Bad Karma

by J. D. Faver

  He didn’t wait for the rest of the team. He grabbed a halligan tool and ran up the stairs, shattering the sliding glass door when he found it locked.

  Clouds of grey smoke billowed out.

  Javier stepped through the opening. “Cassie! Cassie! Where are you?” The mask muffled his voice, causing him to yell in the hopes she would hear him.

  Stooping low, he dashed toward Cassie’s bedroom. A mass of flaming debris blocked her door. He used the halligan to shove it to one side; just enough to get the door open and step through.

  Dark smoke clung to the top half of the room, but he was able to locate Cassie curled up in her bed.

  Javier shrugged out of his turnout coat and wrapped it around her.

  He rushed her outside; feeling relieved as soon as he’d cleared the house. He ran down the stairs and lay Cassie on the damp sand.

  She looked like a beautiful rag doll, rolling limp and pale out of his turnout coat.

  Javier ditched his helmet and nomex hood before checking Cassie for signs of life. He felt for her pulse. It was weak and thready, but she wasn’t breathing. Tilting her head back, he cleared her airway and began to administer mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

  An ambulance sped toward them, lights flashing and siren screaming.

  Cassie drew a wheezy breath and opened her eyes. She lay still, staring up at him without recognition.

  “Hi baby,” he whispered close to her ear. “I love you. Please be okay.”

  He thought he saw a tiny flicker of acknowledgment before the emergency medical personnel took over. He stepped back, but couldn’t move away.

  Let the house burn. The only thing that mattered was that Cassie was safe.

  The EMT’s checked her vital signs, administered oxygen and loaded her into the ambulance, working to stabilize her inside the vehicle.

  Cars arrived and Rafael Solis ran over to where Javier stood, with Cassie’s sister and Zach Bailey close behind.

  “Oh, my God! Cassie!” Skyler looked terrified.

  The EMT spoke to her and assured her that Cassie had suffered from smoke inhalation, but that the firefighter had saved her before she’d suffered any burns and resuscitated her.

  “What firefighter?” she asked.

  The EMT pointed to Javier.

  Sky looked at him wide-eyed and then embraced him. “You! Thank you so much for saving my sister. How can I ever thank you?” She pulled back, searching his face.

  “Sky!” Zach cried out. “You have blood all over you.”

  Sky looked down at her dress and arms, puzzled that she was covered with bright red blood.

  “It’s Javier,” Rafael said. “He’s bleeding.”

  ~*~

  When the ambulance delivered Cassie and Javier to the emergency room, they had quite a retinue.

  Skyler had jumped into the ambulance with the victims. Zach trailed close behind in his Jeep, with Rafael and Chloe bringing up the rear.

  Sky kept staring at the man who had saved Cassie and then promptly passed out on the beach, unaware that he’d severed an artery in his right arm on a shard of glass when he’d carried Cassie out through the sliding door.

  Cassie remained unconscious, but her color was better since she’d had the oxygen mask on.

  At the Emergency Room, a team of medical personnel swarmed over the patients.

  Sky looked up to meet Selena’s horrified expression.

  “Oh, no! Javier!” The usually cool Selena looked stricken.

  Doctor Marcos recognized Sky and nodded at her. “Get in here, Sky. We need all hands.”

  Sky hurriedly scrubbed and donned a gown and gloves.

  She saw that Cassie was regaining consciousness and turned her attention to Javier.

  Assisting the doctor, Javier’s artery was repaired and the gash in his arm received a neat row of sutures. Sky applied a sterile dressing and cleaned the surrounding area. Her hand swept over his muscled torso with a gauze pad, dampened in sterile water.

  Nice specimen, Cassie. Adonis with a tan.

  When he regained consciousness, he tried to sit up, but several pairs of hands restrained him. “Cassie,” he rasped out.

  Selena threw herself over him, but Doctor Marcos pulled her off. “Don’t mess up my needlework.”

  She sniffled and went to stand close to Javier’s head.

  “Where’s Cassie?” Javier croaked.

  “What’s a Cassie?” Selena asked.

  Sky put a hand on his uninjured arm. “She’s okay, Javier. Take it easy.”

  “Where is she?” His large, dark eyes implored her.

  “She’s here.” Sky adjusted the flow of fluid into his IV. “Just relax.”

  “I have to see her,” he insisted, his voice rough from the smoke.

  She’ll see you when they’re done with her. In the meantime, calm down. I’m going to give you something to help you sleep now.”

  “I don’t want to sleep. Please, let me see Cassie.”

  But Sky had already injected the drug into his IV and in a few seconds the big strong man was sleeping like a kitten.

  Selena stroked his hair, her face distraught. “I can’t believe it. He’s never gotten hurt before.”

  “He’s in a dangerous line of work.” Sky gathered the bloody debris and tossed it in a covered trash can for bio-hazardous waste disposal along with her gloves. “He saved my sister’s life. I’m very grateful to him.”

