Blaze: A Firefighter Romance

by Lisa Lace

  Unbidden, an image of Annalee came into my mind. She had kissed me tenderly in the moonlight as we lay close together and passed into slumber. I told myself I would get the opportunity to hold her like that again.

  I wasn't sure how I had come to care about her so much in such a short time. I certainly didn't believe in love at first sight. It must be because I had married her. We took marriage very seriously on Yordbrook. There was no such thing as divorce here. When I made my vows, I meant them.

  That was why I was here, right? To protect her?

  I could almost convince myself that my only reason for being here was the vow.

  I slowly counted to a hundred and finally set to work. I pulled a hollow reed from my pocket and placed a dart inside it. Porter and I had spent hours perfecting the art of hitting a target with this instrument. By this point, I could do it with my eyes closed. I crawled forward until I knew there was no way I could miss.

  I knew I needed to hit him in the neck. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly, focusing on the spot I wanted the tiny dart to strike. The projectile went flying straight at the man.

  He jumped and swatted at his neck, thinking that a bug bit him. Then he rubbed at the spot. He would experience minor pain similar to an insect sting. I couldn't see it from my location, but I was sure the projectile had fallen on the ground where no one would ever find it.

  He mindlessly massaged his neck some more, and I knew the dart had vanished, leaving no trace of what had knocked him out. A moment later, he slumped down and lay still in the grass. One down, one to go.

  I went over to him and checked his pulse. It was regular, so he was still alive. As I was checking out the Bureau agent, I heard it.

  Tap, tap, tap-ta, tap-ta, tap.

  Was it Annalee?

  I leaned over to the wall. Tap, tap, tap-ta, tap-ta, tap. I was excited to hear someone, hopefully, Annalee, tap it back to me again.

  I crept inside and held still, listening for any noises. The biggest problem in old places like this was inadvertent creaks in the floors. I eased down the hall, creeping as slowly as I could and testing my weight before each step.

  In this part of the hallway, a Bureau agent was guarding a prisoner. He was fast asleep, even snoring slightly. I felt cocky, but as it turned out, I was overconfident. When I took a step, the floor groaned and gave away my position.

  The snoring stopped, and the guard's eyes opened. I retreated into the shadows, hoping he would not notice me. He looked for the source of the noise but didn't see me. I carefully prepared the blow tube, quietly lifting it to my lips. I got lucky. He started checking in the opposite direction. I had a chance if I moved before he turned around.

  I stepped out, aimed, and blew. The dart hit the side of his neck as I stepped back. I was already hidden again when I heard his body fall to the floor. The drug-tipped dart would affect his short-term memory. When he woke up, he wouldn't remember a thing.

  Porter appeared and helped me lift a heavy bar across the prisoner's door. When I pulled on the handle, it opened easily.

  It was Annalee. My heart soared when I saw her, but not before I noticed her eyes light up with relief. She was glad to see me.

  Reunions would have to wait until we were safely away. Porter had taken care of the other people who were awake at the inn to avoid witnesses. If anyone discovered us now, there would be a bounty on all our heads.

  I dragged the guard inside the cell, dumped him on the ground, and barred the door again. We moved quickly out of the inn. Porter had tied up the other guard, who was still snoring soundly. I grabbed Annalee's hand, and we all ran quietly into the night.

  Annalee wasn't in shape for an extended run. When we came to a clearing, Porter said we could take a break. I put my lips on hers immediately as she pressed herself against me. I let myself linger before we finally broke off the kiss, which was quickly becoming inappropriate for anywhere except the bedroom.

  "You came to get me," she said.

  "Didn't you think I would?"

  She shrugged, looking uncomfortable. "I didn't know. Nobody in the crowd seemed like they would help me, including you."

  "Plenty of us would help you if we could. I had the opportunity, so here we are."

  "What do we do now?"

  "I hope we get the chance to lay low and sneak out of here." I trailed off, looking around as my ears heard something coming from the woods. "Be quiet," I said, forcing her to crouch.

