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You could let it burn.
No. I couldn’t. Pop wouldn’t approve. He’d tell me to hell with trespassing and consequences and do the right thing. Get that fire out.
When I finally rounded the back of the house, flames shot out from the corner. Whoa. It was way worse than I thought.
Glass shattered as heat burst through another window.
I scanned for a way in. The smoke burned my eyes but once I pushed through it, I found the other end of the house wasn’t on fire.
I kicked open a set of French doors away from the blaze.
“Fire department. Anybody in here?” I yelled from what appeared to be the living room. The lamp illuminated on an end table had an odd yellowish glow filtered by the smoke.
Shit. I needed a mask.
Just check for anybody and get out.
I could do that. The fire wasn’t too bad yet.
I edged closer to the blaze and squinted. “Anyone here?” I called.
Sweat broke out on my forehead and beaded along my neck. I was getting too close without gear on.
It wouldn’t be such a bad thing if he died.
I kicked the thought out of my head. This was what I was born to do. I’d come to this house to get Samuel Hollingsworth out of our lives, but not in a body bag.
I forced myself not to rub my eyes. I pulled my shirt over my nose, but it wasn’t much of a deterrent. Smoke filtered up my nostrils, and I coughed.
I squinted.
Is that . . .
I hurried closer to the blaze. There was a lump on the floor. It could be anything, but it sure looked like someone.
I held my breath and scooped them up in my arms.
Damn. This thing is spreading fast.
The path I’d taken was now lined with fire. Flames licked up the walls. It was hot. So damn hot.
I tried to retrace my steps, headed toward the lamplight. It popped and went dark as the fire burned up the electrical.
I managed to find the back door I’d come in and gulped down fresh air. In my arms was the older man who’d answered the door the night we’d come here. He was breathing, but unconscious, his face and clothes covered in soot.
A siren wailed in the distance.
It was a relief to know my brothers-in-arms were coming.
I tried to wake the man. I took him to a distant corner of the yard and laid him on the ground. No way could I get back over that fence carrying him.
I shook his face a few times.
He coughed and spluttered and blinked at me in surprise.
“Are you okay?”
He nodded.