  “Your sister? Is she this Cassie?” Selena frowned at Sky.

  Sky forced herself to smile at Selena. “Yes, Cassie is my younger sister.”

  Selena looked outraged. “And she’s the reason my Javier got hurt?”

  Stung, Sky pressed her lips together, determined not to lash back. She turned to the sink and began washing her hands with the antibacterial soap, lathering far longer than necessary. The strong smell roiled in her nostrils, gave her a chance to edit her words. “I believe that your son was injured while he was doing his job. Isn’t that what firefighters do? Save lives?”

  Selena shook her head. “Yes, but there’s something about this girl. I heard all about it from one of Javi’s friends. There was some kind of fight at the game room. What kind of girl gets in a fight anyway?”

  A giant vacuum seemed to have sucked all the air out of the room. Sky felt a rush of heat from her gut. “One with a second degree black belt. And she was defending me.” Sky stomped on the pedal to open the metal trash can and threw her paper towels inside, letting the lid crash down with a bang. “It was your son’s trashy girlfriend who was the aggressor, so don’t you say a single derogatory word about my sister.”

  Sky looked around the Emergency Room, suddenly aware that all eyes were on her and Selena.

  ~*~

  He watched the fire from a block away. To all intents and purposes, he was an innocent fisherman, sitting in a lawn chair on the beach with all his gear around him.

  He sipped his beer and watched as the firefighter brought out the limp, lifeless body of the woman who killed Kira and Ben.

  Justice has been served.

  He’d used old clothes he’d gotten out of the big metal bin on the parking lot of the church. The clothing had been destined for the thrift store, but it also provided an untraceable bit of absorbent material to soak up the charcoal lighting fluid he’d used to set the fire.

  Her Audi parked out in front of the house had tipped him off that she was within. The woman was asleep when he’d crept inside. The back stairs led up to the kitchen and the door had been easy to open with a credit card. Before dousing the drapes and furniture, he’d built the fire right outside her bedroom door. That way she couldn’t escape. She’d either die from the smoke or perish in the flames.

  He felt vindicated. Kira had been avenged. He’d settled the score with the woman who’d taken his only child’s innocent little life.

  The ambulance roared by. And several cars followed close behind it.

  Surely they wouldn’t save her. Surely they wou
ldn’t negate all his hard work. Surely he wouldn’t have to kill her all over again.

  ~*~

  Hours later, Javier opened his eyes. He was confused, didn’t know where he was. Lying in a darkened room with Cassie asleep on his shoulder, he drew a shaky breath, remembering how he’d come to be here.

  His throat was sore.

  He turned his head to look at Cassie, smelled the odor of smoke clinging to her hair. She had crawled into his hospital bed and curled up under his uninjured arm, her face on his chest.

  There was an IV draining fluids into his left hand. When he moved his right arm, a stabbing pain sliced through it, cleared the cobwebs and focused his attention.

  It was arson. Someone really tried to kill her.

  Javier splayed his fingers, sending pain ripping through his hand from the IV needle. But his fingers caressed Cassie’s skin. That’s all he cared about. She was here with him. She was safe and they were together.

  Sandra, a white-haired nurse who had worked with his mother for years, appeared in the doorway.

  “I’ve been looking everywhere for her.” Sandra crossed the room. “She must have gotten by me when I was with another patient. Let me get her back to her room.” She reached for Cassie.

  Javier gave her a fierce glare. “Sandra, so help me, if you wake her up, I’m walking out of here and I’m taking her with me.”

  “Javier, you’ve lost a lot of blood. You need to rest now.”

  He shook his head. “Leave her where she is. I almost lost her tonight and I’m not taking any more chances.”

  Sandra folded her hands over her ample belly. “You know, I can’t condone any hanky-panky going on while I’m on duty.”

  “There’s no hanky. There’s no panky. There’s just Cassie sleeping next to me. That’s all I want.”

  “I need to take her vitals,” Sandra insisted.

  “Her temperature is perfect, her heart is beating and her respirations are normal.”

  She gave him a dubious look and left the room with her lips pinched together.

  ~*~

  The scent of smoke lingered in the air.

  Skyler lay awake in Zach’s bed. His lean, muscled body curved around her, holding her firmly against him. She pressed her lips against his shoulder, softly so as not to wake him.

  Everything she and Cassie owned was gone. The fire had destroyed the lot. Furniture, clothing, personal possessions. Nothing had been spared and they had no place to live. She supposed there were apartments available in some of the high-rises, maybe something with security.

  She felt safe here with Zach, but out there, out in the world, she knew that a determined killer had her in his sights and he wouldn’t stop until she was dead.

  The vision of Cassie, lying still and limp, was permanently etched on her brain. For all the grief she’d given her little sister over the years, she said a silent prayer of atonement.

