CHAPTER 4 The Rookie Who Started Asking Questions
CHAPTER 4
The Rookie Who Started Asking Questions
Ethan closed the hospital room door behind him.
Neither of them spoke for several seconds.
Valerie sat upright in bed, forcing a weak smile.
"I suppose you're here to see if I'm okay."
Ethan didn't return the smile.
"No."
"I'm here because something doesn't make sense."
Valerie's fingers tightened around the blanket.
"What do you mean?"
Ethan pulled out his phone.
He replayed the rescue video.
Not the whole thing.
Only the first fifteen seconds.
He watched it once.
Twice.
Then a third time.
Finally, he held the screen toward Valerie.
"You said something."
She frowned.
"I don't understand."
"You whispered something to Lieutenant Davis."
"I couldn't hear it at the scene."
"But the video's audio has been cleaned up."
Valerie's face stiffened.
Ethan pressed Play.
The audio crackled.
Hydraulic cutters screamed.
People shouted.
Then...
Valerie's voice.
Very faint.
But unmistakable.
"Alex..."
"...you came."
Not unusual.
Until the next sentence.
"You kept your promise."
Ethan paused the video.
"What promise?"
Valerie didn't answer.
Her silence was answer enough.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
Ethan stepped closer.
"Dispatch never released survivor names."
"You shouldn't have known Lieutenant Davis would be leading the rescue."
Still silence.
"So why did you tell him..."
"...he kept his promise?"
Valerie looked away.
"I was confused."
"You were trapped for hours."
"I wasn't thinking clearly."
Ethan stared at her.
He had worked only a few months.
But he'd seen enough frightened people to recognize genuine panic.
This wasn't panic.
This was someone carefully choosing every word.
Meanwhile...
Captain Marcus Reynolds sat inside Battalion Headquarters.
The atmosphere was heavier than smoke after a warehouse fire.
Every television displayed the same breaking news.
Every firefighter in the building watched without speaking.
The department's Internal Affairs Division had arrived.
Three investigators.
One sealed evidence box.
One simple announcement.
"Lieutenant Alex Davis has been placed on immediate administrative leave pending investigation."
The room remained silent.
Then someone quietly removed Alex's helmet from his locker.
No one stopped him.
Back at the hospital...
Alex stood outside Lucy's ICU room.
He wasn't allowed inside.
He didn't argue.
He knew he hadn't earned the right.
From behind the glass, he watched nurses adjust medications.
Lucy remained unconscious.
Her face looked impossibly pale.
He remembered the first time they met.
She had been an ER nurse.
He was a rookie firefighter.
She had teased him after he fainted while watching a surgical procedure.
He laughed.
She laughed harder.
They fell in love because saving people made sense to both of them.
Now...
He had become the reason she needed saving.
A hand touched his shoulder.
Alex turned.
It was Dr. Carter.
"The baby survived the surgery."
Alex's eyes filled instantly.
"Really?"
"For now."
Those two words erased his hope almost as quickly as it appeared.
"The next seventy-two hours are critical."
"If her condition worsens..."
She didn't finish the sentence.
She didn't have to.
Alex lowered his head.
"I'll do anything."
Dr. Carter looked at him.
"No."
"You should have done that yesterday."
She walked away.
Alex remained frozen.
Each sentence seemed sharper than the last.
Downstairs...
A black SUV quietly pulled into the hospital parking lot.
A middle-aged man stepped out wearing an expensive suit.
Silver hair.
Calm eyes.
The confidence of someone used to controlling every room he entered.
He wasn't family.
He wasn't police.
He wasn't a firefighter.
Yet the hospital director personally came outside to greet him.
"Mr. Whitmore."
"We weren't expecting you."
The man smiled politely.
"I came for Lucy."
The director looked surprised.
"You know Mrs. Davis?"
The man glanced toward the hospital windows.
His answer was almost a whisper.
"I've been looking for her..."
May you like
"...for twenty-six years."
End of Chapter 4
