Borrowed Time by John Nolte

Author:John Nolte [Nolte, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781637589298
Publisher: Bombardier Books
Published: 2023-08-01T15:18:15+00:00

Inferno

1

A couple of hours before Mason demanded a lawyer, Maria and her husband Preston were driving home from the movies and had just passed the Rebel Yell when the whole place exploded into a fireball.

Preston caught sight of the flames in the rearview, and like it was reflex, turned the car right around.

“Holy moly,” Maria said. She couldn’t believe anything could go up so quickly. Preston parked as close as he dared. She dialed 9-1-1. He jumped out of the car.

No point in stopping him, Maria knew. He’d fought for Fallujah and wasn’t gonna sit back and do nothing with a motel full of people on fire. Still, she didn’t worry too much. He could handle himself.

2

Preston stared at an inferno. But the door to Room 3, Yvette’s room, was wide open. A light was on and an empty gas can lay by the door. Through the flames, Preston could see legs on the floor, more than one pair, so he got a running start, dove through the door, and landed hard on the floor near the foot of the bed.

Later he would describe Room 3 as a massacre: blood, gore, revolver, fat guy with his throat ripped out, blonde lady with one eye shot out. Those two were dead, no question.

The third guy was wet with blood from the waist down and laying on the floor with his head on the dead woman, like she was a pillow. He was alive but unconscious.

The wind shifted. The flames now covered the entire doorway, blocking the only way out. Black smoke was already making it difficult to breathe. Preston ripped a sheet off the bed, took it into the bathroom, soaked it under the shower, and wrapped himself with it. Then the Army Vet pulled the wet sheet over his head and grabbed hold of Charlie’s legs. Facing forward, like a rickshaw driver, he ran through the fiery door dragging Charlie behind him.

3

This would’ve worked had Charlie not been such a clumsy arsonist and spilled gasoline all over himself. As he was pulled through the fire, Charlie lit up like a road flare, regained consciousness, and started screaming like a vampire tossed in the sun.

Preston got tangled in the sheet and lost his balance.

Maria didn’t hesitate. She leapt out of the car, ripped the wet sheet off Preston, and dropped it on Charlie. The flames were out, but the damage was fatal. Charlie was cooked like Sunday meatloaf. First, he went into shock, then into a coma.

While Preston caught his breath and Charlie lay dying, Maria watched the Rebel Yell’s fiery roof cave in on the dead bodies that had once been Yvette and Ernest.

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