by Alexa Verde
But he had to know the truth. And to protect Julia.
Ivan stopped by his place, a small ranch-style house on the outskirts of Rios Azules, though in a much less prestigious subdivision than where Seth used to live. After calling Julia and making sure she was okay and following up with Aidan, Ivan changed into a fresh set of clothes and picked up a few toiletries. Then he placed Seth’s laptop and phone in the safe, where he kept firearms and important documents.
Ivan ran the contents of Seth’s folders through a scanner, encrypted the file, created a password for it, and emailed it to himself. He leafed through the papers in the folders, most of them different financial documents, and paused when he stumbled upon a list of guests to Gallagher’s party. The date coincided with the date Gallagher had drowned. Ashley’s and Ronda’s names were circled.
Hmmm.
Ivan took a picture of the list with his phone and emailed it to Aidan with the request to check their alibis for the time of his brother’s death. After that, the folders went into the safe, as well.
As Ivan headed to the Rios Azules Inn, his heart skipped a beat. He wanted to see Julia. He needed to see Julia. In all the years while in the army and later in the police academy, he’d missed her more than he’d ever thought possible, as if she’d placed a strong hold on him when they’d been teenagers and had never taken it back.
Julia’s life was in danger, so of course Ivan would help her. But he’d have to protect his heart in the process.
No matter how much he tried to silence them, his father’s words rang in his ears, strengthened by his boss’s opinion. Apparently, people thought that manipulating men was in Julia Morrison’s blood, and she might be getting quite skilled at that.
Was he a fool to believe his own heart instead of everybody else?
***
Julia woke up from the knock on the door. Still groggy from her nap, she hesitated.
“It’s me.” Ivan’s voice made her smile.
Then she remembered her resolution and wiped the smile from her face. “Hold on.” She walked to the door, glanced through the peephole, and opened the door.
Ivan entered, his expression grim. It looked like the conversation with his boss hadn’t gone well. Julia could guess the reason for it.
She locked the door and took a deep breath for courage. “Ivan, I wanted to tell you something. Don’t stay in the connecting room. Go home, please.”
He lifted an eyebrow. “Are you trying to get rid of me?”
Julia resisted the urge to take a step back under his studying gaze. “It’ll be better for everybody. You, your parents, your boss.”
“But not you?”
She shifted from one foot to the other. “I don’t count.”
“You always count.” Ivan took her hands in his. “I’m not leaving. I’ll do everything to protect you and find Seth’s killer.” Weariness reflected in his dark eyes. “But it’s late, and the doctor said you needed rest.”
True, she was still light-headed after the allergic reaction. “Okay. Good night.”
“Good night.” He left for the connecting room.
Julia had already taken a shower while waiting for Ivan. Without changing into more comfortable clothes, she brushed her teeth, then slid under the covers. If she needed to run in the middle of the night, she had to be ready. She didn’t want a new attack to take her by surprise.
She was glad God had given her Ivan to protect her. She said a bedtime prayer, making sure to add Ivan to the list of people she prayed for.
Despite her worries, sleep claimed her soon...
She woke up from a knock on the connecting door.
“Julia, get up!” Ivan’s voice had a note of urgency to it. “Please get up!”
Her head heavy, she sat up. The irritating scent of smoke entered her nostrils. What happened?
The sudden shrill of the fire alarm made her wince. Julia leaped out of bed, turned on the light, and grabbed her purse. She opened the door.
Ivan stormed inside her room. “We have to leave immediately. The inn is on fire!”
Chapter Eight
Ivan took in the sight of Julia. She was dressed and ready to leave. Good. He gestured to the door, and they rushed outside. The stench of smoke was much stronger here.
It took him only a moment to take in the situation.
The hall was filled with frantic people desperate to figure out what was going on. Through open doors to the rooms, he glimpsed people wasting precious moments on packing their suitcases and duffel bags. Several women were screaming, overcoming even the shrill of the alarm. A tall woman was running near the wall, against the flow of people, after a little boy. Children cried, dragged by adults. Panic was increasing.
Some people were still dressed in pajamas and nightgowns, while several were fully dressed, including a guy rushing out of the room in a suit put on inside out. A couple of men dragged suitcases, but clothes and toiletries were also thrown along the hall, the scents of shampoos mixed in with the stench of smoke. A chubby man with one shoe on searched for the other one while several women tripped over him on the way down the hall.
Ivan needed to take control of the situation. He couldn’t lose valuable time searching for the source of the fire and extinguishing it. He’d already called 911 before knocking on Julia’s door and now needed to help people evacuate fast and without anyone being run over.
To refresh his memory, Ivan glanced at the exit plan hanging on the wall that he’d studied before going to bed.
Keeping calm, he started guiding everybody toward the fire exit. He helped fallen people up and handed the chubby man his shoe, urging him to move forward.
