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enough to get her attention. She took a couple of running steps from the force of his blow.
    “I said go. We’ll get her out.” He made a “follow me” movement with his hand to the men coming up fast behind him. Then he ran toward the building, ignoring Jude as she reached for him one more time.
    Jude watched
Dallas
for a moment with tears blurring her vision. When he disappeared into the smoke, she jogged back to her sister. They huddled together, shivering in fear as they watched the ladder trucks get into position and firemen begin the climb. Smoke billowed out of the windows, obscuring the firefighters as they climbed toward the fourth floor.
    Unable to see anything but smoke and the flashing lights of the emergency vehicles, Jude remained silent. She hardly dared to blink for fear she might miss something. It seemed to her as if the men had already been gone for hours, and she realized the rest of the crowd watching must have felt the same. She could hear muttered speculation sweeping across the throng in low urgent tones.
    “No one can breathe in that much smoke,” Tracey finally whispered. “She’s not going to make it, Jude.”
    Jude hugged her sister tighter. “She’ll make it. Morgan and Dallas will rescue her, you’ll see.” Even as she said the words of reassurance, she felt doubtful. They had been in the building such a long time and no one was coming out.
    Suddenly, there was a sound like a muffled explosion. It took Jude a moment to realize something must have collapsed inside the building. The sound caused a flurry of activity to take place on the ground around the command center. Jude could hear the shouts.
    “Call them out. Get them out of there.”
    “Oh, God,” Tracey groaned. She dropped to the ground and buried her face in her hands. “This is my fault. I should have stayed home with Grandma. We shouldn’t have put her in the home, Jude. We could have worked out a schedule.”
    The lump in Jude’s throat kept her from speaking. Where were the men? she wondered. Were the firefighters trapped, too? She thought she had cried herself out, but fresh tears welled up and rolled down her cheeks. It couldn’t end this way. She wouldn’t be able to handle the guilt for her grandmother or the men she had sent to find her.
    In the midst of growing despair, an excited murmur rose from the crowd, then cheers and hand clapping. The crowd surged forward, pushing at the police line in their eagerness to get a better look. The cops held their ground, pushing the crowd back while making half-hearted threats to arrest the next person who crossed the line.
    Tracey jumped to her feet, hopping up and down with excitement. The first firefighter had broken through the barrier of smoke. He had a rescue in his arms. Ignoring the calls of the crowd, he carried the frail, elderly man like a small child. Jude could see him talking to the old man as he walked past, gently placing him in the care of the paramedics.
    More firemen walked by with patients. The crowd had suddenly grown still. Two firemen had not returned. Ladder Six was missing two of their men.
    A search and rescue team geared up, ready to go inside if needed. The captain of Ladder Six huddled with his team of firefighters, plotting the best strategy for reaching the trapped men.
    Jude ran to the police line, catching at the sleeve of a fireman as he went past. “Dallas Preston or Morgan Kent, have you seen them?” She knew she sounded desperate, and she didn’t care. Oh, God, she’d told them to find her grandmother. What if she had sent them to their deaths with that request?
    The firefighter pulled off his heavy helmet, his face showing the strain of worry and fatigue. “We’re looking for them. They went back for the last patient and the floor collapsed.”
    “My grandmother,” Jude choked. She shook her head in disbelief, as if she could clear it from the nightmare taking place around her.
    The fireman’s soot-streaked face softened with