to be something else.
He made his way to the table and took a seat, diving into his sandwich, enjoying the flavor of the pork, ham and all the spices.
“Heard you did good on the ropes, Kal,” Irish said, coming to sit down across from them.
“Thanks,” Kal said.
“Yeah?” Phil Beckwith asked. “Who told you that? He ain’t that good.”
Irish pinned Beckwith with a hard stare. “Yeah? Who died and made you the judge of this team?”
The one thing Kal had learned straight off was never to argue with Irish Smith. He was mean as fuck when crossed.
Beckwith didn’t answer, just shoved his sandwich in his mouth, which was a smart move.
Kal had just finished the last bite of his lunch when the alarm sounded for the TRT.
They climbed into their turnout gear and headed to their trucks.
“Two tractor trailers collided on I-95,” their lieutenant relayed to them. “One on fire on the overpass, one dangling over the overpass, the driver trapped inside. Station 17 is on scene working the fire. We need to rescue the driver and secure the trailer before it falls.”
Kal closed his eyes and got a mental picture of what the scene looked like, what they’d need to do once they got there.
Fortunately, it didn’t take long to get to the area, which looked like a disaster. At least it was still daylight, which meant it would be easier to assess the situation. Lieutenant Anderson met with the lieutenant of Station 17 to get a sitrep.
Kal studied the scene. They could rappel down and get to the cab of the truck. Wouldn’t be easy, but it was doable.
“All right, everyone,” the lieutenant said, grabbing their attention. “Brown, Donovan, Starling, I want you all harnessed up to rescue that driver. Be ready to go as soon as the rig is shored up.”
They all nodded.
“The rest of you get rigging in place to shore up that semi right now. We’ve got two heavy-duty wreckers on the way to pull that semi up, but I want that driver out of there in case something goes wrong. Ladder 24 is arriving on scene below to provide assistance.”
Kal had gotten into his harness, grabbed his ropes and was ready to anchor and rappel down with his team. They met at the guardrail, and once the rest of the team secured the load and the rig, they started to rappel. Regardless of what Starling thought about him, they worked together to make their way down to the semi cab.
They tossed their ropes over the side of the concrete, Beckwith and Redmond providing anchor support.
Since Micah Brown was the senior firefighter of the three of them, he was lead on this.
“Swing around, Donovan, and make your way to the door.”
“You got it,” Kal said, inching his way across the cab, trying to do it as lightly as possible so the cab wouldn’t sway. Fortunately, there was no wind today, which helped.
He peeked his head inside the door.
“You okay?” he asked the driver.
“Scared shitless. Get me out of here.”
“Are you hurt anywhere?”
The guy shook his head. “I’m fine. I just want out.”
“Try to stay calm. Don’t move. We’ll get you out soon. What’s your name?”
“Larry.”
“All right, Larry. I’m Kal. Keep your seat belt on and stay still. I’m going to open the door. You’ll feel like you’re falling, but I’m not gonna let that happen.”
Larry looked out the window. “Okay.”
Starling had made his way next to Kal, and looked over at him.
“Turn around so I can get the harness,” Starling said.
Kal pivoted, and Starling unhooked the harness from his belt.
“Hey, buddy,” Starling said. “My name’s Dean, and when Kal here opens the door, I’m gonna grab hold of you and slip this harness on you. Then I’ll hook it to my harness, and we’ll head out of here.”
Larry nodded. “Yeah, sounds great.”
Micah hovered just to the side, helping to provide rope support.
“You ready, Larry?” Kal asked.
“No, but let’s do it.”
“Okay, Larry,” Kal said, keeping his voice calm and even so the guy wouldn’t freak out. “You hang tight to the steering wheel, and don’t lean toward the open door. We’ll handle the rest.”
Kal looked at Starling, who nodded. Kal opened the door, and Starling slipped inside, grabbing hold of the driver. Kal made his way around to support both Starling and Larry, and before long they had secured the driver with the harness and unhooked his seat belt. Then it was a matter of getting him to Station 27’s ladder team, which was already in place.