“Come out, come out, wherever you are,” he called. He was playing, toying with her. It was fun to him. Keila kept silent, but as his footsteps grew closer, the ceiling immediately above her head creaked and groaned. It wouldn’t be long before the roof of the old community college library came crumbling down onto her. It was time to move.
“Maybe we should take this outside?” Keila called just before she ran again. There was no way to move quietly when she couldn’t see where the hell she was going, and so maybe calling out would distract him just enough so she could move without her path being noticed. His footsteps quickened to where she’d been standing just seconds before.
“Afraid of a little fire?” he asked. “You should get used to it because I’ll see you in hell one day.”
Keila had long ago abandoned the idea of any afterlife, heaven or hell. It was obvious no one was looking out for her in this life, and what could be worse than the hell on earth she had endured for years? That didn’t mean she was ready to just lie down and die. She would fight Zero and those who followed him as long as she still had breath in her body. Unfortunately, that wasn’t looking to be much longer. Her breathing was labored under the ever-increasing smoke, and her lungs burned from the intense heat as the fire grew closer. She had to make it to the back stairs, but that meant passing through a large open area, and if Zero caught up with her before she reached the door, she would be in serious trouble. She’d already made one huge mistake by running toward the fire, and she couldn’t afford to make another one. A thought nudged at the edge of her memories, one of fire-safety lessons when she was a small child. She didn’t remember much, but she did remember being told to get low. If she wanted to be able to breathe much longer, she had to get lower. Keila dropped to her knees, and then, breathing as shallowly as she could, scampered on her hands and knees toward where she hoped the exit was. She made it a few feet before bumping into something, and when she saw through the billowing smoke, there were the steel-capped ends of black military boots.
“Shit.”
Zero’s fingers shoved roughly through her hair as he tugged her upright.
“Hello there, my sweet pumpkin pie.” He grinned as he dragged Keila to her feet. She jabbed at his face and managed to land a solid fist to his nose. Blood spurted out and splashed over her face.
Keila one, Zero a thousand. At least I got one hit in.
The thought was short lived as he backhanded her across the face, letting her drop to her knees. Keila stiffened, bracing for the next blow, but Zero was obscured again by the smoke. She took her chance and dashed around another bookshelf. Zero’s fist swept forward and smashed into the bookcase just next to where she stood. Keila didn’t wait. She dashed around him as he staggered forward. If she could just make it back to the stairs. . . .
“No so fast!” Zero grabbed the back of her shirt and slammed her into another shelf. He turned Keila around to face him. She hadn’t spent months in mixed martial arts classes to go willingly to her death, and so as he advanced, she lifted her knee and slammed it into his groin. Hard. Zero’s hold loosened as he breathed in sharply, taking in a lungful of smoke and ash at the same time. He bent over, coughing, one hand clutching his hopefully broken dick and the other making another grab at her. She dodged around his hand and bolted for the staircase. Her chest heaved as she inhaled the burning air, the inability to draw a deep breath slowing her down. It seemed like an age, but finally Keila could see a door, and beyond it the staircase. Taking in another gasping breath, she started to move toward the door.
Just feet away, a horrific creaking noise echoed around her as the roof gave one last groan and then collapsed. A beam came tumbling down and Keila dove to her left. She wasn’t fast enough. The beam dropped as if in slow motion, the world back to full speed as it landed on Keila’s leg and pain splintered through her. Grabbing the fraying edge of an old carpet, she tried to tug herself forward, but she remained pinned to the floor. Overhead, flames were ducking in through what had become a rather spectacular hole in the ceiling, and pieces of books still on fire rained down around her.
