Obsession (A Bad Boy's Secret Baby) by Adair Rymer, Nora Flite

the fire department, we don't have the gear for this sort of thing. He'll need to find his own way out.”
    “What if he can't? He could be hurt!” I was crying and starting to sound frantic.
    I'd always accepted the risk of something happening to Brendan, not that he'd ever given me any choice in the matter. I figured if something ever did happen to him I would hear about it after the fact, like a phone call or a visit. If he ever did die in the line of duty I assumed that it would be quick and I wouldn't be there for it.
    I'd spent years wrapping my brain around hearing that bad news. It was a horrible thought and of course I prayed for it to never happen, but I could at least understand it. But not this. My brother could be burning alive in that apartment. How could I possibly process that?
    “You brother is a hero.” Drew reached out to touch my arm.
    “I don't want a hero.” I jerked my arm away and screamed at the man who'd left Brendan behind. “I want my damn brother!”
    Oh no, what was I going to tell Mariela?
    Men shouting behind us shocked me out of my stupor. Had the fire spread? Did we have to move? When I heard the familiar revving engine I realized that that wasn't it at all. It was Mal.
    He was on his bike and riding through the barricade toward the fire. A few cops tried to stop him, but they moved out of the way for fear of being hit by the speeding motorcycle. He was wearing the gear we'd taken from the firehouse.
    The helmet and full-face breathing apparatus with the air tank he wore on his back, made Mal look like a superhero as he barreled toward the building. Aside from shooting at him, there was no way anyone could stop him now.
    Mal rode with a red fireman's axe in one hand and jumped off when he had gotten close enough. The bike made it several more feet, then crashed into the side of the building far to the right of the main entrance.
    A plume of thick gray smoke billowed out of the double doors and silhouetted Mal for a heartbeat. I reached out for him, mixed emotions raging through me with tempest winds. It was a gamble that no woman should ever have to endure.
    Dread and hope ripped my heart to shreds as Mal disappeared into that burning building. Had my brother gained one last chance at life, or had I just lost the two most important people in my whole life?
    “Who the hell was that?” Captain Demoe hollered.
    “His name's Malik Long, sir. He, uh,” Drew cleared his throat. “Works over at Firehouse fifteen.”
    “Oh, I remember that little sonofabitch.” The police captain's brow furrowed. Brendan wasn't the only one that hated the Long family. Old wounds run deep in this city. “He's a fireman now?”
    “No, sir. I think he's just volunteering.”
    “If he comes out of there alive,” the old man began to growl. “I want him arrested for reckless endangerment, theft of fire department property—” An explosion inside the building stole some of Demoe's bluster. A pillar of flame erupted from the third floor windows. “Everybody back!”
    The whole face of the building groaned, then rippled under the intense heat and years of neglect. Finally the support pillars to either side of the entrance gave way and the front of the building collapsed. A landslide of smoldering wood and concrete came down in sheets. It crushed both the main doors and Mal's motorcycle.
    I screamed. The thunderous cracking sound was deafening and the vibration tore through my whole body. The main entrance was gone. Even if they did survive the explosion, how were they going to get out?
    Several agonizing minutes later I finally heard sirens in the distance, the fire department had finally managed to reroute some of the water trucks up here. But what good would that do now?
    I had gone completely numb and was in a daze. I let an officer sit me in the passenger's seat of one of the cruisers. They would never get in there in time to rescue Mal or Brendan or that little girl. I idly rubbed my stomach,