom, the chief was there. He was eyeing the building and then looked at her. “That was a fine job, Dempsey.”
She nodded at him and turned to find Sean at her elbow. “Nothing like cutting it close.”
“You know me, O’Neill. Always on the edge.”
Sean laughed.
“Do you two need a breather?”