Free Gone in a Flash by Lynette Eason

right out,” she said.
    “I’m coming with you.” Sanders. Great. The one man in the department she didn’t want to work a fire with.
    Another groan sounded from above.
    Alexia looked up just in time to jump back from the crashing beam. Sanders muttered a curse and dove to help cover Joel. “Get back, Alexia! RIT’ll be coming for you!”
    The Rapid Intervention Team. Two firefighters whose only duty would be to get her out. But until they reached her, she still had a job to do. She was trapped between a wall of flames and the back of the house.
    “I’m looking for that kid!”
    Without waiting for a response, she turned and crawled toward the bedroom. She paused and listened.
    Nothing but the sound of the burning building.
    Pounding on the closest door, she hollered, “Maddy?”
    No answer.
    Raising up on her knees, she tried the knob.
    Locked.
    She rose to her feet and stepped back. Lifting the axe in her right hand, she brought it down on the knob. The door shuddered and the molding around the door cracked as the knob fell to the floor. Lifting her booted foot, she gave the door a hard kick and it slammed in against the wall. Smoke swirled out, but no flames. Breathing in the life-giving air from the tank strapped to her back, she used the thermal imager device in her left hand to search for anything that pumped blood and put off heat.
    Nothing.
    She filled her lungs again and headed for the closet.
    Flames licked down the hall behind her. Great, she’d have to find another way out. She reported in. “I’m in the small bedroom on the left.”
    “We’ve got Joel, Alexia. You find the kid?”
    An alarm sounded. Alexia pulled in another breath of air. And stopped. No air. She looked at her gauge. Out of air. That was the alarm going off.
    Panic hit her. “Captain, I’m out of air.”
    “What?” His voice roared in her ear.
    Dizziness hit her.
    “Get out, Alexia. Now!”
    “Just going to check the closet first, sir.”
    “Get your tail outta there. Immediately!”
    She needed air. She reached up to disconnect the hose from her tank, then shoved it up under her heavy turnout. The coat would protect her as much as possible from smoke inhalation. And she sure didn’t want a blast of hot air in her lungs. She caught a breath. The dizziness receded.
    The countdown was on.
    The decision: leave or check the closet?
    She scanned the imaging device over the door. Bingo. “I’ve got something. Definitely a child.”
    “Alexia! Get out!”
    “She’s here, sir. Can’t leave without her.”
    Alexia went to the door and turned the knob. A little girl. “Maddy?”
    The child looked up at her, eyes wide, stark terror stamped on her tear-streaked features. Then she coughed and her eyes rolled back. Alexia slung the imager over her shoulder and leaned in to pick up the little girl.
    Alexia took another breath and coughed.
    Dizziness returned full force and she went to one knee. Vaguely, she felt the sweat roll down her back. “I’m in trouble,” she said into her radio, keeping her cool, refusing to panic. Help was just a second away. “Where’s RIT? No air.”
    Lights flashed in front of her eyes and she blinked. Tried desperately to fill her lungs. How had she run out of air? She should have had plenty of time left.
    She pulled in a lungful of smoke this time. Coughing, sputtering, she turned with the child, frantic to get her out before the flames caught up with the smoke.
    And then she had no more time to think as the spots before her eyes merged into one big black dot.
    Then nothing.



Books by Lynette Eason
    ----
    Women of Justice
    Too Close to Home
    Don’t Look Back
    A Killer Among Us
    Deadly Reunions
    When the Smoke Clears