  We hid behind some bushes and watched someone come into the clearing. Another Bureau man. They had an endless supply of these guys. I didn't know where he came from, and it didn't matter. Perhaps he had arrived to help the men escort Annalee to the capital. The only thing that mattered was evading him.

  He would spot us sooner or later. We needed the element of surprise.

  "It's time to go," I whispered, taking her hand. I jumped up, pulling her with me and we ran into the forest.

  A voice rang out after us. "Stop. All of you are under arrest. If you continue resisting, I will shoot to kill."

  I spotted Porter running ahead of us. I knew he had something that would help us escape. He would come back and get us when he retrieved it. Annalee and I took a different direction to confuse our pursuer.

  "You're going to have to run. Pull your skirts up to your hips." She was struggling with her dress.

  She didn't answer me, but I saw her pull her skirts up, exposing her shapely legs. She ran for all she was worth. We came to a stream and jumped over it, never slowing for an instant.

  The Bureau agent behind us had stopped shouting. We could hear his feet pounding behind us. His body crashed through the underbrush. Porter was nowhere in sight. We kept moving as quickly as we could, but I could tell that Annalee was lagging. It must be harder for a woman to run with all the clothing. I pulled her into a zig-zag pattern to make it more difficult for anyone to catch up with us.

  I knew she wouldn't make it much longer.

  Finally, I saw something over the treetops. It was the glint of moonlight on a type of metal that had not come from Yordbrook. I knew it was tracking us, so I pulled Annalee under cover, trying to conceal us.

  The machine overhead disappeared, and I cursed internally, not wanting to waste any more breath on speech. Annalee had started holding her side. She was bent over and starting to stagger. I felt myself beginning to slow down.

  He was going to catch us.

  I looked back over my shoulder but couldn't see him. Had he lost our trail or taken a wrong turn?

  Because I was looking behind me, I wasn't paying much attention as we burst out of the forest and into a small clearing. Unable to stop my momentum, I smashed straight into the hull of a sleek, shiny state-of-the-art hovercraft, like few people on Yordbrook had ever seen. Annalee gasped and looked around, thinking she might be executed merely for seeing the object.

  When it finally opened for us, Annalee didn't move. I roughly pulled her inside with me. As the door closed, she turned to me.

  "What the fuck is going on here, Jesse? And who's piloting this thing?" I could tell she had a suspicion.

  The man at the helm was busy cloaking our vehicle and maneuvering it off the ground. He answered Annalee without looking up.

  "It's me," Porter said, his fingers flying across the console. "And now that we've left the Bureau behind us, we need to get the hell out of here."

  Annalee looked at me and started tearing off her dress.

  "What are you doing? I'm sure you're glad to see me, but this certainly isn't the proper time."

  "Don't start," she said, unbuttoning her dress as fast as she could but studiously avoiding a glance in my direction. "Don't act like you care about me."

  "Of course I care about you," I said. I didn't understand why she was upset and struggled to control the anger rising inside me. "I risked my life for you and abandoned my life-long dream of inheriting my father's farm."

  She stopped undressing for a moment. "I'm sorry," she said. Emotio
nlessly, she added, "Thank you, Jesse. The problem is that you let me think you were just as traditional as everyone else on Yordbrook. Apparently you two have no issues using modern technology." Annalee's face looked thoughtful. "In fact, if I had to guess now, I'd say you were part of the Underground."

  It had felt wrong to deceive her, but I didn't have a choice. I couldn't have told her about my involvement before now. Many lives depended on compartmentalizing knowledge about the Underground.

  "It's more than that," Porter said when I didn't answer immediately. "We're part of the Underground's leadership."

  Chapter Eleven

  JESSE

  Annalee continued to disrobe. Layer after layer disappeared until she was standing in her shift, giving me an erection and making me move slightly to conceal my hard cock.

