Chapter 11 - The Boy Behind the Curtain
"Another child?" I asked.
Captain Brown didn't take his eyes off the ladder. "A boy, maybe eleven. He's with June. My crew's bringing all three out."
A firefighter disappeared inside. Thirty seconds passed. Then the boy came out first, clinging to the ladder platform with both hands. June followed, carrying Ben against her chest.
"He's not waking up!" she shouted.
Paramedics rushed forward. I stayed out of their way, but I could see Ben's small blue sneakers dangling as they lifted him onto a stretcher.
June tried to follow. Her knees buckled. Adrian caught her before she hit the sidewalk.
"Don't touch me," she snapped, recognizing him. "Your company told me my son was already in a new home."
Adrian let go immediately. "You're right to be angry."
"Angry? My boy couldn't breathe."
The other child sat on the curb beneath a foil blanket. His name was Caleb Price. His mother worked a night shift at a nursing home, and he'd been alone in the apartment next door when the lights went out.
"I climbed through the shared fire escape," he said. "The hall smelled wrong."
"You got yourself to June," I said. "That was smart."
He shook his head. "She got me inside. I couldn't get her window open."
He held out a cracked phone. On it was a video he'd taken earlier: a Northline worker turning a basement switch while another man said, "Mr. Vale wants the units cleared tonight. No delays."
"Which Mr. Vale?" I asked.
"The tall one from the poster in the lobby," Caleb said. "Not the one standing over there."
Grant's photograph hung beside Adrian's on every First Light banner.
Captain Brown approached us. "We have multiple carbon-monoxide exposures. They're transporting the children now."
"Are they breathing?" I asked.
"Yes. But this is serious."
Iris called from the hospital.
"Lena," she said, her voice breaking. "The doctor just told me something."
May you like
She swallowed.
"Vanessa knew the generator was dangerous weeks ago. I saw the warning letter."
