At Firehouse Sixteen.
Dave was pacing back and forth in then apparatus bay ad he was trying to think where Alderman Steven would have his cousin Mackenzie hidden at. It was the only thing on his mind not adding that he spent all of yesterday trying to find her besides giving Captain Asyling and her twin sister Mackenzie a apology for breaking the former's nose and the latter's leg but they told him not to apologize because they would've done the same.
"Have the police found something or someone yet?" asked Captain Daniella.
Dave replied, "Nope. But Captain Asyling said that she'll keep me in the loop when they make a development. Just kinda feel useless being at work over being out their looking for my cousin. But she'll be found soon enough."
"Why don't you do something to keep your mind busy? Join me and Captain Nova as we play UNO." said Captain Daniella, "Or due to your this house's mechanic you could inspect all of the vehicles and if something needs to be repaired or fixed then you could fix it."
Dave politely declined he just wants to know where his cousin Mackenzie is even though he did point out he has four more cousins who are named Mackenzie as well and when Captain Daniella asked where they are he told her that his half cousin is in his hometown of Clearlake and she's only three years old, one in Killen, Alabama in the United States but she's in middle school, and another one in Norfolk. New York.
Captain Daniella asked about the fourth one and Dave told her that the fourth one is a military corrections officer who favors her wooden baton a tab bit too much.
When Captain Daniella started to leave to go into the kitchen to continue to play UNO with Captain Nova, Dave told Captain Daniella that Alderman Steven has lawyered up and his high powered attorney won't allow the police to question him nor get anywhere near him.
"And what are you going to do about it?" asked Captain Daniella.
Dave replied, "I have an alibi. Also I won't be doing anything. That's what he wants me to do is to retaliate against him. If I do retaliate then I'll look like a bad guy and that what he wants... But I did make a phone call yesterday evening calling for some help from my family because they're not me and according to the law that if someone else does something Illegal and if I have no knowledge of it then I can't be held responsible."
"And what kind of skills or whatnot does your family have?" asked Captain Daniella even though she thinks asking the question is going to bite her in the ass.
Dave replied, "All got military training, a lot have expert marksmanship, all have weapons expertise, Master Strategists, Master Tacticians, Interrogations. They know how to scare the living piss out of someone."
Captain Daniella then went back to play UNO with Captain Nova while Dave just thought where his cousin would be at not adding he just paid attention to the PA system as dispatchers were calling or sending other fire companies to locations across the city and one of the locations that was said was for Firehouse Fifty-Nine to go to a report of a explosion in the district of Tallwood. Dave knows that Alderman Steven lives in that district too.
***
A couple of hours later.
The fire bell went off for a high rise alarm in Uptown and the address was the building that the Alderman's office is in. That didn't stop Dave from going though.
"Hey Dave you alright?" asked Captain Nova.
Dave replied neutrally, "I'm fine."
"Why don't you ever sit down when we go to a call or on our way back to the firehouse?" asked Captain Nova.
Dave replied, "Used to of standing up not adding back in '91 when my dad was working A shift at the Clearlake Fire Department my friends took his car out on a joyride. They totaled it and it costed eight thousand dollars to repair it. My dad asked me who took his car and got it wrecked and I lied to protect my friends and my dad took his belt to give me a tannin until his belt broke then he got a switch aka a tree branch. Some would say that is child abuse but to me that taught me not to protect my friends by lying. I didn't sit down for a year besides when I was in school or church on Sundays. No my dad didn't force me to go to church but I went on my own free will."
"What kind of car did your dad have?" asked Captain Nova.
Dave replied, "A '58 Dart Tiera four door sedan with an two tone color. Bottom half was black and top half was blue. Why those two colors well that was the previous owner had but he said that it was like that when he bought it from the dealership. The interior was light blue. But civilian cars aren't allowed to have darker blue because police car interiors are either Admiral blue, Cobalt blue or Azure Blue. His car interior is either Sapphire Blue or Cerulean Blue."