Keila looked around for Zero, but he was nowhere to be seen. Had he been caught up worse in the ceiling collapse? Perhaps he had, and the ever-encroaching fire was her first glimpse at the hell he’d promised. Keila pushed back with her other leg, desperate to move. She could still wriggle all her toes, but her ankle was hopelessly pinned. The more she yanked at it, the more pain flooded through her body, until it felt like her skin was rubbing raw and her ankle would dislocate itself. “No!” Keila screamed into the darkened room. A feeling of hopelessness as dark as the smoke and shadows blacking out her senses lay over her like a heavy weight, pressing her back against the hard floor. She felt herself shiver despite the roaring heat from the fire, and she couldn’t think straight. She was trapped.
Another shiver raced through Keila as beads of sweat broke out on her forehead, but it wasn’t from the heat. She strained her ears for any sounds from Zero, but heard nothing. As she lay on the floor, random images flashed through her mind: a laboratory, a woman her age, restraints holding her as fiercely as the beam that pinned her down. Where they coming from Zero, lost somewhere, too, in the smoke and fog, or from someone else entirely? All Keila knew was that the fear that was ever-present in the back of her mind was threatening to take over her entire being.
If she stayed there any longer, then it wouldn’t matter whether Zero or the smoke got to her first. She could break her own ankle, but then would she be able to crawl to the exit before the flames consumed her? A crash echoed behind her, and like a phoenix surrounded by real flames, a bloody and battered Zero pushed at rubble covering his back and then stood. Blood streamed from a gash across his forehead, but his attention was only on her as he pushed his way through the ceiling debris toward where she lay, still pinned in place.
Keila chose. She pulled as hard as she could, and a scream wrenched from her body. It was going to break her foot, but she would not let herself be taken. She’d die first.
10
Jason Kelly heard the screams as he was exiting the burning library. His turnout gear was dirty from soot, and sweat was dripping down his forehead. His chief had yelled through the radio that the fire was entering the roof trusses, and from there it was defensive actions only. He stopped on the building’s steps, straining to hear over the raising of the aerial ladders.
“Fuck, I thought everyone was out.” He turned to his squadmate, Alan. “You heard that, too, right?”
“You said everyone was accounted for?” Alan asked the librarian, who looked back at them in shock. Jason heard the call for help again, and that time Alan heard it too. Jason turned and pulled off his helmet to fit his gas mask.
“Shit, Jay, don’t. I heard it too, but the roof just collapsed.”
“I’m not leaving someone alone in there. You do whatever you need to, I’m going in.” His very first call, Jason had hesitated after he thought he heard someone cry out. A few moments later, the chief had ordered everyone out. He never did hear it again, and had put it down to the overactive imagination of a rookie candidate. Then they’d cleared the building after the fire was out, and he’d found the body of a small child, still hunched up, hiding under his bed. Maybe one day he’d die on the job, but Jason was never going to ignore another cry again.
Jason pushed the thought from his mind as he turned and ran up the steps and back into the choking smoke. As he disappeared into the darkness, he heard Alan call out, “Jerry, swing a ladder!” Alan knew as well as he that if anyone was inside, they’d be on the upper floors. They’d had time to clear out the first floor before the fire got into the roof cavity, and there were multiple exits straight onto the street, available to anyone caught there. He went straight to the stairs to the second floor, stepping around flames already licking the banister.
“Fire Department, call out!”
No reply. The only sounds were the crackling of the fire and the groaning of an o
ld building about to give way to the flames that consumed it. The doorway to the main library entrance on the second floor was completely consumed. If someone was still in there, then only God could help them. Crouching down, he swung wide to avoid a crumbling wall and then continued up the stairs. Alan’s voice crackled over his radio, “Jason, it’s too much. You gotta get out of there.” Jason ignored him and pushed his way up the stairs again. As he rounded the corner, there she was. A girl, no a woman—damn she was small—lay on the floor, trapped under a beam.
“Hurry!” she called out to him. “Get me out before he kills me!”
Jason was about to ask who the hell he was when a hand reached out through the smoke and grabbed the woman by the neck. The man was tall and built like he lifted trucks for a living, and he shoved the beam away with a single hand while roughly tugging the woman upward with the other. The blood draining from her face was obvious even through the gloom, and he raced across the room, barreling into the man without slowing. He shoved hard, and both he and the other man fell to the floor. At least he dropped the woman on the way down.
