by Harley Tate
“Dani!”
She screamed again and Colt steeled himself for a battle. He had to reach her.
He rose up as the last of the smoke cleared. No soldiers lurked in his field of vision; they had all retreated to the bedroom. He couldn’t rush them; he would be dead before he made it five feet. They couldn’t leave without walking right by him.
Colt cursed. It was a stalemate.
Flushing the soldiers out was the only option. Colt thought about what he could do, glancing around the living room for anything he could use. Couch riddled with bullets. Rolled-up rug. Papasan chair. Bookcase.
He rushed to the shelves and grabbed as many books as he could in one load and tossed them on the floor at the foot of the couch. The soldiers were quiet. Too quiet.
Either they were coming up with a plan or they were about to attack. He didn’t have much time. Colt grabbed the ottoman to the papasan chair and looped an arm through an opening before pilling books on top. With the M-4 pressed tight against his shoulder and ready to fire, he stood and rushed into the kitchen.
No shots.
He grabbed the spray oil he’d seen the other day and ripped pages from the books, balling them up into tennis ball-sized bundles before spraying each one with oil. He soaked the pages of each ball until they dripped and nestled them all into the cushion of the ottoman.
With his lighter, he lit each ball, building a burning inferno. He grabbed the kitchen cart tucked into the corner and tipped it over, throwing the utensils and useless kitchen gear out of the way.
Colt set the ottoman on top and waited for the cushion and balsam wood to light. As soon as the wood caught fire, the flames leaped into the air, singeing the ceiling and gusting upward.
He rolled the cart by pushing it with the barrel of the rifle. Out of the kitchen he nudged it, until it sat at the entrance to the hall. He knew he was risking Dani’s life with what he was about to do, but Colt didn’t see another choice.
The soldiers wouldn’t come out unless they had to. With a good kick he sent the kitchen cart rolling down the hall to the closed bedroom door. It slammed into the wood and the flames rose, curling around the door and lighting the trim on fire.
Colt brought the bandana back up to his face and rushed down the hall to the bathroom. He ducked inside as smoke filled the hall.
The first thing he saw was the blood. So much blood. The window stood open and something soft and fuzzy hung on the crank. Colt stepped around the worst of the spatter and climbed into the tub.
A blanket was tied to the window crank. Colt leaned over the edge of the window and caught sight of it fluttering in the breeze. His eyes widened.
He would recognize that sweatshirt anywhere. Dani. She had tried to escape. He spun back around, stared at the blood. If he was too late… If that blood was hers…
Colt cupped his hand around his mouth. “It’s over, Jarvis. Come out and I won’t shoot.”
The door had to be just about burned through. The flames licked up the hallway, cruising toward the bathroom and the wood trim. In minutes, Colt would be trapped. The soldiers and Dani already were.
He leaned out the window, trying to see into the bedroom. The windows there were open, too, letting in air to breathe but also feeding the fire with fresh oxygen.
If they didn’t move soon, they would die in there.
All at once, a massive crash rocked the apartment. Sparks flew into the hall. Screaming that could only be Dani’s began. Colt stood up, prepared to rush into the flames. He climbed over the edge of the tub and eased toward the hall.
As he stuck his head out, a huge piece of ceiling fell, crashing to the ground between him and the bedroom.
Dani screamed again and Colt finally saw her. She stood just inside the bedroom wearing nothing but a bra and underwear. Seeing her like that broke something inside Colt. She wasn’t just a girl he’d helped for a few days before he left town.
She was funny and kind and despite all the hell she’d been through as a kid, she still let him in. Dani was the closest to a daughter he would ever have and he couldn’t let her down. If they survived, he would ask her to be a part of his family. He would ask her to stay.
She screamed and Colt bit back the urge to rush in and save her. It’s exactly what they wanted. He stared at her, heart aching in his chest. Just run, Dani. Just take a chance and run to me.
