Chapter 1

Prologue:

"Daddy, smile—"

My daughter, tucked in my arms, was fiddling with the action camera hanging around her neck.

I looked down at her, doting, and had just opened my mouth when a sharp, acrid smell hit me.

In an instant I knew. Fire.

Then red text flashed across my vision.

【You've had it too good. Someone's set their sights on you.】

【Go fight that fire and you'll lose everything you own. Your wife and child will end up on the street!】

The words stopped me where I stood, and somewhere in there my back had already gone damp with cold sweat.

Just then a former coworker I hadn't seen in ages pushed out of the crowd and rushed toward me, all panic:

"Joseph Cobb! It really is you! Hurry, go save them!"

1

People were screaming and stampeding through the mall.

A woman shrieked:

"So many people in this mall and where'd all the men go? Somebody go put out that fire!!"

An old man cursed:

"What kind of emergency plan does this place have? I'm reporting this! I'm filing a complaint!"

I held my terrified daughter tight against me and grabbed my wife's hand with the other:

"Don't be scared, I've got you. The smell just started, the fire can't be big yet. The pros will be here soon."

I was leading my wife and daughter out when my old coworker, Hugh Lawrence, blocked my way:

"Joseph! Back when the company ran that fire drill, you were the top firefighter in the whole place. You even walked off with a five-thousand-dollar prize."

"Thank God we ran into you. Hurry, go save them."

Hugh's fingers clamped around my wrist. His grip was hard.

I shook his hand off, passed my daughter into my wife's arms, and put the two of them behind me.

Thrown off, Hugh's face went dark:

"Joseph! You're a decorated firefighter. This is exactly your moment to shine. Don't tell me you're trying to run?"

The chaos of the mall froze in a single breath.

Every eye in the place landed on me.

My brow knotted. I'm no professional firefighter. What's with the guilt trip?

Hugh's voice went urgent:

"Joseph! It's the nursing room that's on fire. The ones trapped in there are all women and kids!"

The people running around me slowed. I saw someone already aiming a phone at me.

When I still didn't answer, Hugh gritted his teeth and said:

"Joseph, I'm begging you! My wife and kid are both in that nursing room. If you'll just go save them, I'll do anything you want."

"I'll get down on my knees for you!"

And with that Hugh actually dropped to the floor with a thud in front of me and started slamming his forehead down—bang, bang—kowtowing at me.

As far as I knew, this coworker of mine slacked off and coasted every single day, and he'd been fired a few months after I started.

He'd been drifting around ever since, never even holding a steady job.

So where had a wife and kid suddenly come from?

Hugh sobbed and begged me, his skull thudding against the floor over and over.

And at the same time, the red text flashed above his head.

【Whatever you do, don't believe him. This is all Hugh Lawrence's scheme!】

I said, low and even:

"I can help coordinate things here and keep people safe."

Hugh stalled, then glared at me with red-rimmed eyes:

"Joseph! What's that supposed to mean? You're just going to stand by and let them die?"

I pushed my huge belly forward and said, helpless:

"Look at this gut of mine. I have trouble just running myself. And I'm not a professional firefighter. How exactly am I supposed to go in there and save anyone?"

But Hugh clearly wasn't satisfied with that. He blew up on the spot, shot to his feet, jabbed a finger in my face, and yelled:

"Joseph! You're the only one here who's done a fire drill. That makes it your duty!"

Then he wheeled around to the gathered crowd:

"Everybody look at this man! A decorated firefighter, and he's shoving another man's wife and child into the flames!"

Hugh was deliberately blurring the lines, fudging the concept so the crowd would think I was a firefighter.

And by then I believed every word of that red text.