When Marco doesn't show up for work, everyone is thinking he's just having a bad day but their first run shows them that his day is much worse than they ever dreamed.

Trapped

One by one the men of A shift drifted into the locker room to change into their uniforms before the start of their shift.

Cap had been the first in as usual and was already in the office getting a report on the last shifts activities before starting on his beginning shift paperwork.

Mike arrived at his usual time and quickly and quietly changed, took the report from the outgoing engineer and then moved on to inspect the engine finishing with plenty of time for a trip to the day room for a fresh cup of coffee and the newspaper there.

Chet was in next, surprisingly early for him. He had woken up suddenly, a good hour and a half before his alarm was set to go off. He was panicked and confused but when he woke up enough to realize he was in his own room at his own apartment he calmed down enough to convince himself it was just a dream. He couldn't remember any dream that would have caused him to be breathing hard and his heart to race as if a call had just come in for him to respond to a ten alarm fire, but that was the only explanation he could come up with. Even though he convinced himself it was just a dream he was still unable to go back to sleep so he gave up and headed out to work early.

Once he dressed in his uniform, Chet found himself sitting alone in the locker room feeling a strange sense of dread and foreboding he just couldn't explain. Unable to find an explanation for his feelings he set about quietly applying a coat of polish to his spare set of boots.

John and Roy came in together, having met in the parking lot when they arrived at nearly the same time. They were talking about the in-service training they had attended on their break and a new treatment technique that was being taught there.

"Hi, Chet," Roy greeted, then without waiting for a response, he opened his locker and went about the business of getting into uniform.

"Good morning, Chet," Johnny said, opening his own locker. The two paramedics continued to talk about the new procedure and the effect it would have on their work, their patients, and the way things were stored in the squad. When they were dressed they walked out of the locker room continuing to talk and seemingly unaware that Chet was still sitting on the bench in front of his locker, looking and feeling like he had just lost his best friend.

When Cap hollered "Roll Call" Chet was startled. He had been so lost in his boot shining and his self analyzing that he had lost track of time.

As if he were responding to the alarm Chet hurried to his place next to his fellow crewmembers to notice they were one team member short.

"Does anyone know where Lopez is?" Captain Stanley asked before starting with the daily business. No one knew the answer and the knot in the pit of Chet's stomach grew ten sizes.

Hank was concerned about his missing man, also. For Chet or Johnny not to be here at the start of roll call was not unusual, but Marco was nearly always at the station in plenty of time to get a Danish and a cup of coffee before the official start of the day. Still everyone has a bad morning once in a while and there was a lot of road construction in the area Marco had moved to a few weeks ago.

Hank proceeded with the morning announcements expecting Marco to arrive with a good excuse for his tardiness before he was finished with the memos from head quarters.

When roll call was finished and the men were slowly scattering to perform their cleaning assignments Hank returned to the office to call his wayward lineman. Pulling his phone list from his desk, he drew his finger down to where Marco Lopez was written and then across. The address had been crossed out and a new one written in pen, then that was crossed out and a new one written in pencil. The same with the phone number listed. Marco had moved three times in a little over six months, it was time to make up a new phone list. It took Hank a minute to decipher his own hand writing made worse by the cramped space he tried to write in and the fact that the pencil mark had smudged a little. The first number he dialed was answered by a drycleaners so he figured that what he had thought was an eight before must be a three. Making that adjustment Hank dialed again this time the line was busy. He waited a few minutes then called again, still busy. Not sure he had the right phone number Hank walked into the dorm where Chet was straitening up and asked him what Marco's phone number was.

Chet pulled a card out of his wallet that had the same scratched out rewritten and then scratched out again appearance.

"Do you know why Marco has moved so many times?" Hank asked as he moved toward the phone in the dorm to make one more attempt to get a hold of his missing man. His dialing was interrupted by the tones blaring.

"Station 51 car into a building just north of 219th street on the east side of S Figueroa St . North side of 219th street and S Figueroa use the dead end road heading north behind that abandoned school. Time out 8:14."

The men minus one, piled into their respective emergency response units and pulled out into morning rush hour traffic. From the high riding view point Hank was able to see the car into the building from the heavy traffic on S. Figueroa and was quick to recognize the building as an apartment building. There were already three police cars on sight and Mike was able to follow the squad's lead down an alley and get on sight quickly.

