Angel In Blue Read Online Free Page B

conversation. When Mack looked down at the message, it read disregard. “It looks like someone is having a little fun at our expense.”
    “I hate to leave, but I have to go on duty in a couple of hours,” Ike said, pulling on his jeans and shirt.  “I’m heading back to my apartment. If I find any notes there, I’ll call you.”
    “Thanks,” Mack said; his thoughts elsewhere.
    “Come on, cheer up, we’ll find out who’s doing this.” He reached across and brushed Mack’s lips with a light kiss. “I’ll try to get back tomorrow, but it all depends on my family. They’re having a big dinner and my mom insists I come. I’d rather be here with you, though.”
    “Okay, I understand.”  Mack walked Ike to the door and stood outlined against the lighted living room watching as Ike’s car drove down the street. He looked up and down the street, but didn’t notice anyone about. 
    Mack closed the door and trudged to the bathroom.  He stood under a warm spray reliving the night’s events. He’d never thought he was that obvious to others about his lifestyle, but apparently someone had noticed his preferences. He finished his shower and crawled into bed.
     
    *****
     
    Mack checked the roster sheet at the firehouse the next morning. Five men had signed in and none of the signatures looked like the one on his note. He’d have to wait until he could compare all the men in the company.
    After a brush fire and one house fire, Mack had put in a hard twelve-hour shift. By the time he unlocked his door at home, he was ready for a shower and a little sack time. Today had been a strain on his nervous system catching some of his fellow workers secretly watching him. As soon as he looked their way, they dropped their gaze and pretended they hadn’t been watching him. He dismissed them from his thoughts and crawled naked beneath the covers.
     
     
     
    Five
    Mack and his company were preparing for lunch when the alarm sounded. It was a serious fire, and companies from around the city were responding. He heard the police and ambulance sirens and saw the news helicopters hovering overhead as they arrived at the scene. The lower floors of the apartment building were engulfed in flames, thick black smoke rolling into the sky. The flames leaped out and threatened similar buildings on either side. A ladder company was already preparing to pluck frantic people from windows.
    Mack’s captain yelled orders into a radio and quickly turned to his men. “Mack, you, Joe and Hotchkiss go in through the back, there’s supposed to a stairwell. We’ve got reports of possible people on the fourth floor. Carter’s men are trying to contain the fire on two and three, but I don’t know how much time you’ve got.”
    The three men grabbed their gear and made their way to the back. Flames were bursting through windows on the second and third floors of the building. The building was old, not up to code; it was obviously a race against time.
    Mack and the others made their way up the stairwell, already beginning to fill with smoke. Frightened residents passed them on the stairs and Mack urged them to continue down and out, telling them someone at the bottom would show them where to go. When he asked if there were others, still inside, they told him there might be.
    At the fourth floor, they checked the door and found it safe to enter. From the main hallway windows, they could see the flames from the lower floors, licking their way up. Smoke and heat were beginning to fill the hallway. They quickly started a search, banging on doors, kicking them in when they found them locked. The radio buzzed in Mack’s ear; it was Hotchkiss, two apartments behind him, ‘Mack, I’ve got a woman in a wheelchair, I’m gonna have to carry her out.”
    Mack and Joe were nearly at the end of the hallway, the last apartments, “Go, get her out, Joe and I will finish up here.”
    Joe opened the door to the last apartment and found a small girl huddled in