Solemn Oath

by Hannah Alexander

  “That did it!” one of the men shouted. “We’ve got his legs free. Doctor, get back. Come on, we’ve got to get out of here.”

  Lukas took two seconds to pull out the needle, then scrambled backward as two of the firemen rushed to extricate Bailey. He leaned against the desk and let them go first. They were through the doorway and out in the hall when Bailey moaned again. It was a good sign. At least he was conscious enough to—

  A cannon crash blasted through the room with sudden force that knocked Lukas sideways. The blow blinded him as the floor dropped from beneath his feet. He reached out for something to stop his fall and felt the grip of a hand on his arm, struggling to pull him out of the collapsing debris. He reached out with the other hand and kicked upward as the floor continued to collapse.

  “Hang on, Doc!” came Buck’s voice through the tumult.

  The floor buckled again, but Buck grabbed with his other hand, too. He did not release his grip. “I’ve got you, Doc!” But he slipped, too. The whole floor gave way beneath both of them. The scream of metal and the rumble of concrete followed Lukas and Buck down into suffocating darkness.

  Mercy’s cry of anguish merged and blended with the others as fire and black smoke billowed into the sky with the impact of a bomb. The entire end of the west wing seemed to erupt and crash into the lawn of Knolls Community Hospital in crumbling concrete and twisted rebar. Fire jutted angry fingers into the sky, and the firefighters attacked the flames with bursts of water.

  “Mom!” Tedi screamed from across the waiting room. “Dad’s in there!” She jumped up from Abby’s side and pushed her way through the people, her eyes wide with terror. “Dad and Lukas are both in there!”

  Mercy couldn’t speak. Her first instinct was to run into the building and find them herself. Those rescue workers didn’t know the hospital the way she did. But she couldn’t leave her daughter here alone. She grabbed Tedi close and held tight. She couldn’t think, could barely breathe. She couldn’t bear to look at the destruction, but she couldn’t look away. Lukas was in there. And Theo. And others had still not made it safely out.

  As she watched, two firemen came running out of a door from the main building, carrying a man between them with broken and bleeding legs. Bailey…? It looked like Bailey Little. Wasn’t that who Lukas was going in to rescue?

  “Mom?” Tedi’s fingers dug into the flesh of Mercy’s shoulders.

  Mercy turned to find those trusting eyes seeking hers for reassurance. But she couldn’t give it.

  Alma wheeled over beside them. She reached out and drew them toward her, and for a moment she just held them close.

  The shock of the explosion knocked Theo against the wall of the broad hallway on the first floor of the main hospital building. The pain in his shoulder knocked him breathless for a few seconds. He braced himself for a wave of heat and fire, but nothing came. He could smell smoke, but the fire walls and doors were apparently still working between the main building and the E.R. and outpatient departments. He continued his trek more swiftly now.

  Theo knew this hospital well. Mercy’s father’s old office was just up this corridor…and there was a back way into the E.R., a narrow concrete hallway near the front of the wing that had been closed off when they remodeled this section five and a half years ago. If he could get into the reinforced stairwell from there…He heard shouts coming from somewhere behind him. He hurried faster.

  While rescue workers and firefighters scoured the hallways in search of more people to evacuate, Theo avoided them and slipped through the deserted cafeteria and kitchen and into the cardiac rehab unit. If a firefighter saw him, he would be evacuated with the rest.

  The scent of smoke was heavier here, but not overwhelming. Part of one outer wall had crumbled enough to allow light in from outside, and Theo knew there would be worse to come. He had to keep trying. Lukas had saved his life.

  He reached the staff entrance into Mercy’s father’s old office. Amazingly, there was power here, and he could see to push past the debris. The smoke thickened further as he entered the hallway between Radiology and the E.R. A whole wall had fallen across the entrance, and he stopped, frustrated. He was so close! This was where the power ended, but battery-pack floodlights, plugged into a couple of the remaining electrical sockets, continued to give light.

  He turned to backtrack and find another way in, but a faint sound stopped him. He paused and listened. Was it the firefighters shouting in the distance? The crackle of flames?

