Chapter 2 - THE EVIDENCE
"That footage is fake!" Vance spat, though the tremor in his hands betrayed him. "You can't intimidate me, Miller! I run the budget oversight committee! I decide whether this decrepit station gets new breathing apparatuses or gets shut down entirely!"
"Office. Now," Chief Miller commanded, turning on his heel.
Five minutes later, the air inside the Station Chief’s glass-walled office was suffocating. The room overlooked the entire engine bay, but inside, the world had narrowed to the bright, cool glow of a single 27-inch monitor.
Chief Miller leaned over his heavy mahogany desk and struck the spacebar on his keyboard. The blue light from the monitor reflected off Administrator Vance’s forehead, highlighting the fine beads of sweat breaking out along his hairline. Maya stood by the closed glass door, her arm folded over her chest, watching the administrator unravel.
On the screen, a high-definition time-stamped surveillance video played out. The timestamp read 02:14 AM - YESTERDAY.
The video showed a figure wearing a dark hoodie slipping into the station garage while the crew was dispatched to a dumpster fire down on 4th Street. The figure walked straight to Engine 4, opened the side panel, and used a pair of heavy pliers to twist the pressure relief valves on the self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) tanks—the very tanks Maya and her crew relied on to breathe inside burning buildings.
As the figure turned to leave, he pulled down his hood to wipe his brow, looking directly into the camera concealed behind the station's exhaust extraction unit.
It was Administrator Vance.
"You weren't trying to audit us, Vance," Chief Miller said, his voice dropping into a register that sounded like grinding tectonic plates. "You were sabotaging oxygen rigs to push our safety rating below the state minimum, giving your property developer friends the legal leverage to condemn this firehouse and sell the land."
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Vance slammed both hands onto the glass top of the desk, rattling the brass desk lamp. "You don't understand how this city works! This land is worth twelve million dollars! You think a bunch of blue-collar hose-monkeys are worth more than a downtown revitalisation project?"
"Tell that to the Mayor," Maya said quietly from the doorway. She stepped aside as two heavy shadows filled the doorframe.