“Get out now!” He threw the doors open and practically dragged out one of the men who didn’t want to obey.
“I’ll take the right side,” Julia mouthed to him and repeated his actions along the hall on the right side.
A teenage girl stumbled, and Ivan caught her hand before she fell. He helped her up. In circumstances like these, it would be easy to get overrun by the crowd. Julia headed to a boy of about four years old, who was crying in the corner. She scooped him up and handed him over to a woman who ran up to her with tears in her eyes.
“You have to leave,” Ivan yelled to Julia as soon as he caught up with her. He couldn’t risk her life.
Then Ivan stopped a couple of women who tried to return to their rooms, probably to get their things. “Please don’t go back. Move forward.”
Most likely, there was panic on the second floor, as well. He didn’t like the idea of Julia being in this turmoil alone. And there was no guarantee her attacker hadn’t rented a room at the Rios Azules Inn. The perp could be hiding in the crowd now. Could the fire be a plot to separate him and Julia? He couldn’t walk into that trap.
Ivan threw a glance over his shoulder, torn between the need to protect Julia and the need to help people.
“Don’t worry about me. I’ll guide them outside. You assist the rest,” Julia mouthed. She seemed to understand his struggle. But then, Julia had always seemed to understand him better than others did.
He rushed down the hall. The night manager joined him, and Ivan moved along the hall, guiding people, helping a couple of children who stumbled. Then Ivan and the night manager ran up to the second floor, where the turmoil reflected that of downstairs. Smoke burned Ivan’s eyes, and he wiped away tears.
Carbon monoxide would start getting to him soon, so he needed to hurry. The manager and Ivan started at the end of the hall.
Ivan couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw Julia sprinting toward him. Her eyes wide, she weaved her way between people, barely managing not to be run over. She screamed something to him, but he couldn’t hear over the thumping of many footsteps and shrill of the fire alarm.
He gritted his teeth.
What was she thinking? She was putting herself and others in danger.
“I’ll take it from here,” the manager yelled to Ivan.
Anger boil
ing inside, Ivan dashed toward her.
Julia stopped near a door in the middle of the hall. She flattened herself against that door while a tall, heavyset man raced past her. Then she ripped the scarf from her neck, wetted it in the nearest drinking fountain, and wrapped the scarf around her head and face, covering her nose and mouth. She slid the card and turned the probably already-hot handle with the help of the scarf’s end.
Julia disappeared inside the room seconds before Ivan had a chance to stop her.
His teeth set on edge.
What was she doing?
Ivan bolted inside the room before the door closed. Rising temperatures heated up the skin of his face.
He grabbed Julia’s shoulders and threw her around to face him. “Have you gone crazy?”
“Ivan, I stopped a woman downstairs who tried to get back here. She’d gone to get some chocolates from the vending machine earlier. Her little girl, Masha, stayed in the room. I promised her we’d rescue her daughter.”
Ivan read Julia’s lips rather than heard her in the shrill of the alarm. Her eyes were pleading with him. But even without that plea, he’d never let a child die.
“You have to leave. I’ll find the girl.” He pushed Julia in the direction of the door.
She coughed and shook her head. “The girl doesn’t speak much English. My half-Russian friend taught me a few Russian phrases. Besides, a scared little girl would rather go to a woman than to a man.”
Ivan couldn’t waste more time arguing. “Keep close to the floor,” he said to her.
From his first responder training, he knew there was more oxygen close to the floor. Julia crouched forward.
Where would he hide if he were a little girl?
Julia looked around the room, probably asking herself the same question. “Under the bed?”
She dropped herself on the floor, and he followed her, wincing from the hot surface.
Close to the wall, he glimpsed a girl who looked at them with wide-open blue eyes, tears streaking her face. A vice squeezed his heart. The space between the bed and the floor was too narrow. Neither he nor Julia would be able to reach the child.
The fire alarm stopped and was replaced with the even scarier sound of burning wood.
Adrenaline coursed through his veins. Ivan forced himself to smile with as much assuredness as he could muster. “Come here.”
The child didn’t move. Maybe she didn’t understand him. Or maybe she was scared of strangers.
Worry for Julia and the little girl knifed through him.
They were running out of time.
Julia disappeared for a moment and then plastered herself to the floor again, stretching out a hand with a doll in it. “Masha!”
Moving fast, Ivan grabbed the covers from the beds and clothes spread on the chairs. Then he covered vents and the opening between the door and the floor to prevent smoke from coming into the room.
Julia removed the scarf from her face, probably to avoid scaring the child. “Menya zovut Julia. A kak eye zovut?”
He guessed Julia was introducing herself and asking for the doll’s name. Another surge of adrenaline shot through him, urging him to act. But he knew better than to interfere.
“Varya,” the girl whispered at last.
“Varya boitsya. Pomogi ey. I mama tebya zhdet,” Julia said in a tender, soft voice. “I told her that her doll, