Fugitive Chase by Jenna Night

Fugitive Chase by Jenna Night

Author:Jenna Night
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2020-06-09T11:44:57+00:00


EIGHT

“Please hurry!” Ramona shouted into her phone. Between the sounds of burning wood cracking and popping and Harry dragging things around inside the garage, it was hard for her to hear the 9-1-1 operator.

“I need a hand over here,” Harry called out. He was dragging bookcases and other large items she couldn’t quite make out over toward the skylight. Her guess was that he was stacking them up so he could climb up to break through the glass and escape.

Ramona’s lungs were burning from the smoke and she started coughing, each spasm making her lungs feel like someone was rubbing sandpaper against them. She could feel the pressure of an asthma attack building, but she’d left her inhaler in her purse and that was back in Harry’s truck.

“Fire and EMS crews have already been dispatched,” the operator said calmly. “I need you to stay on the line with me in case they need further directions when they arrive on scene.”

“Ramona!” Harry’s call to her had an even greater punch of urgency to it this time.

“Remind responders that we’re trapped in the garage behind the house,” Ramona said into the phone. “That’s where the fire is. I’ve got to go.”

She kept the call connected but switched the phone to speaker mode and shoved it into her pocket. The smoke was getting unbearably thick, and the heat rolling off the flames had her feeling dizzy and nauseated.

Wheezing and coughing, she stumbled toward Harry. He’d found an old, oversize, steel ice chest and shoved it against the wall below the skylight. Then he’d tipped over the tallest bookcase to dump everything off of it, dragged it over and put it on top of the ice chest. But the uppermost shelf reached a point at least four feet below the bottom edge of the skylight.

Harry reached out to her, both of his big hands clasping her upper arms. He leaned down so that his face was close to hers and she could see a reflection of the flickering flames in his eyes. “If we get you to the top shelf, can you pull yourself up and out through the skylight?”

She pulled her right arm free from his grip to cover her mouth while another coughing fit hit her. Each cough meant she drew in another lungful of smoky air and the wheezing grew stronger.

She wanted to say yes, that she could do it. After everything he’d done for her, she didn’t want to let him down. But the truth was that given how light-headed she was feeling from lack of oxygen, she wasn’t sure what she’d be able to do.

“Give me a pole or a rake or something and I can climb up and use that to reach the skylight and break it,” she said in answer to his question. “That will get us some fresh air in here until the fire department arrives.”

And that had better be really soon. The fire was growing at an especially alarming rate.

“A rush of air could fuel the fire and make it more intense,” Harry said, sounding calm but very focused.



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