  Lukas choked and gagged on the smoke that surrounded him, and he felt the singeing heat and heard the popping, snapping bite of fire.

  Someone grabbed him by the shoulder and shook him. “Doc, are you okay? I need your help,” came Buck’s firm voice. “We’ve got to find a way out of here. We’ve got to bust this wall down if we can.”

  Lukas turned to find Buck kneeling beside him, the broad planes of his face lit by the orange glow of a curtain of fire. They were trapped against the wall in an area about the size of an E.R. exam room. And they were in the supply room. The worst possible place to be in a fire.

  Lord, save us! Help us out of here!

  “Stay down as low as you can,” Buck said. “There’s a draft behind the fire that seems to be taking care of most of the smoke. Probably means there’s been a natural chimney created by one of the explosions, which is good for us. But that can change.”

  Lukas coughed again, glad there was no more smoke than this. His throat burned as he listened to Buck’s calm, professional voice and tried not to panic. But how could he not panic? They were trapped in an inferno, surrounded by combustible linens and cotton balls and gauze. He knew this wall behind them was a fire wall. Brick beneath the Sheetrock. Solid. Even Buck couldn’t break his way through that.

  Buck reached toward the edge of the fire for a large cylindrical oxygen tank, and Lukas stiffened. Then he relaxed. They’d used that tank this morning. It was empty.

  “Help me, Doc. Maybe we can use this as a ram against the wall.”

  Lukas crawled over beside Buck to help him lift the tank, and that was when he saw Buck’s left arm. Something had gouged a deep gash through the flesh and into the muscle.

  “Buck, you’re hurt.”

  Buck grunted with pain as he tried to lift the tank with both arms. “Can’t do anything about it right now. Help me!”

  Together they heaved the tank up above their heads and slammed it at the wall behind them with all their might. The force of the impact jarred Lukas’s hands and arms, and he heard Buck groan. Painted Sheetrock powdered and dropped onto their heads and shoulders.

  “Again,” Buck said.

  And they tried again and again as Buck’s arm bled and they choked on the smoke. As the fire continued to rage, Lukas sent up constant, silent prayers to God. The wall would not give way.

  Theodore heard the sounds on the other side of the wall. He’d tried to get their attention, but they were making too much noise. For a moment he was torn. Would he have time to run back outside and alert the rescuers?

  And what if he was too late?

  He turned to look around the radiology department. He knew these machines. Was there anything heavy enough for him to use as a battering ram against this side of the wall? If they came at the brick from both sides, would it collapse?

  And then in the glow of the battery-pack floodlight, Theo saw what he needed. A huge portable X-ray machine, battery powered, that must weigh half a ton—at least that was what it had felt like years ago when one of the techs had let him push it. It worked along the same lines as a self-propelled lawn mower, but would it be powered up? He rushed over and tried the switch.

  The motor started. He grabbed the handles and guided it forward. He would have to get a running start, but he could do this.

  “Got some verses for you two.” Alma’s calming voice seemed to float across the waiting room, affecting not only Mercy and Tedi, but the others, as well. “In the Bible, King David wrote in his psalms, ‘What
time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee.’ He’s talkin’ to God, because at times like this, God’s the only one who knows what’s goin’ on. But you’ve got to believe that He will do what’s right, no matter what.” She put a hand on Mercy’s arm. “Do you believe that, honey? Hasn’t He answered a lot of prayers lately? Didn’t you tell us yourself that you think God’s been workin’?”

  Mercy nodded, her gaze still trained on the rubble of the west wing. Her heart clung more and more desperately to Alma’s words. They were the only message that made sense, that gave any hope, and she had to accept them as her own.

  “Our peace comes from God,” came Alma’s voice again. “It’s the only place for any of us. I love the Bible verse ‘Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee: because he trusteth in Thee.’ I memorized those words in the King James version years ago, and I love the sound of it. I repeated it a lot while I was in Mexico on the mission field, and especially when I was in the hospital losin’ this leg. God never let me down. Trust Him, honey. He’s the only one big enough to put our faith in.”

