He headed straight for the ambulance pulling in just behind the first water truck. Before they reached it, a couple of paramedics jumped out and grabbed a gurney out of the back. They were two of the best in the volunteer department, she saw with relief. In seconds, Ed Cutler had Caleb on the stretcher.
“I didn’t have much time to assess the situation but it looked like he broke his ankle. He jumped out of the hayloft once the fire started,” Wyn explained, keeping a careful eye on Ed’s partner Terri Michaels as she hooked Luke up with an oxygen mask.
“Thanks. Sit down before you fall over,” the bald EMT ordered her. “Terri, get a mask on Wyn here too.”
“I’m okay,” she said. “Don’t worry about me. You’ve got enough on your hands with the boys. They come first.”
“You’re going to let them treat you,” Cade growled. “And then you’re going to explain to me why the hell you thought you could defy a direct order.”
The paramedics exchanged glances and then pointedly busied themselves with Lucas and Caleb.
“I had no choice. You can see how quickly that thing flared out of control. When I rolled up, only the loft was engulfed but I knew it was only a matter of time. If I hadn’t gone in, Chief Gallegos would be sending his guys in for body retrieval and we both know it!”
“Another ten seconds and they would have been looking for three bodies!”
Though the June afternoon sunshine was warm and the fire put out plenty of heat, Wyn shivered. As her adrenaline spike ebbed, the reality of the situation began to soak in like that water spraying out of the firefighters’ hose.
In nearly five years of law enforcement, she’d never had such a close call. She and the boys all could have died inside that fiery barn. If she had been thirty seconds later...if she hadn’t been able to move as quickly...if one of those blazing timbers had crashed to the ground.
No question about it, they had been lucky.
She swallowed, suddenly light-headed. She didn’t realize she swayed until Cade grabbed her.
“Sit down,” he ordered harshly, though his hands were gentle as he helped her to the ground. Terri came over with an oxygen mask and a water bottle.
“Did you call another ambulance for her yet?” Cade asked.
Terri looked wary at his clipped tone. “No. We’ll check her blood gases first. Could be, we can treat and release at the scene with a few more puffs of oxygen.”
“I’m perfectly fine,” Wyn answered through the mask, then spoiled the words with a paroxysm of coughing.
When Wyn finished, Cade’s silver-blue eyes looked as fierce and hard as the Redemption Mountains.
“If the paramedics don’t ship you to the hospital, take your vehicle and clear out. You’re officially suspended without pay for the next seven days.”
For a moment, she thought the fire had messed with her hearing. “What? I just saved two lives!”
“And almost lost your own in the process.”
She glared at him. “You can’t suspend me! I didn’t do anything wrong!”
“You disobeyed a direct order and your actions could have endangered others.”
“How?” she demanded.
“You turned off your radio, didn’t you? You had no idea what the status of the other responding personnel might have been. Nor did we have anybody on scene to provide status reports on the fire until the first engine rolled up.”
She had no answer to that, especially not when he reached down and unclipped her radio from her shoulder. When he turned the dial up the air was immediately filled with voices and static as Chief Gallegos and his team communicated through the airwaves with dispatch about their needs.
“I made a judgment call,” she said. It sounded weak, even to her. Okay, maybe she had ignored department policy, but those two boys chattering to the EMTs were proof that her judgment call had paid off.
“The wrong one. I’ll see you in seven days,” he answered tersely, then turned and stalked over to the fire command center.
* * *
CADE HAD NEVER been more angry.
The fury prowled through him, harsh and wild like the fire burning through Darwin Twitchell’s dilapidated barn.
He had to be able to trust her to do exactly what he asked. Out of all six officers in this small ragtag Haven Point police department, he trusted Wynona most. She was smart, hardworking, compassionate and insightful.
She had natural instincts and seemed to always find the perfect way to allay any tense situation, from drunk altercations down at the Mad Dog tavern to hot tempers between neighbors.
He figured she came by those instincts naturally, since she was fourth-generation law enforcement in these parts.
He didn’t want to suspend her, especially not when they were in the middle of their busiest time of the year with the summer tourist season heading into full swing. But what alternative did he have? This wasn’t the first time she had ignored his orders but he vowed it would be the last. He wasn’t a control freak but he had to know that his officers would follow the chain of command.
He glanced back at the ambulance. She looked so fragile and vulnerable sitting there in the grass, her cheek sooty and strands of wheat-colored hair slipping free of the thick braid she always wore on duty.
Beneath his anger lurked something else, something he didn’t want to look at too closely. He only knew that he couldn’t remember ever feeling that bone-deep fear that had sent him racing out of the station to his vehicle and then bulleting through town to the fire scene.
She was a police officer. One of his police officers. He would have worried about any of his guys who stopped responding while out on a call.
He put it away when he saw Erik Gallegos heading in his direction.
“What’s the status?” he asked the fire chief.
“Barn looks like it’s going to be a total loss,” Erik answered. “Old thing was about to fall over anyway, next time a stiff wind blew off the lake. At this point, my crew is just trying to put out the flames and make sure it doesn’t spread to the undergrowth.”
“That a concern?”
Erik shrugged. “Not really. All the rain we’ve had the last few weeks has reduced the threat level for now, but you never know.”
Cade hoped they had another six or seven weeks before fire season hit, especially since some places in the higher elevations were still covered in snow.
The chief jerked his head toward his EMTs. “Wynona okay?”
He followed the other man’s gaze, where Wynona was smiling and saying something to the younger of the Keegan boys. “Seems to be.”
He thought about leaving the situation there but figured word would spread soon anyway and he might as well get out in front of it.
“I gave her a week’s suspension for disobeying a direct order and for turning off her comm.”
Erik snorted. “Seriously? Harsh. You know you would have done the exact same thing.”
That was different, though Cade couldn’t quite pin a finger on why. “Your guys were four minutes behind her. She should have waited for somebody who could search the premises wearing proper gear.”
“Four minutes is a long time for two scared little boys,” the fire chief said.
Cade still