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Season One, Episode Four.. WITHIN SIGHT Debut Launch : 16 February 2003 Emergency! Main Characters Page ********************************* From : "desertducks "<desertducks@uneedspeed.net> Subject :[EmergencyTheaterLive] Back Home Date : Sun, 19 Jan 2003 07:45:11 -0000 The engine crew made it back to the station by nine o'clock that night. "Might as well ruin one more person's evening." Captain Stanley mumbled, mostly to himself, as he crossed the threshold to his office. He left his door open - it felt wrong to close himself off from the rest of his crew. He dropped into the chair, but shoved it back from the desk, leaned his head against the cool brick wall, and shut his eyes. It sounded like Chet was finally running out of steam. The banging noises coming from the locker room had diminished to a less jarring level. Marco had gone to the kitchen first to start some fresh coffee. Now they wait. No - he still had to call in for a replacement engineer. "Is Mike Stoker here?" The young voice startled Captain Stanley. He scrubbed his hands over his face before focusing on the boy standing in his doorway. It was late for a kid to be out roaming the neighborhood alone. He said the only thing he could. "He's not here right now. I'm Captain Stanley, is there something I can do for you?" His heart was pounding all the way here just to talk to Mike. What was he going to say to the captain? "I think..." Not another sound would squeak out. ::Great, I'm already shaking, figures my voice would crack too.:: He started again. "I think I know who started that fire." |
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*********************** From : "Cassidy Meyers" <killashandraRey@hotmail.com> Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] Witness Date : Tue, 21 Jan 2003 00:29:52 +0400 Captain Stanley saw the color on the boy's face pale and saw how worked up he really was. "Here, son, have a seat before your knees rubber and they drop you flat. Relax, I won't bite." he said, rising. He guided the boy to the wooden chair across from the desk and half heartedly peered into the bay in an attempt to locate whoever it was who let the child into the station in the first place. He suspected it had been Marco. ::Just like Lopez to subtly channel things concerning touchy run subjects my way.:: "What's your name kid? Kinda feel like I'm at a disadvantage since I don't know yours." "I'm.....Jeremy Conners." he said quietly. "Would you care to share just how you know my fire station's engineer?" "Mr. Stoker's my coach in the Second Chance Little Leagues. We've been hanging out Saturdays. Been doing so all summer." ::Oh, :: thought Hank. ::That would explain it. Mike's doing that Big Brother program with the juvies through the city's foster care program. This young fella must be one of his latest personal reclamation projects.:: "He said I could come here if I had anything on my mind that was bothering me. And this is." he fidgetted. His scowling eyes never left Cap's. Cap saw that Jeremy was an unusual child. He wasn't rubbernecking his surroundings like any other boy his age would. It was as if he already knew what a fire station was all about. Hank's eyebrows rose but he put his analytical observations to the background for a while. "Ok, you came here to see my man Stoker for a reason concerning which fire? My men and I have seen three today." He cocked his head and gestured to the milk carton he had set near his incident report earlier to settle his roiling stomach. "This is still cold. Thirsty?" Jeremy shook his head despite his nervous dry mouth. He purposely stopped fidgetting. The red headed boy felt the station captain's eyes bore into his own with an intense scrutiny. "Before you make a move on me, I get out at night all the time from the Home so don't even think about calling the fuzz. I know every door outta here." "Fair enough. Let me let you in on a little known fact about firehouses. In this office I'm not the station's captain anymore. I'm just Hank. Anything you say is confidential and won't leave this office unless it deals with someone's safety, property or life and limb." Stanley said. "So, what's eating you? Must be important if it bugged you enough to walk all the way here for what I suspect was about a mile or so." The boy's face fell open in surprise. "How'd you know that?" "Cause that's how far it is to the nearest residential neighborhood past the Arco refinery surrounding us. And, the logo on your jersey was a dead giveway." Cap spread his arms wide in a 'Well, what is it?' gesture. Jeremy crossed his arms in front of his gray baseball sweatshirt and pursed his lips. He glanced away from Hank for the first time since he arrived. "I gotta think about this first." Cap sighed wearily and grabbed his glass of now warmish 2% and downed it. "Make it fast. I'm expecting my men on the rescue squad back with some answers I need any second now. After that, I'm gonna be too busy for off hours visitors. So make up your mind pronto. Who started what fire?" Jeremy countered. "Why isn't Mike Stoker here? That engine's filthy. He'd be the first one at it with a rag to clean it off.." It was Cap's face that betrayed him this time and he went from tough act to vulnerable in a pico. "He's..well, I gotta break it somehow since you say Mike's your friend, Jeremy. Our last fire injured him when the roof caved in and trapped him apart from his hose team. In trying to get out, a steam pipe he didn't see burst in front of him and burned his eyes through his air mask pretty bad. Caught his throat and lungs too." Jeremy held really still. "That's the fire I'm talking about then if the roof came down. Is..is..Mike going to be blind?" he asked in a very small voice. |