  Mercy took a deep breath and let it out. The two men she watched for, the two they had been praying for, could be lost to her and Tedi for all time. They could be dead. She had come face-to-face with death many times in her life, and the finality of it had always been a shock. This time, though…This time she could remember Lukas telling her that physical death was never final. He believed it and revealed it in his life.

  Maybe that was why he and Theo had both been able to go back into that building to help others.

  She looked down at Tedi, who continued to watch her with frightened eyes. “Yes. Tedi, we can both put our faith in Him.”

  Lord, if You’re going to take me now, I’m willing to go, but please don’t take Buck. He doesn’t know You yet. Lukas’s prayer continued as the fire licked closer, devouring linens and cotton supplies as it turned the dwindling space into an oven. Buck dropped the cylinder, breathless from the exertion, face dripping with perspiration, arm dripping with blood. It was a toss-up to see if the fire would get them first or if Buck would bleed out.

  Lukas scrambled on his knees to a rack that held Ace wraps. He grabbed one, crawled back to Buck and quickly wound the bandage around the gaping cut. Buck caught his breath and tried once more to lift the oxygen canister. Lukas took it from him. He had just lifted it to swing again at the section of badly chipped brick they had been working on, when a powerful thud shook the whole wall. Cement chinks fell from between several of the bricks. The impact knocked the remaining ceiling tile to the floor.

  “They’re breaking in from the other side,” Buck said weakly. “We’ve got to get out of the way.” He turned to look at the flames all around. “Grab those tiles, Doc, and shove them at the flames on this side. They’re fireproof, and maybe they can smother enough of the flames.”

  As Lukas rushed to comply, another thud shook the wall, louder than the last, and the wall buckled. A central brick loosened with a scattering of cement, and Lukas reached up to pull it free. They heard a motor then, and it sounded like a forklift.

  He shoved the brick into the fire to their right while Buck threw the tile.

  There was another thud, and more brick fell. Lukas grabbed up the oxygen tank and hurled it once again against the wall with all the strength he had left. Mortar broke. Bricks scattered, and someone shouted from the other side.

  “You’ve got it! There’s room! Come on through!”

  Lukas, Buck and Theodore stumbled out into fresh daylight, gasping, choking, exclaiming with relief. A crowd from the parking lot cheered, accompanied by the roar of a chopper taking off with Bailey Little aboard. The squall of another ambulance breezed through the milieu toward them.

  A young woman came running toward them. Kendra Oppenheimer stumbled on the cracked concrete sidewalk, righted herself and kept running, even as others shouted at her to get back.

  She didn’t stop. “Buck!” she cried with a choked sob as she neared him. “You’re alive! Oh, thank God you’re alive!”

  Lukas could hear his big friend’s sudden gasp, could see the surprised joy flood his face as he held out his good arm to catch her in an iron grip.

  “I’m so sorry, Buck. I was wrong, so wrong.” Her soft voice broke as she buried her face against the bulk of his chest. “I don’t care if you’re a fireman or a tech or an astronaut. I can’t stop loving you. I’ll worry about you whether we’re living together or not. I’m so sorry.”

  As the chopper rose, Buck stumbled, righted himself with heroic effort, then stumbled again and fell to his knees.

  Lukas grabbed him. “Would somebody get us a gurney or a wheelchair? I need to give this man some medical attention.”

  The crowd of rescue workers and hospital staff converged on Lukas and Buck and Theodore. Leading the group was the stout, muscular bulk of the fire chief, Todd Adams.

  While Buck assured everyone, especially his wife, that he would be fine, they placed him in a wheelchair and pushed him toward the Richmond Clinic.

  “Everyone’s accounted for now,” Adams shouted over the sound of the helicopter. He reached out to shake Buck’s hand. “You done good, Buck. You kept your cool again. If you hadn’t gotten Dr. Bower up there to Bailey in time, they don’t think he’d have made it.”

  “What about Mrs. Pinkley?” Lukas asked. “Where did you take her?”

  “They’re taking her by ground to Cox South, same place the chopper’s taking Mr. Little,” Adams said. “Dr. Wong checked her out himself. Looks like she might have some cracked or broken ribs, maybe a concussion, a broken leg, but Estelle’s tough as shoe leather. What do you want to bet she tries to take over the hospital by the first of next week?”