  "Why are you undressing?" I asked, moving uncomfortably as my pants became cramped. "I appreciate the view, of course, but we're not a clothing-optional planet."

  "Is this hovercraft fitted up to Union standards?" she said, looking irritated.

  "Yes."

  "Where's the bedroom?"

  I motioned to the far end of the ship, and she vanished. I wondered if she wanted me to follow her into the bedroom. But considering the look on her face, romance seemed the last thing on her mind. I thought it was safer to remain where I was. Porter had taken us high into the air and was flying at a reckless speed. He was trying to get us to headquarters as quickly as possible.

  When Annalee returned, she looked quite different. She was wearing a pair of blue standard issue pants and a T-shirt. I had only seen clothing like that when I had left the planet on Underground business.

  The pants fit her perfectly. They had a mechanism inside that sized itself to the wearer. The T-shirt showed off her fabulous breasts. It was tight against her body, and I wondered if she had done it to tease me. If she had, she would pay tonight when we were alone in my quarters.

  "I am sick of those dresses," she said with vehemence. "Has anyone here ever thought a woman might want to get out of a carriage by herself?"

  Porter and I glanced at each other.

  "Are you trying to go back to the dark ages or something?"

  I looked down at the floor and then back up at her face, thinking about how I could best answer to her question.

  "Technology almost destroyed us once. We don't want that to happen again, and we're not sure what to do," I murmured.

  "People almost destroyed your civilization," she said. "I hope you're not hoping you can save your people with restrictive clothing because it's not going to help." Annalee walked up beside Porter where he was resting. The ship was on autopilot.

  "How are you, Annalee? You're looking beautiful in your non-restrictive clothing," Porter said.

  "I've been better. The two people I've trusted the most on this planet have been lying to me."

  "Jesse swore an oath, Ann. He's a good man. The best," he said, meeting my eyes and then looking back at Annalee. "He's saved my butt more times than I can count."

  "We've saved each other," I said. "Now can you stop talking about me like I'm not here?"

  She looked over at me. "Explain yourself, then," she said, her tone demanding as she crossed her arms over her perfect breasts.

  "When Porter and I were younger, we found a computer."

  "The one that got you the tattoo?" she asked. "Porter was with you at the time?"

  "That's the one," I said "Porter was smart. He poked at it but said we should leave it where it was. I couldn't resist."

  I looked her carefully in the eyes. "I took it home. It still worked. I was fascinated by the beautiful photographs and what it could do. For three wonderful weeks, I kept it under the floorboards in my room and learned how to use it when I had spare time. I hardly slept. My family was starting to wonder what was going on."

  Annalee glanced at Porter, who was staring into space. He knew what came next.

  "Then they found it."

  "Who?"

  "The Bureau of Purity. It was a standard search. They conduct them regularly."

  "That sounds impossible. How could they find it? Surely they wouldn't look under all the floorboards in every house?"

  I shook my head. "No. That's where their hypocrisy comes in, Annalee. The Bureau of Purity uses technology to find contraband technology."

  "What?" she said, in outrage. "Are you fucking kidding me?"

  I winced. I still wasn't used to hearing profanity in a woman.

  "Sorry," she said. "Are you kidding me?"

  "He's right," Porter interjected. "I worked for the Bureau for three years. When I left, I had a high clearance level. I learned about the types of technology they use. They don't hesitate to eliminate anyone if they suspect you'll reveal their secrets."

  "How did someone that's part of the Underground end up working for the Bureau?" Annalee asked.

  "That's coming later," I said. "They found the computer in my room, and I'm sure my guilty face told them everything they needed to know."

  "You didn't look guilty at all. You looked angry that someone had taken your toy away."

  I laughed. "A little of both, I suppose. A year later, someone approached me in the woods and offered to teach me some secrets if I joined the Underground. At that point, I understood the risks more clearly."

  "It took him nearly half a decade before he finally gave in," Porter said. "I'd been working for them for a couple of years before he relented."