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Cap toyed with his empty glass thoughtfully and hid his emotion. "I don't know yet about that. I'm just glad he's still here. It took us a while to get him going again. That other answer, I'm going to get from my two paramedics the moment they get back to base. " "They were the ones who got him out?" "Yeah. Because another man of mine couldn't do it on his own." ".. That was..Kelly, Max said." Jeremy mumbled, barely audible. Cap's eyes narrowed when he heard that inadvertant tidbit. "You know Chet Kelly?" "He comes to our games with Coach every other weekend to try and sell hotdogs to the folks who come to watch us play. He doesn't know me, but I know him. What a weirdo." Cap threw his jaw to the side in half irritation and no humor. "Ok, so you were at the last fire call or heard about it, if you knew that Chet didn't do so well saving the hour tonight because he freaked out a little. So it should be real easy now to tell me who torched that abandoned building then, wouldn't it?" "Not gonna BE easy." "Why not? You're here. And I won't say who told me who. Witness/FireCaptain confidentiality, remember?" "Cause I may die for it, that's why. Listen high and mighty man, forget I ever came.." and Jeremy Conners shot up from the chair and darted out the office door. "Jeremy! Hey! Wait!!" Hank ran after the boy but the child was faster. Jeremy slammed on the garage door release button and he logrolled on through the narrow space that was opening before Hank could grab his torn pair of blue Adidas sneakers to stop him. Cap was left standing in the driveway surrounded by cricket calls and summer moonlight when the shed doors finally snicked fully open. There was no sign of the boy, only the sight and sounds of traffic on the boulevard winking in and out under the blue streetlights. Cap set his hands on his hips in utter frustration and leaned on the flag pole to hide his emotions as they rose to the surface yet again. ::Mike Stoker you hang in there.:: A rising soft night wind made the flags on the chains over him ring on the steel pole and Cap jumped, looking up. It hit home that Mike might not be there anytime soon to man the flag pole each day as he usually did. Slowly, Cap took down the state and department banners into his arms and tied off the chain. He alarmed himself when he found his hands folding the flags into neat perfect memorial triangles. ::He's not dead yet stupid. And there's no way in h*ll this eye thing is going to make Mike retire if he does by some miracle, recover.:: In defiance, Cap rolled the silky flags into a ball and sank down with them in his lap with the pole at his back. He was quite alone when he started weeping. ------------------------------------------------ Chet Kelly sat down at the kitchen table with the engine's small first aid kit and he cracked it open. Lopez set down a coffee mug in front of Kelly with a thunk. He opened his mouth. "Not another word, Lopez." Chet warned, wincing as he examined the bloody knuckles he had on both hands. Kelly fought with kerlix and tape for long moments until he said. "J*sus Chr*st already. I give up. Just what kind of fireman am I turning into? I can't even bandage my own knuckles here." |
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Lopez pulled up a chair next to Kelly and took over the task. "Let me do that. Oo, Chet, these are going to be sore. Whydidya have to go at the punching bag so hard? No one's blaming you about what happened tonight. It was an accident. Old buildings fall down when they're on fire. It's a fact of life." Chet grimaced. "Ahh!. Go easy on that mecurachrome. It's stinging! Tell me something Marco. Is it a fact of life that I panicked in there? It's not like me to lose my head in a crisis, I just..." and he shuddered. "I just...didn't like the mess that pipe made of Mike's face." "You did all the right things Chet. You kept him breathing until we got him outta there. And Johnny and Roy got the perfect EOA in fast enough. Your hesitating those few moments won't amount to anything.. It was chaos in that room you guys were in. I know, I was up there." "How can you know that for a fact Lopez? We couldn't even look at Mike's eyes to see if they were responsive--" and Kelly's voice cracked. Marco didn't say anything and he put his hand on Chet's shoulder in comfort as he got up to go find Cap. "Here, drink this.. It'll make you feel better." He said shoving his untouched coffee mug in front of Chet. "No thanks.. Not by a long shot. I'll puke." "Cap said the same thing.." Marco mumbled numbly, as he went out the kitchen door. "I'm gonna go see if Gage or DeSoto called Cap yet from Rampart." Chet sat morosely in his chair and slowly cradled his bandaged hands and nodded silently. ------ Marco saw that the boy he had let in was gone already and that Cap's office was vacant. The