Jumping off of the engine, Hank hurried over to the police officer who was closest to the car.

"What have we got here?"

"Well there's no one in the car," the police officer reported. "We just ran the plates and found that it belongs to a guy who was found wandering the road in a daze several hours ago. Looks kind of like he was having some engine trouble and the car rolled down the hill. We're not getting any response from the apartment. One of the neighbors said the guy who lives here works nights, we're waiting for him to come home now. Boy is he in for a surprise."

"You can say that again." Hank shook his head at the sight before him. The car was half inside one of the units in a rundown apartment building. It had hit in a way to take the wall and just lay it over in its path and it was guessed that the wall was leaning on some furniture inside that was holding not only the wall but the car in a slightly slanted position.

"Engine 51, LA." The handy talky in Hank's pocket went off.

"This is Engine 51, LA, go ahead."

"We are on the phone with a victim at your location. He is trapped in his bedroom and in need of assistance. He is experiencing difficulty breathing and is unable to call out loud enough for you to hear him."

The looks on police and fire fighters both shown with surprise and increased urgency.

"10-4, LA. Tell the victim to just hang on, we're coming in to get him. Can he give us any more information on his condition?" Hank asked for information he thought would help his paramedics.

"He say's to enter through the front door. You'll have to break it down but then you should have easy access to him in the bedroom."

Hank motioned for his men to get whatever gear they thought they'd need and turned to the wreckage in front of him and yelled loudly, "This is the fire department, just hang on and we'll be in to get you in just a minute."

He then joined the rest of his men taking one of the pry bars from Chet as he caught up with them.

The front door had two dead bolts and took a little doing to get it open. First Chet used the ax to punch a hole in the hollow core door then he was able to reach in and unlock the dead bolts and remove the chain. They still had to kick the door in since no one could figure out the door knob's locking mechanism. From there it was a matter of looking around to figure out where the bedroom was. They were able to see a phone cord leading onto a bed under the fallen wall only held in place by the car on top of it.

Putting the handy-talkie to his mouth, Cap spoke, "Engine 51, HT 51, Mike we're going to have to pull that car out. I think with the room we have to move around in out there we better use the squad."

"10-4, Cap, I'll get it hooked up," Mike responded.

Hank moved in behind his paramedics to see if there was anything more that needed to be done on his end to assure no further harm was done to the victim.

While Cap evaluated the scene Johnny crawled under the debris the best he could to try and gain access to his patient.

"Cap!" came the excited call from underneath what was left of the wall, then John backed out just a bit, "Cap, it's Marco. Marco's the one trapped under here. It looks like that front tire is parked on his chest restricting his breathing. Roy I need the oxygen mask."

Roy opened the case that housed the oxygen system and quickly attached a mask to the end of the tubing. Cap then took it from him and crawled in next to his paramedic to check on his, until now, missing lineman.

John was quick to take the mask from him and place it on Marco's face as Marco turned a pleading look toward his captain. There was a laceration on his forehead and little else could be seen of the man. He was under the covers of his bed and the wall was on top of him.

"Well this certainly explains why you were late for work this morning," Hank said, trying to offer up a little humor.

"Sorry, Cap," Marco responded with a breathy whisper of a voice as he struggled to take in the oxygen that he was being given. "I just couldn't get out of bed this morning."

"We'll get you out of here as quickly as we can." Hank reached out and placed a hand on Marco's shoulder.

Before he crawled back out Hank took a good look around, one side of the wall's mostly intact framing was held up by a dresser against one wall and a night stand on the other side of the bed seemed to be the only thing that kept his linemen from being totally crushed.

"What are you going to need, Johnny?" Hank asked as he worked his way back toward more open area to give his paramedic more room to work and to orchestrate the rescue at hand.

"BP cuff, stethoscope and C-collar, right now. We're also going to need a back board and some blankets," Johnny listed as he started to count a pulse. "His pulse is strong," He said to his captain, reassuringly. "We're going to have to get him out of here before I can tell how bad he's hurt."

"I'll see what I can do about expediting that." Hank inched the rest of the way out.

