Chapter 36
Keel rubbed his hand over his face as he pushed away the exhaustion. They were close to being done if only the brass would shut up. They’d already decided to keep watch and not make a move yet.
He was almost at the point of telling the guy to shut his trap, but that wouldn’t go over well. Someone at a higher rank had to tell the guy to shut up.
After another twenty minutes of listening to the guy drone on, they were done. Nothing had changed, except that guy had expelled a lot of air and they’d had to breathe it in since they were in the same room.
He grabbed his phone and was about to look at the screen when Chase stopped him.
“Hey, I was wondering if you could look at a house with me.”
“Oh, are you moving?”
“Yeah. It’s close to your place, about a half mile away.”
“Sure. Do you know when you’re viewing the property?”
“This weekend or after work next week. I’ll have to see what dates they come back with.”
“That’s awesome. It’ll be nice to have you living closer.”
“Sure will.”
They both headed out to their cars. He was satisfied with their decisions tonight. He was almost to his car when his phone buzzed. He turned over his phone, seeing he had an alert that his alarm was going off.
He stopped walking and opened the alarm application. “Shit.”
“What’s wrong?” Chase asked.
“The alarm is going off.” His phone rang, and it was the alarm company. He answered, worry slipping through him as the guy on the other end of the line asked for his safety word. “I can’t give you that. I don’t know what’s going on. Have you looked at the camera feed?”
“Just a moment, sir, I’m pulling that up now. It looks like someone ran out the front door of your place and into the street. Oh crap, the house across the street from you is on fire.”
“Shit.”
“I’m dispatching emergency services. I’m going to silence the alarm at your house for now and activate your alarm again.”
“Thank you.” The call ended, and Chase was beside him.
“What’s up?”
“The house across the street from me caught on fire. I need to get home.”
“I’m going to follow you.”
Keel waved him off. “You don’t have to.”
“I absolutely have to. Let’s go.”
Link and Bean were already on their way home. He felt better with them living so close, but he needed to be there. Something felt off. Maybe he was making too much out of it, but this seemed like weird timing.
Traffic wasn’t terrible since it was so late, but even with few cars on the road, he felt it took way too long to get home. There was a fire, and Frankie had run over to help. He had a bad feeling, and it wasn’t getting any better.
The fire wouldn’t stop. If she didn’t move, the fire would feed on her, too. She had to find Sonja and get her out of this house. Mr. Wiggles was fine. She just had to find Sonja. She could do this.
“Sonja! Where are you?”
After a moment, Frankie heard the woman calling out. She turned, trying to figure out exactly where the screams for help were coming from. The roar and crackle of the fire made it difficult to hear, but then she realized Sonja was down the hall, probably in a bedroom.
This was just like the fire at her parents’ place, but worse. Frankie knew what would happen if she didn’t make a move to help Sonja escape the inferno.
The flames weren’t that bad, but the smoke was. It had tunneled down the hall, making it hard to see. Just the thought of going down that hall scared the shit out of her. But she had to do it.
The last time she’d been over here, she’d made note that Sonja kept a blanket on the back of the couch. She reached out, found the blanket, and grabbed it.
There was a small bathroom near the entry.
Frankie took the blanket over and pulled open the door before switching on the water, trying to soak the blanket.
It would be better if this bathroom had a tub, but it had just a sink and a toilet.
Dipping the blanket into the toilet and then wrapping it around her head didn’t seem like a good idea.
She let the water from the sink flow over the blanket until it felt damp to her touch.
She hoped the dampness would work to keep her safe.
Frankie pushed open the bathroom door, amazed that the fire had spread so quickly. She could hear Sonja yelling down the hall and knew it was now or never. If she wanted to save her friend, she had to make a run for it.
Before leaving the bathroom, she dipped her head under the faucet and drenched her hair. She pulled the blanket over her wet head and took off down the hall, praying she could make it out alive.
Sonja’s voice rang out from the end of the hall, and Frankie made her way through the smoke, crouched down, trying to not breathe too much of the acrid air. The smoke grew thicker, and she had to drop lower and waddle her way to the end of the hall.
She grabbed the door handle, glad it wasn’t hot. She pushed open the door, ducking inside fast, and then slammed the door behind her so the smoke couldn’t get in.
“Oh dear,” Sonja said.
“Hey, we need to get you out of here.”
Just then, a terrible sound rose up, and she spun around. She couldn’t see anything because the door was closed, but Frankie had little doubt that something had caved in.
“We need to leave through the window.”
Sonja shook her head. “But won’t opening up the window feed the fire?”
“We don’t have a choice. We can’t go back the other way. We’ll have to open the window and kick the screen out.”
“Okay. If you say so.”
Sonja looked so small, smaller than normal. Frankie had to take charge and get them out. At least they weren’t on a second floor and could climb from the window without too many issues.
The window was easy to open, and it took four kicks to get the screen free. There was a bush they would have to fight to get through, but they could make it out.
She helped Sonja first, then she climbed out. The bushes weren’t so bad, at least they weren’t holly, which would have poked and scratched them.
Once free from the bush, she took a step, then froze. She’d been panicked before, but the sight before her eyes made her whole body burn.
Forest had his arm around Sonja’s neck, holding her like he could easily break her neck if he put a little effort into it. “Hello, Frankie. Bet you didn’t expect to see me.”
This was much worse than a fire. This was certain death.