"What happened to it?" asked Captain Nova.
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Dave replied, "After bustin my ass with his leather belt until it broke and a small not too small and not a big tree branch. He paid eight grand to have it repaired. In shop class when I went back to school and in shop class we were working with leather and I made my dad a new belt. It took several months but it got fixed. At least my uncle Clark was kind enough to let us borrow his car to go to the store. Like I said a lot of people would cry and bitch about how that's child abuse but to me it taught me not to lie to protect my friends. After all my granddad before my father was born he whipped his son or my uncle's ass for wrecking his car but that was in 1939 in the borough of Manhattan though."
"What happened?" asked Captain Nova.
Dave replied, "My uncle Stanley borrowed his father's '32 Chevrolet Confederate while his father or my grandfather was at work over on Engine Company Twenty-Four in the Fire Department City of New York in Greenwich Village, Manhattan. My Granddad loved being a firefighter from 1921 to 1941, 1945 to 1950, 1953 to his retirement in 1966. The gaps from 1941-1945, 1950-1953 are because he fought in World War 2 and the Korean War. He always told me stories how the job was and how he heard about the North American B-25D Mitchell bomber crashed into the Empire State Building on July 28th, 1945. He told me that the crew of the firehouse he worked out of probably caught a hell of a job unless if other companies fought it. He told me if there was no retirement then he would've stayed on the job until he died in the line of duty. He inspired his two sons who are my father and uncle to be firefighters."
"Interesting fire and thanks for the history." said Captain Nova.
***
On the twenty-eighth floor.
"What went through here?" asked Captain Nova.
Captain Daniella replied, "Looks like a tornado went through here. Watch your step the hose lines from Engine Companies Fourteen, Twenty Three, and Seventy One are up here and they lead to the fire floor. If this is what the stairwell looks like I would hate to see what the fire floor looks like."
"Hey Dave when we were in the IC room on the twelfth floor why did Battalion Chief Richter stared at you like he gave you the type of glare if glares could kill someone then the glare he started at you would've killed you." asked Captain Nova.
Captain Daniella replied, "Because he's dating his eldest daughter. Dave is in a relationship with Probationary Firefighter Linda Richter and she's over on Engine Company Eighteen."
"She has plans for the future." said Dave, "She wants to be on the rescue squad."
Captain Nova replied, "Wasn't her grandmother the Fire Chief or something like that?"
"Her great grandmother was the Assistant Fire Commissioner." said Dave, "From 1902 to 1919 and she was on horse drawn engine company twenty three from 1875 to 1902. It's weird that back then women were nothing more than housewives or show girls everywhere else but here women could and still could have the same jobs and what not like males. Also I don't have a problem with working with female firefighters because some I've met could fit into places where a male couldn't or well got you two, you two are both captains. Also my half uncle James his wife was in the Navy from 1932 to 1945 and made it to the rank of Fleet Admiral in early '42."
Dave then slipped in the stairs not due to the water but a piece of rubble and his right foot kicked Captain Nova in her left leg. She didn't say anything because he didn't even know it was there because the piece of rubble was small and camouflaged with the gray color of the stairs.
He just got back up and went on his way like normal. When they did enter the fire floor it looked like a bomb went off with parts of the walls blown down or broken up that a slight kick would make a wall come down and parts of the ceiling were chipping and falling down. Not adding all of the walls, ceiling, and floor looks like the fire was Napalm or another hotter type of fire.
"I hate high-rises, I hate high-rises," said Captain Daniella, "I hate high-rises and skyscrapers!"
Captain Nova replied, "Why do you hate high rises and skyscrapers?"