  And this man Cassie cared for, this Javier...He had been the one to save her. He had been so concerned for her safety that he had ignored his own injuries.

  But, why did he have to be Selena Rios youngest son?

  Although superficially friendly, Sky had sensed some antipathy from Selena since the day they’d met. She didn’t know where it was coming from. Perhaps some sort of turf thing, given that Selena had been holding it together at the hospital by herself for so long.

  Now it was out in the open. Selena didn’t approve of Cassie for her precious baby boy? How dare she? Cassie was a prize by anyone’s standards. She was lovely and intelligent and educated. And she was loyal and had a great sense of humor. Who wouldn’t love her? She released a deep sigh.

  Selena Rios, that’s who.

  ~*~

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Confrontation

  Cassie was hoarse and her throat hurt. She’d been officially released early the day after the fire. Sitting beside Javier’s bed, she held his hand as he slept.

  She had no clothes. She’d been sleeping in her usual night wear of tee shirt and panties when Javier rescued her. She had absolutely no recollection of being divested of those items, nor any idea of where they’d been dispatched to.

  Clad in two hospital gowns, so as not to display her butt to the entire medical staff, one was tied securely in the back and the second worn as a robe over it.

  A nurse came into the room with a chart. She glared at Cassie. “You’ll have to move.”

  Cassie scooted to one side, but the woman pointed her finger toward the door.

  Cassie tilted her head to one side. “What’s the problem?”

  “You shouldn’t be in here.”

  Javier opened his eyes. “Mama, what are you doing?”

  This is Javi’s mother? Cassie’s stomach suddenly felt as though it were filled with lead.

  The woman glared at her.

  Cassie struggled for breath. “I’ll just wait in the hall,” she murmured.

  “Cassie, don’t leave me.” Javi reached out to her.

  She glanced from mother to son and back again.

  “Mama, this is my girlfriend, Cassidy Danforth. I want you to be nice to her.”

  The woman turned to Javi and smiled. It was a brittle little smile that stopped just at her eyes. “Of course, I’ll be nice to her. Why wouldn’t I be nice to her?” She turned to Cassie and held out her hand. When Cassie reached for it, the hand was limp and cool and did not clasp hers. “I’m Selena Rios.”

  Cassie smiled, experiencing a little tic beside her eye. “It’s a pleasure to meet you Mrs. Rios.”

  Selena stuck a thermometer in Javi’s mouth and took his pulse. “You and your sister moved here from Austin?”

  Cassie squirmed, not willing to tell an untruth. “We were raised in Austin and our parents still live there.”

  “And you’re working at The Net as a delivery girl?” Selena gave her a look with her brows raised as high as they could go, as if working at The Net was one step down from street corner prostitution.

  “Yes, Ma’am.” She pressed her lips together. This wasn’t the way she wanted to let Javi know that she had two degrees and a teaching job in the fall.

  “You should go to Nursing School, like Skyler. They have a fine program there in Austin.”

  Cassie swallowed. “Yes, Ma’am.”

  Javi took the thermometer out of his mouth and held it out to Selena. “Mama, that’s enough!”

  Selena turned to him, her face all concern. “Really, Javier, you should rest.”

  “I was resting before you came in and started bullying Cassie. Go on now. Let us talk, please.”

  Selena cast a haughty glance at Cassie and left with the chart.

  Javi held out his left hand to Cassie. “I’m so sorry, baby. I don’t know what’s the matter with her today. She’s never like that.”

  “So she saved it just for me. How nice.” Cassie took his hand and held it to her cheek. “It appears that I’ve done something to offend your mother. I’d say I’m sorry, but I don’t know what I’ve done.”

  “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of it.” He pulled her down for a kiss. “I’ll talk to her. Believe me when I say, it’s not you.”

  Looking into Javi’s eyes, Cassie tried to believe him. She managed a little smile and nodded.

  A few minutes later, Sky showed up, smiling as she came through the door. She embraced Cassie and turned to Javier. “How are you feeling?”

  Javier leaned back on the pillows. “Weak. Tired. This is definitely not normal for me.”

  “You’ll feel better soon. You’ve lost blood. Even with the transfusions you’re bound to feel puny for a while. Don’t worry. Soon, you’ll build back your strength.”

  “I’m just glad I got Cassie out before the whole place went up. I thought I’d lost her.” He gave Cassie a look that spoke of his caring.

  Sky took a deep breath. “Well, we lost everything else. I have renter’s insurance so, eventually, we’ll get a check, but in the meantime...” she dug in
to her purse. “There are our friends, Visa and MasterCard.”

  “I can’t let you pay for my stuff, Sky.”

  “Cassie, the cash you had in the house is gone. I’m just replacing some of the necessities. It will come back to me. You get a shopping spree on me. You can’t live in those hospital gowns. And you’ll need some nice professional things for the...”