Colt waved his arms and she looked up, fear and panic ringing her pupils in white. She shook her head violently back and forth, screaming and flailing her hands. Someone shoved her in the back and she stumbled toward the fire.
Come on, kid. You can do this. Take a chance and run.
He brought his hands up in an X-shape, hoping she would see him through the smoke and the flames and understand. She turned to look behind her as another piece of the ceiling fell.
It was now or never. Run or I’m coming to get you.
He knew that was what the soldiers wanted. They never expected her to take such a big risk. But Colt trusted Dani. He trusted her strength and courage and ability to survive. He put his arms up in an X again, letting go of the rifle, begging her to trust him.
She spun back around and her face changed. Her jaw locked and she nodded. Yes!
Squeezing her eyes shut and bracing against the flames, Dani took off. She ran straight into the fire and straight toward Colt. The soldiers shouted. She kept coming.
A lick of flames caught her hair and lapped against her bare skin, but she didn’t stop.
Colt caught her in his arms and dragged her into the bathroom as gunfire once again erupted. He grunted when a bullet hit his arm, but he didn’t stop. Another grazed his head, but Colt ignored it. They crashed into the bathroom, landing hard on the tile floor still slick with blood.
Colt grabbed the hand towel still on the wall and batted at Dani’s head, putting out the fire smoldering in her hair. As soon as it stopped burning, he tossed the towel aside and grabbed her by the shoulders.
“Dani! Dani are you all right?”
She shook uncontrollably, sobbing and unable to speak.
Damn it. Colt hauled her into the bathtub and climbed in with her, slipping in the blood only half-congealed inside the tub. He forced Dani down into the cold tub basin, and brought up his rifle. Jarvis wouldn’t take them alive.
A volley of shots flew into the bathroom. At least two shooters firing in three-round bursts as fast as their M-4s could manage. Colt ducked, covering Dani with as much of his body as he could.
The soldiers shouted and the bullets kept coming. Flames licked the walls of the bathroom, catching the towels and paper products on fire.
They didn’t have long.
Soldiers shouted. “Get out! Get out!”
“What about them?”
“If they aren’t dead, they will be. Go! Go!”
More bullets. Colt squeezed down tight over Dani, absorbing her shakes as he prayed.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
DANI
52 Houghton Street, Apartment 310
Eugene, Oregon
12:15 a.m.
Colt’s two hundred pounds pressed down on top of Dani and she struggled to breathe. He still held her in the bathtub, but the soldiers had stopped shooting. It had all happened so fast.
She was suffocating in there, with his body weight pressing down on top of her and the smoke filling the room. They had to get out.
She smacked her dry lips together, tried to get her aching throat to work. “Colt?”
He rose up a fraction.
“Are they gone?”
“If they aren’t dead, then, yes.” His weight lifted and Dani sucked in a breath, coughing instead of breathing.
“We… we need to get out of here.”
“The fire is too thick. We have to wait it out.”
Dani sat up and smoke swirled around her head. “We can’t. We’ll suffocate.”
Colt choked on a cough and pointed at the open window. “How far did you get?”
> “Halfway. If I’d been a little quicker, I’d have gotten out.”
He rose up in the tub, shielding his face as he tested the window. “Stand up and I’ll hoist you out.”
Dani blinked the tears out of her eyes caused by the smoke. “I want you to go first. If I fall, you can catch me.”
Colt coughed again. “I can’t fit through the window, Dani.”
She pushed herself up to stand. “Then break it.”
“Even if I break it, I don’t think I can get up there. It’s pretty high.”
Dani glanced down at her body. Dried blood covered her hands and arms, soot coated everything else, and her head ached from the burns. The second the flames singed her scalp, she thought that was it. No way would she make it.
A teenage girl running through fire in nothing but a pair of sneakers and her underwear? Right. Movies were made of less. But she did make it. And now Colt wanted to give up?
