Except that his Green Watch colleagues weren’t about to allow him any respite no matter how urgent the callout. Jason was on the back bench seat of the passenger compartment, sitting beside Stick. Cliff was navigating in the front passenger seat and Bruce was driving. Thirteen tons of fire appliance was soon gathering speed, siren on and beacons flashing. Jason pulled his braces into place and managed to shove his arms into his coat sleeves despite the limited space available to manoeuvre.

‘Put your safety belt on, Dad.’

‘Give it a rest, Stick.’ The ribbing had started well before the official shift change. Laura had taken it with good humour. In fact, Jason had the weird impression that she hadn’t even minded being addressed as ‘Mummy’. And Mrs McKendry might have pretended to be offended by Stick and Mitch deciding to call her ‘Granny M.’ but it had been quite obvious she couldn’t wait to whisk the bassinet into a quiet corner of ‘her’ kitchen.

Jason clicked his lap belt into place just in time to prevent ending up on Stick’s lap as Bruce negotiated a sharp corner.

‘Unit 962-are you responding?’

‘Affirmative.’ Cliff looked up from his map to check that the appropriate button on the radio console had been activated. The response button was still flashing, which indicated the signal hadn’t gone through, so he pushed it again.

‘Person thought to be trapped. Back-up has been dispatched from Central Station. Ambos are also on their way.’

‘Won’t be our guys,’ Bruce said. ‘They got sent out to someone who was unconscious or something.’

Jason looked ahead over Bruce’s shoulder as the air horn added considerably to the noise they were making. Drivers at the intersection they were entering hurriedly jammed on their brakes or pulled to the side of the road.

‘Take the next right and head up to the top of the hill,’ Cliff advised Bruce. ‘Then take a left into Kowhai Drive.’

‘I wonder who’s trapped.’ Stick said. ‘Hope it’s not another kid.’

Too many young lives had been lost in house fires around the country recently and it was an experience all fire officers dreaded having to deal with. Dwelling on the darker side of what the job entailed was never tolerated for long, however. Especially with this particular crew.

‘We’ll send Jase in to look after it, if it is.’ Cliff turned to grin over his shoulder. ‘He’s the expert now.’

‘Amazing that he’s lasted four days.’ Bruce had to shout to be heard as he leaned on the horn at another intersection. ‘Have you learned how to change a nappy yet, mate?’

‘He’s bloody lucky he’s got Laura there to help.’

‘Yeah. Good old Laura. You wouldn’t think it to look at her but she’s a bit of a star, isn’t she?’

‘She probably wouldn’t look half bad either if she lost a bit of weight.’

‘She’s not fat.’ Jason was stung out of trying to ignore the conversation.

‘She’s not exactly skinny,’ Stick declared.

Cliff was grinning again. ‘I like a few curves,’ he said. ‘Makes them a bit more cuddly, doesn’t it, Jase?’

‘I wouldn’t know.’

‘Pull the other one! You’ve had a female alone in the house with you for four days and you haven’t tried it on?’

‘Of course not.’ Jason was more than affronted this time. ‘This is Laura we’re talking about.’

The nods of the surrounding men signalled an end to that ridiculous line of discussion, and perversely Jason felt irritated at their ready agreement. He might not find her physically attractive himself but what was so wrong with Laura? She was a nice person. She deserved to be judged on something other than her appearance.

‘Babies have that effect on any relationship anyway,’ Cliff told his mates. ‘I remember it only too well. In fact, things were never the same in that department after the first one came along. Liz was always “too tired”.’

‘I’m not having a relationship with Laura.’ Jason felt obliged to spell it out. ‘She’s just helping me out, which is more than you lot have done.’

‘We don’t fancy you, mate.’ The shout of laughter Stick’s comment generated was loudly appreciative.

‘Neither does Laura, so give it a rest, for God’s sake. How close are we now, Cliff?’

Bruce had to slow the truck to take the turn into Kowhai Drive. Then he put his foot down for a long, straight stretch.

‘Have you heard from the kid’s mother yet?’

‘Nah.’ Jason shook his head. ‘Not a peep.’

‘Maybe she’s done a runner.’

‘She won’t get far. I rang a buddy in the police department and he made a few enquiries off the record. I’ll get notified if she’s trying to leave the country.’

‘Maybe she’s left already.’

Jason shook his head again. ‘We checked. She arrived in Auckland five days ago from London.’