"The danger of venturing too far in, running out of air and dying. But the choice to press on is such a compelling temptation, especially when no one is in place to relieve you and you know the nearest air bottles are at ground levels." said Captain Daniella, "Back in late '90 when I got done being a probie I fought a high rise fire. I got trapped by a piece of steel from the ceiling fell and pinned me. Took an hour for them to come and rescue me. Most of the stuff in their way had to be hacked or sawed away and by the time members of Rescue Squad 17 got to me they had to radio down to Battalion for another Rescue Squad, Rescue Squad Eighteen to come and aid in their help and they gone through all of their saw blades when they reached me. Squad 525 also came to help to get me out but they used all of their saw blades to help Rescue Squad Seventeen to make it to the floor I was on. Fire was on the nineteenth floor and we gotten word of a person trapped on the twenty second floor. Fire jumped up there or something like that."
Dave replied, "Did y'all get the person out?"
"Nope there was no one there." said Captain Daniella, "Entire floor was cleared. Guess whoever was reported never told their loved ones they got out. Took twenty one firefighters to come and get me because someone never told their loved ones they got out. All twenty-one of them are members of the city's Special Operations Command of the Fire Department."
Dave replied, "Yes I know. If firefighters are soldiers in a war against fire then the SO... SOC Companies are the Special Forces of the Fire Department. Well that what my dad says. I almost wanted to say SOG over SOC... I had a cousin who was a member of MACVSOG from 1964 to 1969. Can't ask him for help because he died on September 12,1969."
"Well hope you or someone can find your missing cousin." said Captain Daniella.
Captain Nova replied, "Why don't the police do it?"
"They are but they got to do it the legal way and can't bust down everyone's door." said Dave.
Captain Nova replied, "And yet if you look at a cop the wrong way they'll gun your ass down in a heartbeat or beat you within a inch of your life then tell you to say that you fell down the stairs when they take you back to the precinct... My brother who I have a strained love-hate relationship with my brother and every other day the EPD beats him up for no reason."
The fire was a tough fight to put out but after several hours but Dave ran into the alderman again who blamed Dave for starting the fire but the police couldn't arrest him due to Captain Asyling has a patrol car following Dave and they radioed that when he left in the morning to go to work he went straight to the firehouse and didn't make any stops so they had to rule him out.
***
Back at the firehouse.
"Hey Dave while you were out you got a call." said a firefighter on USAR 3, "They said to meet them after work. They said that it involves your missing cousin Mackenzie."
Dave thanked him for giving him the message and after work Dave headed down to the outskirts of the city to an abandoned warehouse. Dave met with some of his other cousins and when asked why they didn't rescue Mackenzie they told him that they wanted to make sure she was there and got rid of any of the guards and wanted him to be here when they did. Dave told them that they should've rescued her anyway and not wait but now since he's here they did anyway.
***
At a hospital in the city.
"Hey Dave where did you find her?" asked Captain Asyling.
Dave told her that his cousins found her but waited for him but he then asked her why she's talking to him and not Mackenzie who suffered more than him.
Dave then went to check on Mackenzie who was in a hospital bed with Captain Asyling with him where David told Mackenzie to tell Captain Asyling everything what happened to her so Mackenzie did.
Mackenzie told Captain Asyling and who in returned called the hotline and called in a team of undercover investigation team with powers to impose on-the-spot fines or arrest against corrupt individuals not adding Captain Asyling used her powers as a cop and with the Anti-Corruption team they froze Alderman Steven's assets and accounts of key individuals suspected of major corruption offenses.
Captain Asyling, her twin sister Mackenzie Ryan, and cousin Sonata Ryan went and arrested Alderman Steven during a press conference on how he's been accepting bribes, using threats and intimidations against others.
Alderman Steven said that he'll be out within half an hour because he has friends in high places but Captain Asyling waited for Dave to tell the Alderman that his friends in high places will be seeing him in prison because accepting bribes on Little Bird and threating Government agents is a felony and if want how since Dave is also a secret Gov't agent he could press to have the Alderman have a capital punishment but won't because Dave sees Death Row as a easy way out.
The Alderman told Captain Asyling that he hasn't broken no laws.
"Accepting bribes is a felony and threating a Government offcial is a felony and sometimes can be a Capital offense!" said Captain Asyling.