Chapter 14
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Before they took off one of the firemen approached Jump and told him he could go up and grab his ammunition and guns.
He was being escorted up with one of the firemen.
Blakely had to stay down below with his buddies.
Before he left her side, he made sure she planned on staying with the guys and not venturing away.
“I have no desire to wander around. I know Grayson could be close by.”
Jump was glad to hear she would stay with his friends. Because they were staying together at Wave’s house, he would have the chance to get to know her better.
Heading up to the third floor meant they had to go around to the back of the building and climb up the one set of stairs that weren’t damaged.
Jump was disgusted at how many small fires this jerk had set. “This guy did a lot of damage.”
“He did. It’s a miracle we were able to rescue everyone. I think the worst injury was a broken bone. Someone could have easily died in the fire.”
“We were lucky. You guys showing up when you did meant we got out.”
“I wasn’t on shift, but I heard that your apartment was one of the last ones to get rescued. The wait must have been horrible.”
“It was.” If it had only been him, he might have climbed over the rail and made his way down by shimming down a pole.
Blakely probably would have fallen if they’d climbed over the rail and slid down a pole.
He had spent years training how to get out of tough spots.
The obstacle course they ran prepared him for things like climbing down multi-story buildings.
It wasn’t something that could be done easily.
The fireman led him inside and he grabbed his gun case and the boxes of ammunition he had.
The place smelled of smoke, so he didn’t grab any of his clothes.
Next trip back to the apartment, he could grab his clothes.
Everything could be replaced. Even his gun and ammunition could be replaced, but he didn’t want some random person coming in and stealing them.
It would suck to have his gun out on the streets.
“You get everything?” the fireman asked.
“Yes, I grabbed what I have here. Thank goodness the rest of my weapons are kept on base.”
“Okay, let’s head down.”
They were still on the third floor when a loud screech filled the air. The fireman reached out and grabbed the nearby railing and froze.
“What was that?” Jump asked.
“I don’t know. Let me ask on the radio.”
Jump glanced around, thinking the area where they were standing looked okay. A few seconds later, the walkway they were standing on shook.
“That’s not good,” Jump said.
“No. Run.”
They took off, heading toward the stairway they’d come up. Another loud screech sounded followed by a loud crash.
“I think the place is coming down,” the fireman threw over his shoulder.
Jump agreed. He ran down the first set of stairs, trying to ignore the rumble and shaking underneath his feet. The stairs were moving a lot more on the way down than they had on their way up.
When his feet hit the ground, he didn’t stop running. He grabbed hold of the fireman and dragged him along beside him. There was no trusting a building that was rattling, shaking, and screeching as much as that building had been doing.
They ran around the corner of the building and saw people being told to back away as firemen moved their trucks back. He didn’t spot Blakely or his crew. Where were they?
He had stopped dragging the fireman with him and was searching for his buddies when he saw a man across the way who looked familiar. Was that Grayson?
The one time he’d seen the man it had been dark, and he’d been focused on protecting Blakely. But he swore the man looked like Grayson.
Panic surged through Jump. Where was Blakely?
The chaos grew as a portion of one of the buildings toppled to the ground, causing smoke and dust to rise from the ashes. People ran around, screaming as fear took over.
He pulled out his phone and dialed T, hoping his friend answered. The line dropped, and he had to try calling again.
People were yelling and screaming for loved ones. The scene was chaos. The building with Blakely’s apartment had collapsed, and the attached walkway seemed to be pulling on the second building, threatening to take it down, too.
More screeching rang out and then part of the walkway on the second building collapsed, sending more people running. He hadn’t realized that so many people had shown up here to get a look at what was going on.
Where was Blakely? Maybe his buddies had taken her back to their cars. He’d cursed parking so far away earlier, but now he was glad they had to park far back from the burned buildings. At least they’d be able to escape this scene, if he ever found Blakely.
The building was coming down with Jump still in it. Blakely took a step toward the building but T’s hand on her shoulder stopped her.
“No.”
“But Jump.”
“He’ll be okay.”
“The building is falling down.”
T pulled her away from the falling building. “Trust me, Jump will be safe. He trains for stuff like this.”
“But—”
“T is right,” Bang said.
“Yeah, come on. Let’s get back,” Cy said as he moved to her other side and held onto her hand.
She glanced back as the building on the end where she’d lived started to crumble into dust. She hadn’t lived there long, but she felt this in the pit of her stomach.
Grayson was trying to destroy everything around her just because she’d dared to walk away from him.
Maybe it was only the money he wanted. She could give it back.
She didn’t need to keep the money. Before moving here, she’d had a job earning fairly good money.
Right now she was only working part-time because she was thinking about going back to school.
But she could get a better job. If he had the money, maybe he would leave her alone.
Worry grew as each minute passed and she didn’t see Jump. Where was he? If Grayson ended up killing Jump, she would make sure he paid. She didn’t know how, but she would do something to get back at him.
They were by the cars when she finally spied Jump. He was safe. T had been right. Jump could get out of trouble without her help.
She waved, excitement filling her as Jump moved closer. His lips were down in a frown as he scanned the area. She wondered if something was wrong when he stopped moving and raised his hands.
Confusion over what he was doing filled her. But she had her answer why he had stopped all too soon. Grayson was running toward Jump, swinging a bat.
Blakely screamed as Grayson swung the bat at Jump’s head. Just then, Cy grabbed her from behind and pulled her away, moving her where she couldn’t see what was going on. The sound of the bat striking flesh was a sound she would never forget.