‘The kid actually looked quite happy when you arrived this morning, Jase.’ Stick elbowed his colleague. ‘Have you got it on drugs or something?’

Bruce shot a quick glance into the back seat. ‘Maybe it knows Granny M. is going to be in charge of it today.’

Referring to a child as an ‘it’ was really quite annoying, Jason decided. But hadn’t he been doing that himself until rather recently?

‘Robbins Avenue is the next on the right,’ Cliff informed Bruce.

‘I can smell smoke,’ Stick called.

He and Jason both unclipped their safety belts and slipped their arms through the straps that would hold the tanks of air on their backs.

‘And thar she blows.’ They could all see the billowing cloud of smoke as they turned the next corner.

Jason put his breathing apparatus mask over his face, adjusted the straps and then pulled his helmet forward and lowered the visor. By the time he and Stick dismounted from the step on the side of the fire truck they were ready to unroll a hose and move towards whatever area their officer, Cliff, deemed the most effective place to start containing this house fire.

A small crowd of people had gathered on the footpath, many still wearing nightwear and dressing-gowns. A distraught-looking woman holding a baby, with an older child clinging to her legs and crying with terror, was the focus of attention. A man with a garden hose could be seen making a futile effort to control flames licking through the top of a bay window towards the iron roof of the old weatherboard house.

As driver and pump operator, Bruce was responsible for setting up the water connection. A standpipe was fitted into the nearby hydrant with the key and bar beside it. Feeder hoses connected the standpipe to the pump appliance and Jason and Stick took the delivery hose from the truck towards the house. Cliff was directing the operation, sizing up the scene and safety considerations, issuing instructions and gathering any available information from the witnesses.

‘One adult escaped and managed to get two kids out,’ he informed Stick and Jason. ‘There’s a three-year-old somewhere in the house.’

Jason swore under his breath. ‘Any idea where?’

‘No. She disappeared when the mother was carrying the baby and dragging the older one out.’

Another fire appliance was pulling up now and an ambulance wasn’t far behind, but Jason barely registered their arrival. He used his boot to kick open the front door of the house. He pulled the handle on the branch of the hose back to open the water flow enough to send a controlled spray, which he aimed towards the ceiling of the smoke-filled hallway.

The water vaporised instantly in the heat, and steam billowed downwards. Waiting only a second or two for the steam to dissipate, Jason and Stick walked into the house.

Another burst of water cooled the top layer of smoke and the firefighters threw themselves down to avoid the burning steam. Jason could feel the heat on his ears, which were the only unprotected areas of skin on his body.

A window exploded somewhere further away in the house and he could hear the faint shouts of another fire crew setting up a second high-pressure delivery system. The sound of his own rapid breathing inside his mask was louder.

Jason pushed himself to his feet and directed a new spray of water towards the ceiling. Cooling the top layer was intended to prevent the hot gas igniting and creating a dangerous flash over and transition from a localised fire to total involvement that could trap the firefighters. He wasn’t going to slow their progress any more than was absolutely necessary, however. Somewhere in here was a child and if she hadn’t already succumbed to the fire or smoke inhalation, he was going to find and rescue her.

One bedroom was virtually intact but there was no sign of a child through the drifts of smoke. Handing control of the hose nozzle to Stick, Jason wrenched open the wardrobe door and swept the beam from his high-powered torch under the bed. Nothing.

The smoke in the next bedroom was thick enough to kill anybody trying to breathe it, but the area below knee level was still relatively clear. The sight of scattered toys on the floor was an unnecessary reminder of how urgent this task was, and Jason clung onto the hope that the kid had crawled in any attempt to escape and would therefore have had a supply of oxygen for longer. He shook his head, giving Stick a thumbs-down signal before moving rapidly out of the second bedroom.

Another crew was now entering the house from the other side. Between bursts of water and avoiding injury from the steam, Jason veered away from the kitchen that was the most likely starting point of this fire as a charred beam snapped and sent a shower of debris into the area. A sitting room adjoined the kitchen, but that was closer to the back-up crew. Jason turned into another short hallway.

The bathroom was clear. So was another bedroom. That left only the laundry at the end of the hallway and there was no space for a child to hide there. A washing machine, a tumble dryer and a hamper full of dirty laundry filled all the available space. Jason turned again but then paused as he reoriented himself in the eerie darkness caused by the smoke and tried to clear extraneous messages bombarding his brain.