yawning bay doors were open to the night air and Marco could just barely make out Cap's silhouette in the drive under the station's front spot light by the flag pole. Marco was heading in that direction when the squad appeared, honking its horn in greeting. Roy waved, turning on its reds in order to make the backup maneuver necessary through the busy traffic, to park her. Cap rose to his feet when he saw Roy and Johnny returning and he wiped his face quickly before either they or Marco, noticed. Johnny called out. "Hey Cap, such service." he said gesturing to the open doors, he grinned. "Cut the small talk Gage. How is he?" Johnny and Roy both saw how deeply worried Hank was and how quiet Marco seemed, watching him. The false humor Johnny had tried to simulate fell away instantly.. Roy paused the squad in the drive and leaned an elbow in the window. The wash of the spinning reds in the darkness cast harsh lines on his face as he said... |
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********************************** From: Katherine Bird <kathbird01@y...> Date: Fri Jan 31, 2003 7:49 pm Subject: The Spare Boots "He's alive. He's still breathing ok. They took him up to ICU for a full evaluation." Roy said slowly. "And his blood gases are still good considering the burns he took into his trachea. Amazingly, his chest is clear, Cap. Maybe the airmask helped a little keeping some of that steam from the pipe, out of his lungs. I kinda figured that when the EOA went in slicker than--" Gage said. "And what about his eyes? Did uh, Brackett mention anything about his eyes?" Cap asked a little too quickly, betraying his worry. Then he added, "I was told that roof coming down was no coincidence.." Gage and DeSoto were taken aback by how vulnerable Hank's voice sounded. And by the expression on Marco's face standing in the garage bay entrance, haunted and worn. "Cap.." Johnny asked. "Wh- what's going on? You know something we don't?" he said, getting out of the squad. He tossed his helmet into the seat and vaulted over the hood in a butt skid to get to his side faster. Roy stayed where he was, hands on the steering wheel, engine idling, in the drive. He switched off the reds when Marco waved the outside spotlights a little higher so everyone could see in the darkness and DeSoto,too, took off his helmet, looking scared. Lopez joined Johnny, Roy and Cap's group around the squad when he over heard Cap's matter of fact comment. The warm night wind lifted the slack chain on the empty flag pole and the soft sound itself cut right through Hank and he looked up at it unconsciously. Cap fidgetted. "Roy, just finish backing it in there. Us gawking out here like this looks bad. I'll wait until ya get back out here. " Hank watched as DeSoto parked the squad. Then he shouted. "Kelly, front and center!" yelled into the open garage. Running footsteps told him he had been heard. Chet jogged out of the kitchen, holding a dish towel over his hands and around the metal coffee pot and mug he had been drying. All five firemen stood in a circle by the empty flag pole, tense and worried while Captain Stanley waited for the auto close shed doors to be fully shut over the vehicles. That rumble faded away, leaving behind cricketsong when Cap finally began to speak. "We had a witness tonight.." "A witness?" Gage said. "Oh, so that's who he was..." Lopez said. "Who was who?" Chet asked. "Cap, how'd you find anybody so fast?" Roy asked. "That's what I'd like to know.." Gage said. Cap held up his hands. "Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Just hold up here.. I'm getting to that. Everybody, just hush.. and that's an order.." The crickets reigned once more. Cap sighed and lowered his head, planting his hands on his hips. "I have it on a good source that our derelict warehouse fire was actually a case of malicious arson.." Hank raised his chin when his men started to talk all at once again so he raised his voice that much louder. "Just wait a sec. If I get any louder, the whole world'll hear." Cap said, eyeing a convertible with curious college kids driving by, rubbernecking at the sight of the usually invisible firemen standing in the drive. Gage noticed the car too, with startlement, and he quieted. He didn't even look up when one of the more attractive students waved a flirting hand at him. "Hey Johnny..." she purred. Her innocent catcall as they passed the station seemed vile to Cap and very soon, they were gone. ::What a time for one of Gage's conquests to make an appearance.:: Cap thought. His office seemed suddenly a more tempting sanctuary. He felt his mouth move. "My information source knows the party who did it and you're not going to like it." "What, Cap? Was the fire gang related?" Johnny asked. "No, a group of minors started it." Chet, Marco and Gage's faces screwed up in discomfort at the news and they all hid it badly. "Just how young, Cap?" Chet asked, wincing when Johnny grabbed the coffee pot and mug out of Kelly's hands looking for a steaming drink. "Nine or ten years old.. from what I was told. Two kids, at least, for sure." Gage said, "Wonderful. Just wait until Mike wakes up and we tell him a bunch of kids KO'd him." He then addressed Chet's earlier irregular reaction. "What's wrong with you...?" he said. |
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