‘Sarah!’ came a muffled cry from outside the room.
Nick!
I didn’t hesitate a second longer, but returned to the door and ripped off my T-shirt. With my hands wrapped in the fabric, I was able to turn the knob and open it. The sight of the orange flames leaping up the staircase made me falter for an instant, but then I ran up the hallway, shouting out to Nick.
‘Sarah! In here!’
I followed his voice to the last room and used my T-shirt again to open the door. Through the haze of smoke, Nick, Chris and Adelita sat in a row at the back of the room. They could’ve been preparing to interview me for a job if they hadn’t been all tied to chairs. And there I stood before them, in nothing but jeans and a bra, my arm slicked with blood.
I collected myself, closed the door and wedged my T-shirt beneath it to prevent more smoke from entering the room.
‘Hey, beauty girl.’ Nick winked at me, but his face was white and tense. ‘I’ve been telling these guys you’d find us, but they didn’t believe me.’ His expression changed to concern. ‘Hey, what happened to your arm?’
I rushed behind his chair and fumbled with the knot in the rope. ‘Had a run-in with a window. Why did you walk out on me this morning?’ I picked at the knot, trying to loosen it.
‘Ah, Burrowes, do you really think this is the time to have this discussion?’
‘Shut up or I’ll leave you here.’
‘Jeez, that’s a bit harsh, isn’t it?’
I got the knot untied and released his hands. He jumped up and went straight to Chris to untie his while I started on Adelita’s.
‘I should’ve known not to trust you,’ I blustered to Nick. ‘Not after last time.’
Nick untied Chris and joined me behind Adelita’s chair.
‘You could actually give me a chance to explain.’ His hands touched mine as we both worked on the knot.
‘I thought you two weren’t together?’ Adelita turned her head back towards us.
‘We’re not!’ we chorused.
The knot came free and I stood up. ‘Is there any way out of here?’ I asked Chris.
He looked shaken and scared, and I had to resist the urge to give him a good slap to snap him out of it.
He coughed. ‘I… I don’t know.’
‘There has to be a way onto the roof,’ Nick said, looking up.
‘There!’ I pointed at a square in the ceiling in the corner of the room that looked like a manhole. ‘Get a chair!’
Adelita grabbed one of the chairs and placed it underneath the access point. Nick climbed onto it and tried to push the panel upwards, but it was stuck. He grimaced with the effort, and finally it gave. He threw it aside.
‘Can you see anything?’ I called up to him.
The smoke was now thick in the room and we were all coughing. I held a hand over my nose and mouth.
‘Yeah, there’s a ladder that looks like it leads up to the roof.’ He got down and helped Adelita up onto the chair. ‘You first, I’ll give you a boost.’
Adelita held up one foot, still clad in the ever-present stiletto, for Nick to hold.
‘Ford, help me out here, man,’ Nick said. Chris shook himself into action, still looking dazed. ‘You grab her other leg and when I say so, push her upwards. You ready, Adelita?’
Adelita nodded and the two men heaved her upwards. As she wiggled through the opening, we all got an eyeful up her skirt.
Nick looked at me. ‘You’re next.’
‘No,’ I said. ‘Chris, you go first.’
The gallant bastard didn’t hesitate for a second, but climbed straight onto the chair and lifted his leg in readiness. Nick gave him a disgusted look. When Chris had disappeared through the opening, Nick and I exchanged glances.
‘You should go next,’ I said.
‘And how do you think you’re going to get up there by yourself? You’re—what—five foot high?’
‘I’m five foot two, thank you,’ I shouted over the roar of the fire outside the door. ‘Just go!’
‘I’ve done a million chin-ups in my time!’ he shouted back. ‘Now get on the bloody chair!’
I tried to argue, but the smoke was getting thicker. I choked and spluttered. When I glanced over to the door, the flames had already worked their way under and engulfed my T-shirt. Nick followed my gaze, then yanked his own T-shirt up over his head and deposited it over mine.
We were both coughing uncontrollably as I climbed onto the chair.
‘When you get up there, don’t wait for me,’ he got out between coughs.
‘But—’
‘Go straight up the ladder onto the roof. I’ll be right behind you.’
He boosted me upwards until my stomach was lying over the edge of the opening, then he pushed my legs up after me. I found myself lying on the floor of a dark attic. When I poked my head back through the hole, the fire was creeping across the wooden floor. It had almost reached the chair.
‘Hurry!’ I cried. My throat was raw from the thick smoke.
Nick looked back. ‘Go up the ladder!’ he shouted, his voice hoarse. ‘Go, Burrowes!’
I shook my head. He got a grip with his hands and slowly hauled his body upwards. The tendons and veins stood out on his arms like cords. His face was dark red with the effort. Below him the orange flames began to consume the chair, leaping up towards his dangling legs.
His head drew level with the opening, then his shoulders. I grabbed his forearms, and between us we got him into the attic. He lay in front of me, his body racked with coughs.
‘I thought I told you not to wait?’ he managed to gasp.
‘As if I’d ever do anything you told me.’ I helped him to his feet.
He pushed me towards the ladder. ‘Go.’
I climbed up the short ladder onto the flat roof. Nick followed. There was no sign of Chris or Adelita.
‘Over here!’ came Chris’s voice. They were at the end
