Page 1 of Abandoned

Chapter One

“House fire at 1480 Miller Drive. All units respond. Fire department en route.”

Zara Grant flipped on lights and siren and shattered the silence of the night. Her adrenaline pumped. With it being late in the evening, there was a good chance people were inside that home. Getting there immediately was imperative. She pressed the gas pedal of her patrol vehicle. Well, not hers. Technically, this one was Logan Jackson’s. She hadn’t been assigned one yet as she was still new to the Hazel Hill Police Department.

Logan, her training officer who now sat in the passenger’s seat, picked up the radio and reported in. They were less than two miles from Miller Drive.

She wasn’t sure which block that was, but she at least knew where the road was.

A few turns later, they headed north on Miller Drive. The two-story, fifty-year-old house came into view. Angry flames licked the edge of the roof.

Zara pulled up in front of a neighboring house, and she and Logan jumped out and ran toward the burning structure.

A woman in a T-shirt nightgown, probably not a day older than Zara’s twenty-eight years, ran around from the side of the house.

Zara bolted to her.

Incoherent words flew from the woman’s mouth, and she pointed to the second story.

Zara took hold of the woman’s hands. “Slow down. I can’t understand.”

“My baby.” She pointed to the second-story window.

She seriously left her baby in the fire? God, save the baby. “I’ll get your baby. How old?”

“Only ten months. I was downstairs, and the fire was already in the hallway up there. I couldn’t get to her.”

Zara prickled at how she’d so quickly misjudged. “I’ll get her.” She turned to Logan. “Help me onto the roof.” She pointed to the porch.

“Grant, it’s not safe.”

How could that possibly matter when a child’s life was on the line? “It’s a baby, Jackson.”

He nodded, and they sprinted toward the house. He cupped his hands to form a step.

She put her foot in his hand and reached for the gutter that ran the length of the porch’s roof. Logan gave her a giant boost, and she pulled herself up. Step one done. She needed to get to that baby.

The heat of the fire assaulted her, and she shielded her face. As quickly as possible, she maneuvered down the roof to the baby’s window and glanced at the young mother.

Thankfully, Logan put his arm around her to comfort her, and she nodded to Zara. Must be in the right place.

She tried to open the window, but it didn’t want to budge. Locked. I’ll have to break it.

Zara yanked her baton from her belt and whipped it to full length. With a quick snap, she broke the glass. Smoke billowed out the opening and singed her face.

Lord, please let the baby be okay.

Two more whacks. Zara cleared the glass from the frame and slid inside. The smoke stung her eyes, but she had to keep them open. Flames were consuming the bedroom door. Soon this entire room would be engulfed in flames too. But she couldn’t see anything else.

She dropped and crawled across baby toys and stuffed animals scattered on the floor. Where was the baby?

Moving her hand back and forth in front of herself, she searched for and found the crib in the corner of the room.

Zara stood, reached inside, and scooped the baby up. Was she breathing? Zara felt for a pulse.

She couldn’t find it, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t there.

Stooping to avoid the smoke as much as possible, Zara rushed toward the window. She had to get the baby out of the house now.