gun.
But this time, Alexa had her fill of the bastard. She stepped between him and Seth, giving Jake a dose of reality.
“Whoever did this wanted you in the house when it went up,” the blonde began. “This isn’t about making Harper’s suicide look convincing. You’re the one they want dead, Jake.” She glared at him. “And you better decide whose side you’re on, ’cause the way I see it—if you put the gun down and help us out of here—we can put in a good word for you with the cops.”
“Jesus! You don’t know what you’re talking about.” Jake shook his head, but he finally shoved his gun into the waistband of his jeans.
“Tell me this, tough guy, did you pick this room yourself?” When he didn’t answer, Alexa shook her head. “Admit it. You got suckered. No windows. Bolted in. It’s a damned death trap.”
“No. You see, this was supposed to be the room where that Millstone asshole shot himself in the head,” Jake claimed with doubt in his eyes.
“No it’s not,” Jess interrupted. “And who told you he committed suicide? Max was the detective on the case, and he killed the bastard…rescued all the kids here.” When all eyes in the room focused on her, she added, “It’s true.”
“Bullshit! You’re a liar,” Jake spat. “How do you know so much?”
“’Cause I was one of those kids,” she admitted with her voice shaky. “Millstone died in the basement. I saw it happen. He died at my feet.”
“Damn.” Jake shook his head, finally getting the picture. “We’re dead meat.”
“Well, I’m not waiting around until I become one big s’more.” Alexa ran for the door and tried her luck, kicking a foot into the wood. She yelled and pounded on the door again and again, “Somebody…help us. We’re in here.”
She braved pissing Jake off and went looking for her weapon on the floor. When she found it, Alexa only gave the bartender a threatening glance before she yelled, “Fire in the hole.”
Seth made an attempt at shielding his father with Jess’s help. And Jake covered his head, cowering in a corner. Alexa nodded over her shoulder, then shot a few rounds into the wood around the doorknob and tried the door again. It moved, but not much.
“Damn it, Jake. Someone really doesn’t like you,” the blonde said. “Hard to imagine.”
Scared as he was, Jake still wasn’t talking about his accomplice, but Seth smiled as he watched Alexa.
“I like her. She with you?” he asked, grimacing in pain as he tried to sit up. “Help me up, will you?”
Jess hauled Harper to his feet and wedged a shoulder under him. She helped him sit next to his father and noticed the pain in Seth’s eyes. Every move must have hurt, but he tried not to let it show. Looking at Max, he clenched his jaw and wiped away a tear from the old man’s face with a gentle stroke of his thumb.
Seeing the love Seth felt for his father should have made her happy, but it didn’t. All she could think about was the vile consequence of Danny Ray Millstone. The bastard was dead and still claiming victims.
She forced a smile and put on a brave front for Seth and Max, but the last place she wanted to die was on High Street.
CHAPTER 26
When the smoke got so thick she could barely see, Sam got to her knees and crawled with her wet windbreaker tied over her mouth and nose. Her damp jacket had started to steam with the fierce heat. The only time she lifted the garment was to scream for Jessie, but it didn’t take her long to realize she had to conserve energy.
And with the fire getting worse, she was running out of time.
Everywhere she looked, the rooms glowed in blood-red amidst choking black smoke. Flames raged up walls and belched through doorways, consuming everything in sight. She felt the scorching heat on her skin. Even the hair on her arms singed when she got too close to the flames. And she smelled her hair smoldering.
But she forced her mind to focus on her search, despite her growing fear. Another danger posed a problem.
Not knowing what was burning, the closed-in structure made it a real possibility that superheated gases, carbon monoxide or hydrogen cyanide, might build inside the boarded-up house. A rolling structure fire could annihilate an old house in a hurry, but toxic fumes could kill anyone inside long before the fire got to them.
Panic ate at her resolve, but she kept going.
She had gotten through most of the first floor without a sign of Jessie or Alexa. A couple of back rooms were all that remained. With two floors above her, she had to cover ground without wasting time. And until she got upstairs, she had no idea how bad the fire was there.
She pushed herself farther down the hall, making her way to every door, but a loud sound caught her off guard.
“What the hell?” She raised up. “Jessie?”
Sam heard a bang. A series of loud splintering cracks. To her ear it sounded like gunfire, but with the noise reverberating in the house, she couldn’t tell which way it came from. As the heat intensified, she crawled faster and deeper into the old mansion, gagging and coughing. She almost turned back but scrambled toward the last open door. Whoever set the blaze must have done it nearby. The flames were more concentrated toward the rear of the first floor.
And a vaguely familiar medicinal odor was still in the air. She had smelled the odor before, yet couldn’t quite place it.
But as she neared the door, a man came running from the room. Low as she was, he didn’t see her. The man tripped over her, his knee nailing the side of her face. The blow shocked her, and her head snapped back. Shards of pain racked her body as she rolled.
Sam shook her head and blinked, noticing the man had taken a nasty fall. She pulled down the jacket she had covering her nose and mouth. And when her mind cleared enough, she yelled, “Police!”
Ignoring her, he struggled to his feet and turned to run, but the cop in her wouldn’t let him go. She reached a hand for his pant leg and toppled him again. This time when he hit the floor, the man grappled her from behind and choked her with his forearm.
She bucked against the death grip he had on her throat and pummeled him with her fists and elbows. But none of her blows did damage. Her muscles were growing weaker the more she struggled. In seconds, she lost feeling in her arms and legs. And her tongue had swollen, blocking any hope for air.
Sheer panic mixed with deathlike indifference as she thrashed against him. She couldn’t breathe at all now, and her lungs burned from the strain. Her world faded in and out of black, darkness marred only by spiraling pinpoints of light—her final trace of consciousness.
She was dying. And she knew it.
“Quiet!” Alexa cried, yelling at Jake, who had taken to incoherent rants. “I think I hear voices.”
She stepped closer to the doorway, listening. But when the sound faded to nothing, she pounded on the door. And after Jessie retrieved her Colt Python off the floor, she came to help.
“Hey…we’re in here. Help us! PLEASE!” They yelled in unison. To make their point, Alexa reached for her gun again and yelled a warning, “Get down.”
When the others ducked for cover, she fired a few rounds higher on the wooden door, angled toward the ceiling. She didn’t want to hit someone trying to rescue them.
But no one responded. No one was coming.
Alexa wiped her face with a hand. Her head ached as if someone had taken a sledgehammer to it. They had no more time, and she knew it. In desperation, she shoved her gun into the waistband of her pants and got to the floor on her back. She rammed both feet into the bottom half of the door in a mule kick. Once. Twice. The smoky air was making it harder to breathe, and she panted with the effort. And without a word, Jessie got down next to her and kicked with everything she had.
The door was stronger than she would have imagined and her legs stung with every jarring blow. Soon, the heat and thickening smoke would make it impossible to do much damage. The exertion would be too much.
Her thoughts turned to Garrett and the life he had opened her eyes to. She had only just begun to live the
