CHAPTER FORTY THREE – FIRE RESCUE

The sting of tears burned her eyes as the duffel strap slipped from her limp fingers, clattering at her feet. Jasmine sank to the curb, suddenly feeling as brittle and upended as the night her marriage crumbled around her. A harsh, skull-rattling explosion shattered the chaos. Jasmine gasped, her head snapping up to see shards of glass and chunks of burning debris raining down as a torrent of flames burst forth from the fifth floor windows. Harrowing screams pierced the night as the ladder team scrambled to safety – all but one firefighter still frozen amidst the scorching inferno. The explosion rocked the area, a deafening boom that shattered windows and sent burning debris raining down. Jasmine covered her head instinctively as screams erupted from the gathered crowd. "Mendez!!" A burly firefighter - his name patch read 'Garcia' - charged forward, panic etched across his soot-streaked face. The ladder Mendez had been ascending was now a twisted, smoldering wreck lying on the pa