Slow Burn, Chapter 21/21

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

A week later, Dina sat on the edge of Nick’s bed at the UCLA Medical Center.  He was remonstrating, half in jest.

“I’m just saying, it’s some of the best footage ever shot of a crime in progress in this city, and on my camera no less.  And I was flat on my back the whole time!”

The video from the camera, together with the consensus of the witnesses, had been used by the police to charge John Grady with nearly a dozen crimes.  It was all done with lightning speed, especially since Grady was apprehended just outside Paradiso Station.  He and Sid Pullman, who had been picked up soon after, were awaiting their fates in the LAPD’s maximum security lockup.

Santiago Ybarra had been killed resisting arrest the same afternoon.

“You did set the camera up and frame the shot,” Dina pointed out.  “All I did was push a button.”

“You did a hell of a lot more than that.  Some of the shots the camera picked up while you were retrieving it are damned fine, as well.”

Several superior stills from the end of the recording, depicting members of the Paradiso girls battling the flames in their minimal equipment, had gone viral within twenty-four hours.  One in particular – a shot of Augusta and Becky supporting Antonia down the stairs, slim bodies slick with sweat and soot, silhouetted against the flames – was currently the front page photo for the LAFD’s website.  No one expected the picture to be taken down anytime soon. Between the story and the pictures, the exposure was translating into a flood of donations and additional support for the Paradiso Street Station initiative.

Dina smiled demurely.  “I wasn’t trying to shoot anything just then.  Just trying to save the camera and my own fool neck.”

Nick shook his head.  “Tell you, Dina – if you ever have to make the choice again, forget the camera and save your own skin.  I like you just the way you are.  I don’t want to think about the charbroiled version.”  He reached for her hand, and squeezed it.

Dina squeezed back.  “You know me – I’ll never let a story get away from me if I have any options left.  Which reminds me…” she checked her watch.  “I’m due over in the other ward to have a talk with the Paradiso girls.”  She tapped the bag of recording equipment at her side, and stood.  “When are they discharging you?”

“Later today, they said.  Around five o’clock.  Long-term prognosis is just fine – take my meds, and I should be good.”

Dina shut her eyes for a moment and leaned against the doorframe.  “Thank God for that.”  She looked up.  “I’ll be here to pick you up.”

“It’s a date,” Nick said.  Then he paused for half a moment.  “Hey Dina…when I get out of here…how about that drink?”

Dina, halfway out the door, stopped short.  She turned and smiled.

“Sure.”


* * *


The veteran girls of the 15th Battalion were crowded into Marigold’s hospital room; the lieutenant could barely see them all over the tops of the numerous flower vases scattered about.  Captain Hawkins stood near the door in hospital dress, her arm in a sling; Marguerite was similarly attired.  All the girls had been checked out at the hospital after their ordeal, but the rest had been discharged before now.  It was the first time they’d all been together again.

Amidst the overlapping conversations, Mare was momentarily aloof; she surveyed the women around her.  Virginia was speaking – laughing, even! – with the captain, something she hadn’t had the guts for two weeks ago.    Becky and Marguerite were enthusiastically comparing scars.  Augusta hadn’t commented at all on the revealing nature of Candy’s yellow peasant sundress; the Polish girl was talking animatedly with Antonia.

She’d been so afraid that the harrowing ordeal – and the humiliations most of them had suffered – would be the makings of terrible post-traumatic stress for at least some of the girls.  Mare supposed she still couldn’t rule it out completely.  But they all seemed bright-eyed and confident.  The lieutenant figured the fact that they’d fought out the Paradiso fire themselves had a lot to do with it.  Talk about empowerment.  Suck on that, John Grady.

“Alright, quiet down!”  Mare’s steadying voice finally rang over the chatter.  “Thank you all for coming.  Though I have to say that we’re in for rough times if I have to get shot in order to get all of you to attend a meeting at the same time.”  She smiled as the group laughed heartily.