Jason pulled himself to his feet first. His mask was dislodged during his fall, and he pulled it off. There was no time to put it back on, not while the large man was also pulling to his feet. The man took a step and then stopped and shook his head roughly. Had he been injured in the fall? He used the distraction to shrug off his oxygen bottle and kick it and the mask toward the woman. Her long blonde hair was dark from soot and her face was blackened. If they were up there any longer, she might die from smoke inhalation anyway, even if Jason could get her out.
No, they were going to make it out. He wouldn’t accept any other outcome.
The woman fumbled with the mask and Jason dropped to his knees next to her, helping her secure it and taking the opportunity to block her from the other man’s view. The man had obviously recovered and was standing in front of Jason, pointing a gun to his forehead.
“Move, or I’ll kill you first.”
“Okay, okay, man. This ain’t worth my life,” Jason replied. The woman’s eyes widened and Jason sent a quick prayer that she’d realize and play along. Either that, or just not get in the way. He moved slowly, twisting slightly and bending over the woman. A low growl came from the meathead.
“Hang on, man, just let me get my gear.” Jason reached his hand out behind the woman, and his fingers circled his halligan bar he’d dropped on the floor when he’d hit the deck. He pulled it into his hand, took a firm grip, and stilled. The man standing in front of him was huge and definitely stronger, but Jason was willing to bet he was faster. He counted to three in his head, then pushed himself upright, jabbing the fork end into the man’s gut. When Meathead bent over, Jason swung his arm around and smashed the hard steel bar into the man’s temple. The sickening sound it made as it connected with skin and bone was a welcome sound, and the giant brute fell to the floor, unmoving.
Jason turned to the woman, but she was gone from her spot on the floor. He searched through the smoke and found her limping across the room and frantically waving at him.
“Come on, get out of here,” she shouted. “He won’t stay down for long.”
11
Jason looked over his shoulder. Fuck, she wasn’t kidding. Even in the few seconds it had taken to find the woman, Meathead was stirring on the floor and starting to move. Unbelievable! That smack should have put him out cold, long enough for Jason to haul his ass out of the burning building and hand him over to the cops. His radio crackled to life again, “Jay, where are you? We’re setting the water cannons onto the roof. If you’re still alive and in there anywhere, get out now.”
“Roger that, I’m pulling out now,” he glanced back at the big man on the floor. “One casualty.” He jogged to catch up with the woman at the stairs and he could just make out the silhouette of the man on his hands and knees through the smoke.
“You’re both dead!”
Grabbing his halligan, Jason hurried his pace, almost carrying the woman when she stumbled. They reached the landing on the second floor, but the fire that had been gathering in the wall cavity when Jason was on his way up had taken over the structure entirely, blocking their way.
“Come on!” he called to the woman as he grabbed her elbow. It seemed impossible, but the smoke was even thicker on that floor and visibility was down to zero. There was no way in hell he was losing her in the dense fog. “There’s an emergency exit on this floor at the back.”
They moved together through the smoke as quickly as Jason dared. He’d left his oxygen upstairs in their hurry to leave, and the woman beside him kept coughing as she inhaled smoke. He could see the door through the haze ahead of him and he ran for it. He didn’t hear anyone behind him, but behind him and just slightly to the left there was a loud thud, then another. The plaster on the wall cracked, and it wasn’t from the fire. Thud! Another bullet embedded itself in the wall, that time too close for comfort. He positioned himself next to the wall and knocked at the door hard with his halligan. Quickly glancing over his shoulder to make sure the woman was safe and the maniac from upstairs hadn’t caught up, Jason shoved the end of the halligan into the created gap, braced himself, and shoved. The door pushed open and fresh air flooded the hall.