When he was out from under the fallen wall Hank could see that his engineer had the squad backed into place and was now hooking up to the bumper of the car. "Mike, pull that car out as soon as you're ready. If you pull slow and steady you shouldn't cause any further injury."

"I'll be ready in a minute, Cap," Mike reported as he bent down with the rope in his hand.

"How is he, Cap?" Chet asked as he stood waiting for what needed to be done next.

"Johnny says he's got a strong pulse but according to the broken clock on his bed side table, he's been under there for nearly four hours. They're going to need a back board and some blankets."

That was all Chet needed to know before going into action as he ran back through the front door and around the building to get the requested supplies from the squad.

From his vantage point inside the apartment Hank watched Chet hurry to the squad and pull the back board and a couple of blankets from their compartments while Mike tested his knots before hurrying to the squad to start pulling the car off of their friend.

Hank gave the go ahead wave from inside and two police officers directed Mike forward. As the car rolled inch by inch the wall beneath it began to creek. Hank and one of the police officers took hold of the framing and started to hoist it upward as the car rolled away while Roy joined Johnny at Marco's side. Before the car was out of the building Chet had returned with the back board and blankets. Setting them in an easily accessible place Chet then added his muscle to the hefting of the wooden frame as Roy and John were quick to pull loose sheetrock from atop of their friend. Once there was a six inch space above Marco, John and Roy slid the back board under the bottom sheet and using the sheet pulled Marco onto the back board and covered him with a blanket and placed the oxygen tank between his legs before they worked their way between those holding up the wall and out into the living room where Marco was placed on the floor so they could finish their evaluation.

Now that the weight was lifted from his chest Marco found it much easier to breath and soon the oxygen mask felt claustrophobic.

Now that their victim was rescued Hank, Chet and the police officer lowered the wall back onto the bed and retrieved the paramedics' boxes and equipment, carrying them into where they were now needed. The door opened again and Mike hurried in to check on his crewmate.

Marco lay on the back board with a bandage on his head and a soft foam C-collar around his neck. He had been sleeping in his boxers and a t-shirt which Johnny was now lifting so that he could more completely check for broken ribs and internal injuries while Roy was listening to the lungs to make sure both lungs were working properly.

John leaned back on his heals as Roy pulled the stethoscope from his ears and the two men exchanged sighs of relief.

"Marco, man you are one lucky son of a gun." Johnny reported a rendition of his findings, "I think you're going to be black and blue for a few days, but considering you had a car parked on your chest for over four hours I'm sure you know things could have been a lot worse."

"How ya' feelin' there, Marc?" Hank squatted down and placed a hand on his lineman's shoulder.

Marco reached up and pulled the oxygen mask away from his face. "I can breathe better now that you guys got all that weight off my chest. Thanks, guys, for getting me out of there."

"Hey, that's what we do," Chet got a word in edge wise.

"Can you tell me what happened?" The police officer was finally able to get to Marco and tried to get a statement.

"Not really," Marco spoke with his full voice now that he could breathe better. "I just woke up with a head ache and my chest felt like, well it felt like I had a car parked on it and I couldn't catch my breath. It was dark and I couldn't see anything. for the longest time I thought I was having a heart attack. I don't know how long it was before I tried to lift my arms and felt the wall on top of me. When the sun started to come up I was able to see the phone but it took me several tries to get a hold of the cord that was hanging down the side of the night stand. Once I was able to do that I managed to pull the phone to me, but the head set fell off the phone so I had to get a hold of that cord and with one hand pull it toward me before I was able to call for help. I was aware of someone pounding on the door, and then later I could hear you guys outside talking and all but-"

"Say no more there, Marco, we get the picture." Hank gave a glance toward the remains of the bedroom once again.

"I've heard the phrase, 'he never knew what hit him,' before but now I really know what it means," Marco exclaimed as John checked his pupils.

Roy called in the vitals to Rampart and Dr. Early ordered and IV TKO just as a precaution then Marco was lifted by the backboard he was on to a gurney and rolled to the ambulance.

As the gurney was rolled out of the apartment, Cap remembered the packed duffel bag and clothes laid out on the chair they moved out of the bedroom during the extrication. He quickly collected them and handed them to Roy to take along to the hospital just in case Marco was released. He knew he would need to be dressed in something more than his underwear when he left the hospital.