She glared at him, the shakes and the fear replaced by anger. “So that’s it? You risk your life to get in here, blow the door off its hinges, set everything on fire, and a little window is going to stop you?”
Colt scowled. “I won’t be much good to you with my brains splattered all over the pavement.”
She snorted. “There’s grass down there. It will cushion your fall.” Dani reached out and took his hand. “I have faith in you, Colt. You’ll make it. You can do anything.”
He broke eye contact and stepped out of the tub. “Better get behind me. This will be messy.”
Dani climbed over the edge of the tub, cowering between Colt, the toilet, and the flames. He aimed the rifle at the window and fired enough shots to turn it into a million little pieces.
“Watch the glass.” Colt cranked the window shut, trapping the blanket between the frame and the sill. He shifted his rifle to hang over his shoulder and with a deep breath, used his arms to hoist himself up.
His left arm wobbled, buckling as he came close to level, but he managed to hold on enough to get his butt up on the ledge. His face contorted in pain.
“Are you all right?”
“I’ll live.” He glanced out the window. “Assuming I survive the fall.”
Dani eased back over to the window, side-stepping the biggest hunks of glass. “I’ll be right behind you.”
Colt nodded and stuck his head out before swinging his legs over the sill. He grabbed the blanket and tested the knot. “Good tying.”
She smiled, but it was short-lived. What if he was right? What if the blanket didn’t hold him or he slipped and fell the three stories to the ground? Dani would watch him die.
“Colt!” His name came out tortured and raw. “Be careful.”
With another nod, he twisted, sliding out of the window and disappearing from view. “Colt!” Dani screamed this time, leaping up against the tile and scrabbling with her feet for purchase. She cut her hand on a shard of glass but didn’t care. Forcing her arms to support her weight, she hoisted herself into the open window.
Colt waved to her from about a story down and Dani’s heart eased out of her throat. “I thought you fell!”
“Not yet.”
He reached the end of the makeshift rope and glanced at the ground. Dani swallowed. It was still so far.
“Maybe you shouldn’t watch.”
“No. I want to. I know you’ll make it.”
Colt closed his eyes and let go. He landed hard on the grassy strip below the window, rolling over as his feet touched the ground. He didn’t get up.
“Colt!” Dani stuck her head out the window and gripped the top as she swung her legs over and into the air. She had to get to him.
Dani grabbed the blanket and turned around. I can do this. I have to do this.
She pushed herself off the window, wobbling as her feet slid on the side of the building. With her arms taut and fingers digging into the fabric, Dani walked down the wall, inch by inch.
Without the heat from the fire, the cold air chilled her bare skin and she shivered. When she reached the end of the rope, her fingers wrapped around her sweatshirt as she dangled still so far from the ground.
Colt groaned.
She twisted in the air to catch a glimpse of him. “Are you okay?”
“I might have broken something.”
Oh, no. “But you’re breathing.”
“Yeah.”
Okay. This will be okay. All she had to do was jump. Dani climbed back up higher on the rope and wrapped her arm with one of the legs of her jeans. Once she felt secure, she worked on the knot between her sweatshirt and T-shirt, tugging with one hand and her teeth until it loosened.
Whether her fall was two feet higher or lower, she figured it probably didn’t matter. She’d rather have something to wear. After pulling the sweatshirt free, Dani clutched it to her chest.
A whoosh of heat from up above caught her attention and she glanced up. The flames were in the bathroom. Any minute, they would catch the blanket. She had to go. Now.
As she prepared to drop, Colt hoisted himself up to stand, using the rifle as a crutch. “When you jump, try to slow your fall. Grab the wall or a ledge. Anything.”
Dani nodded. “If I don’t?”
“Bend your knees and let your feet take the impact.”
She glanced back up. The flames were thicker. Hotter. She took a deep breath and thought of Gran before she let go.
It wasn’t like you see on TV. No slow-motion, life flashing before her eyes, fingers reaching out like a snail to grab the wall. No.