  "How did you end up with the Bureau?"

  "I went undercover. I learned a lot of information and somehow escaped with my life. I keep under the radar now and live in the shadows. If they find me, they're not going to do anything nice to me."

  Annalee looked horrified.

  "That's why you hid when the Bureau showed up at the inn. I thought you were a coward."

  "The laws here are no joking matter, Annalee." I stood and walked over to her. I took her hands and gazed into her eyes, hoping she could understand. "I trust you realize how close you came to death."

  "I know," she whispered, her face white.

  "I'm not sure you do. It was reckless of you to bring a phone here in the first place. Once you saw the man killed, why would you keep it?"

  "I..." She turned away. "You'll probably think it's silly. But I made a promise to a child to keep his picture with me wherever I went. It was stupid, I guess."

  "You can call it silly, or stupid, or whatever," I said gently. "If it happens again, we might not be able to rescue you."

  "I'm sorry. I never thought my actions would affect someone else. Does this mean they're coming after you too?"

  I nodded. I wasn't sorry for myself, but I felt sad for my father.

  "I am a horrible person," she said, sitting down in the co-pilot's seat. "I always thought I was a good daughter, but the truth is I resented my mother and how she wasted our money."

  Her eyes filled with tears. "Now I've taken away the only thing you ever wanted."

  She put her hands over her face, silently sobbing.

  I looked at Porter helplessly. "Annalee, I never would have been good at farm life. I belong with the Underground. You helped me realize it. I would do it all over again if I had to."

  "You said that you and Porter can't take any more missions like this."

  I put my hand on her cheek. "I meant we didn't like worrying about the prisoner. We've never had to break out someone who was important to us. All our rescue missions had been for strangers before."

  "Oh," she whispered. "You two care about me?" She looked back and forth between us and dropped her head, looking bashful.

  "Porter's your friend," I said. "I am another friend and your husband. Of course we care about you."

  She nodded silently, seemingly overcome by her emotions.

  Porter coughed. "Anyway," I said, returning to the original topic of conversation. "I joined the Underground, and I've been working for them since then. I don't advertise the fact, of course. I some
how believed that I could do both forever. I was a fool."

  "It's all my fault," Annalee began, looking anguished again.

  "No, Annalee. A man must choose his side. He can't straddle two worlds. He has to make a decision and stick with it. It was time for me to choose..."

  "But…"

  I continued if she hadn't spoken, making sure to meet her eyes. "...and I have."

  Porter looked up as the monitor began to flash.

  "We'll be landing soon," he said, turning in his chair and tapping at the console.

  "Where are we going?" Annalee asked.

  I gazed out the window down into the forest. Even though I couldn't see anything yet, I knew the place like the back of my hand. I would know it in my sleep.

  "The Underground headquarters."

  ANNALEE

  "Just give me a minute," I said.

  Jesse seemed like he wanted to fix something between us, but eventually, he nodded his head and let me go. I wanted to be alone right now. I made my way to the bedroom where I found my new clothes and flopped back on the bed, staring up at the ceiling.

  What I learned in the past half hour left my head spinning. I tried to list everything out so I could make sense of things.

  First of all, Jesse and Porter had risked their lives to get me out of the clutches of the Bureau of Purity men.

  Second, to do that meant Jesse was giving up everything he and his father wanted. Surprisingly, he didn't seem too upset. I guess Jesse meant what he said: it was time for him to choose a side. He couldn't be a traditionalist by day and part of the Underground by night, like a Yordbrook Batman. I imagined the double life was tearing him apart.

  Third, we were all on the run now, including me. I had inadvertently broken the law on this planet. Being a criminal wasn't something I had intentionally done before. It would make it harder to get off-planet when it was time. Maybe the Underground could help. I wondered if they had ships taking off and landing on a semi-regular basis.

  Fourth, I wondered what was going to happen when we arrived. The two men certainly seemed excited to get there.