“Seriously, though, thank you,” she continued.  “For joining up in the first place, and for nearly drowning me with flowers –” the group chuckled again “– and for everything you did last week.”  She was choking up a little, and paused for a moment before continuing.  “Every single one of you did your absolute best, against odds I don’t even want to think about.  We all owe our lives to each other.”

Mare noticed Dina Reed had silently appeared in the doorway.  “And that goes for you too, Dina!  You ever want to take up firefighting full-time, you let me know.  You’ve got the chops for it.”  She paused.  “Do you want me to start this little speech over again, so you can get a recording?”

Dina smiled.  “No.  Keep this one just for yourselves.”

Mare returned the grin.  “Good.  Cause I was just about done.”  The group giggled again.

“I’d like to say something too,” Lorelei said quietly.  All eyes in the room turned on her.  “I’m sorry I wasn’t there from the start last week…and I’m sorry I made all of you into targets…”

“Aw, heck, enough of that, Cap!” Antonia interrupted.  “You arrived in plenty of time to get shot.  And to folks like John Grady, we were targets from the moment we joined up.”

“Fair enough.  But I wanted you all to know...I was proud of each of you when you joined up – more than you can realize,” Lorelei continued.  “But I couldn’t have been prouder than when Lieutenant Thompson gave me her report on how you all conducted yourselves.  Spirit is what this battalion is going to need if our little experiment is going to grow and succeed.  And you all have a rare form of it.”

“Uh, I’ve been wanting to talk to you about growth, captain,” Candy interjected.  She had been installed in a temporary office at headquarters for the last few days, while repairs and renovations at Paradiso got underway.  “The phone’s been ringing off the hook with interested girls, and my mailbox is overflowing with applications.  If you still want to review each application personally…”

“I do,” replied Lorelei.

“…then I may need to start bringing them by the hospital.” Candy finished.

“That will be fine,” the captain said with a smile.  “All of you can consider this ward our operations center, for the time being.  You’re all welcome, at any time.  But if you show up, I’m going to put you to work.”  She chuckled, and the group smiled around her.  “There’s still a lot to be done, after all.”

After a moment of glowing silence, Mare spoke up again.  “Alright, you all may be welcome on the ward, but you’ve got to clear out of this room for the time being.  A girl needs her beauty rest, after all.”  She grinned as the group began to break up.

Going to need my rest if I’m going to be back up on my feet soon, she mused.  Lord knows I always hated being stuck in bed.  As she laid back, Mare felt the soft pillows envelop her.  At least it’s a nice bed.


* * *


Dina caught up with Lorelei in the corridor.  “How’s the shoulder, Captain Hawkins?”

Lorelei reached up with her other arm to touch the wound in exploratory fashion.  “Oh, it’s not too bad.  Miss Custis did quite a good job patching me up on the fly, saved a lot of work for the doctors later.”  She glanced over at Dina.  “Of course, I wouldn’t have been there for her to go to work on me if it hadn’t been for you.  I’m in your debt, for that.”

“Don’t mention it.”

Dina looked down the hall at the receding backs of the other crew members as they filtered out.  “That’s a fine group of women you’ve got there.”

Lorelei sighed contentedly.  “I’m truly blessed.”  She relaxed her arm.  “I knew they were all top-notch on their own, from the moment I approved their applications.  And if we’re going to prove ourselves at all, we need the best.”  She gestured towards the distant girls.  “But till now we didn’t have cohesion – just a collective label and a bunch of individuals.”

She smiled while looking at nothing in particular.  “Now we’ve got it.  That’s what a battalion is built on.”  Her eyes refocused on Dina.  “In a weird way, I guess we’ve got John Grady to thank for that.  Bastard though he is.”

Dina chuckled.  “Okay, I have to get that one on tape.”  She removed the voice recorder from her bag.  “Ready for your interview, Captain Hawkins?  You’re not getting away from me this time.”

Lorelei beamed back.  “Fire away, Miss Reed.”