The ground rose up like a tidal wave, hard and fast, and slammed into her with brutal force. Her feet took most of the impact, legs buckling as gravity dragged her down. Dani fell onto her side, bouncing before she came to a stop.
Colt limped over to her. “Dani! Are you all right?”
She groaned and rolled over. “Yeah.” She sat up, wincing as the shock of the fall still worked through her body. After tugging the sweatshirt over her head, she stood on shaky legs. “Can you walk?”
“Sort of.”
“I can help.” Dani reached out and grabbed Colt by the arm, supporting some of his weight as he struggled. The man was so big. She grunted and collapsed a bit, but managed not to fall. “Where to?”
He grimaced and took a step toward the street. “My gear is in there.” Colt pointed to a building fifty feet away.
“Can you make it?”
“Don’t have much of a choice.”
Colt took another step and Dani came with him, supporting him as best she could. Together they had to be quite a sight: a hulk of man dressed all in black clutching a teenage girl wearing nothing but an oversized hoodie.
Dani struggled beneath Colt’s weight, breaking out in a sweat despite the cool night air. After what seemed like hours, they made it inside the building. Colt leaned against the wall, sweat covering his face and dripping off his nose.
Dani glanced at the front door. “How long do you think we can stay here? Won’t they be coming soon?”
He nodded. “We don’t have much time. Let’s go.” He resumed his tortured pace, struggling up each stair as he practically hung off the rail.
They made it to the top floor and he fished out keys. “It’s apartment 410. All the way down the hall. Unlock it and dig out a first aid kit. Alcohol from the kitchen, too.”
Dani rushed down the hall without looking back. The key turned in the lock and she made it inside before heading straight for the kitchen. She grabbed a bottle of vodka before fishing the first aid kit out of a backpack on the floor. By the time she opened it up, Colt made his way into the apartment and shut the door.
“What do we do now?”
Colt sagged to the floor. “Now you open up that vodka, find a pair of tweezers, and dig this bullet out of my arm.”
Dani stared. “You’re joking right?”
Colt reached for his shirt and gave it a yank, tearing it just above the swell of his bicep. A hole in his upper arm oozed blood.
“I
s that?”
“A gunshot wound? Yeah.” He reached up and felt his head, pulling away sticky red fingers. “Lucky for me the other one only grazed my head.”
Dani rushed over, staring in disbelief at his arm. “You really want me to fish around in there?”
He nodded. “If you don’t, I’ll probably die.”
Crap.
She glanced at the bottle in her hands. “Do I pour this on the wound?”
“No. You hand it to me so I can drink it.”
DAY NINETEEN
Chapter Twenty-Nine
DANI
55 Houghton Street, Apartment 409
Eugene, Oregon
2:00 a.m.
The tweezers slipped and Colt grunted in pain. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay. Just try not to do that again.”
Dani nodded and focused again on the bullet hole in Colt’s arm. She eased the tweezers back inside and felt around for the bullet. “I can’t find it. Are you sure it’s in there?”
Colt’s face paled the more she worked. “There’s no exit wound, so unless I’ve turned into a worthless version of Wolverine and fused the lead to my bones, yeah. It’s in there.”
Dani let the criticism go. She knew he had to be in agony. With a deep breath, she tried again.
The tweezers hit something. “I think I found it.” She hesitated. “Unless that’s your bone. Please tell me that’s not your bone.”
“It’s the bullet. Pull it out.”
Dani did as Colt asked, first opening the tweezers then sliding them around the hunk of metal. It slipped. “Sorry.”
He didn’t respond.
She grabbed a hold of the bullet again and with a slow, steady movement, pulled it from his arm. Colt held out a shaking hand and she dropped the bloody hunk into his waiting palm.
He turned it over, inspecting it before leaning his head back against the wall. “It’s all there.” He took another swig of the vodka before handing it to her. “Now you can pour this on the wound.”