“Go, go, go!” He pushed the woman out into the stairs ahead of him and then ran himself, following her down the stairs and out into a back alley behind the library. The alley was deserted and Jason turned to head toward the front of the building, where paramedics would be waiting. He’d taken a single step when another door nearly a block up creaked and then pushed open. Meathead strode out onto the street. He was rubbing his hand across his eyes, no doubt trying to stem the flow of blood from a large cut above his eyebrow. Jason thanked whatever had landed on him to cause the gash, as the flow was likely preventing him from seeing them. For the moment, anyway. He pushed the woman behind him and flattened them both against the wall.
“Who the hell is that?”
“Oh, him? He’s an old friend.” The woman went to move, but then gasped and joined him back at the wall when the other man turned. The brute stopped, and then slammed his hand into the wall. Shards of concrete peppered onto the ground and Jason was glad he hadn’t found himself on the other end of a punch upstairs.
“What’s your name, anyway?”
“Dead, if we don’t get out of here,” the woman said. She turned and started running. Jason picked up speed and followed her out the back of the alley, away from Meathead, but also away from help, but there was no way was he letting her out of his sight. He followed her as she avoided the crowds gathered to watch the building burn and ran into the park behind them, a wince crossing her face every few steps. An open space was always a safer place to be with a nearby building on fire, but she didn’t stop when her feet hit grass. Jason cursed and followed again. Running in full turnout gear was a pain in the ass. How the hell was she keeping up this speed after everything she’d been through? When she finally stopped, they were several blocks away from the fire and surrounded by strangers. She leaned against a building and bent over, huffing to catch her breath. She let out a little yelp when he stopped beside her, but recovered from the surprise quickly enough to roll her eyes before he’d opened his mouth.
“Hey, there. Thanks for saving my life and all, but you can leave now.”
Okay, then. Not that he’d expected they’d be best buddies just because he’d saved her life, but geez, would a smile kill her?
“I’m Jason,” he said, holding out his hand.
She glared at him in response. “I’m sure you are. Now can you go away?” She fluttered her hand in the air before taking note of her soot-covered fingers and wiping them down her jeans. Jason was surprised at the gesture. He didn’t often see a woman happily destroying clothing. Then again, they were ruined anyway, he supposed.
“You’re the most ungrateful damsel in distress ever.” He chuckled.
The woman shot him a dark look. “I’m mu
ch worse than that. Consider yourself lucky to be rid of me.”
She turned and walked away and Jason quickened his step to catch up. Time to try a different tack.
“So who was that guy back there? I hit him hard enough to KO an elephant. What is he, a robot?”
The woman wrapped her arms around herself and kept walking. The show of vulnerability surprised him, and tugged at something inside. Whoever the woman was, he had a feeling that she needed his help more than just when she’d been inside the burning building.
“No,” she answered quietly. “No, he is something far, far worse.”
Her pace slowed further, and Jason noticed she was limping heavily on the leg that had been stuck under the beam, almost avoiding putting weight on it at all.
She’d be feeling it now her adrenaline was starting to crash.
“You need rest, to get off the streets until the scene is clear.”
“Yeah, and you need to get lost,” she huffed, leaning against a building to catch her breath. “I won’t be responsible for your death, too.”
Jason frowned. Too?
“My apartment is just a couple of blocks away, if you want a place to clean up and rest a bit.”
She looked at him for a moment, like she was actually seriously considering his offer, but then she turned and started walking again. “How do I know you’re not in league with him? Also, I don’t make a habit of going to places with strange men dressed like an attention-attracting beacon,” she said, gesturing to his bulky turnout uniform with its yellow and orange reflective panels and his huge, dirty boots.
He frowned, even though she had a point. “Way I see it, you accept my offer and then I can check in with my chief, see how best to help you and find out who this asshole is. Why does he want to kill you, by the way?”
Keila (Dreamcatchers Romantic Suspense Series Book 2) Page 5