  “Dad! Lukas!” Tedi came running out the front door of the clinic, and she didn’t stop until she reached them. Theodore picked her up in a bear hug, and tears of relief flowed down both their faces.

  And when he released her, she grabbed Lukas, smearing her face and bloodstained clothing with streaks of soot and dirt. Lukas held her for a long moment in a tight embrace. That was when he saw Mercy.

  She stood out in front of the clinic. Her long black hair was disheveled, and her hands were raised to her face as if she were in shock or crying. Her gaze did not leave him.

  He took a step in her direction, but the crowd cut him off.

  “Buck,” the chief said as he walked beside the wheelchair, “you’re back on the team.”

  Buck stared at his boss, his face black and red and dripping with soot and sweat and heat, his ears looking like singed doorknobs. “But I thought you’d be mad, Chief. I was suspended, and I played fireman anyway.”

  “You’re not suspended anymore. We got our man, the same one we suspected all along.” Todd grunted and shook his head with regret. “Sorry I couldn’t let you in on it, but Kyle Alder was setting you up—or trying to.”

  “Kyle!” Buck turned and gazed at the destruction in amazement. “He did all this?”

  “We have a confession. He even used a set of football pads when he torched the school cafeteria so it’d look more like you, and he used your jar of solvent. His Explorer buddy started to steer clear of him a couple of days ago, and we got suspicious, but you know how hard it is to catch an arsonist. So we let him think he had us fooled.”

  “How’d you catch him, Chief?”

  “You know that picture on the front page in yesterday’s paper? We did that on a hunch. We thought somebody might see it and place Kyle at the scene before the fire. It worked. One of the servers at Little Mary’s recognized him and called us.”

  “He sure had me fooled,” Buck said. “I didn’t think he could pull off something like this.” He gestured toward the wing of the hospital that lay in burning, steaming ruins.

  The chief shook his head again. “Too bad we didn’t catch him in time. He’s confessed now, and he’s been hauled off. He admitted he got mad at you for giving him a bad review and refusing to recomm
end him for further training, but he swears the torching just got out of hand. He used calcium carbide for this one.” Todd jerked his head at the hospital. “Put it in the maintenance room. That’s what caused the first explosion. He didn’t realize the water from the sprinklers would make it so combustible. The generators exploded. That’s what spread the fire.”

  Lukas couldn’t keep his attention from wandering once more toward Mercy. She was walking to meet him, arms crossed over her chest now as if she were cold, but she stopped when she came to the edge of the crowd that surrounded Buck and Lukas. Her nose was red, and her eyes had makeup smudged in the wrong places. Even as he watched, more tears dripped down her cheeks, and she sniffed.

  As Buck and his wife talked excitedly with the others, Lukas stepped back from the crowd, strolled around the perimeter, accepting an occasional pat on the back and inquiries about his well-being. He kept his attention on Mercy. He wanted to run to her, to take her in his arms and never let her go again. When he drew close enough to touch her, she spoke first.

  “You’re okay,” she breathed. “When the building exploded I thought…I was so…” Fresh tears filled her eyes, and she clamped her arms more tightly around her. “I prayed so hard, and those prayers were all answered. And I realized that God has answered so many of my prayers, and I’ve just ignored Him, blamed Him. I’m so sorry. Oh, Lukas, you’re alive!”

  He watched her for a couple of seconds in awe, then he grabbed her and pulled her to him, wrapping his arms tightly around her. She buried her face in the smoky front of his scrubs, and her shoulders shook with sobs.

  “You’re alive,” she murmured. “Thank God.” Another sob shook her. “Thank God.”

  Epilogue

  Sunday morning came early in the patient rooms at Cox South Medical Center, earlier than Estelle Pinkley was used to awakening. It wasn’t even daylight outside when she heard a nurse taking the vitals of the patient on the other side of the thin curtain. There had been no private rooms available, and Estelle longed for Knolls, where every room was private and nurses didn’t have to disturb patients in the middle of the night in order to complete their duties.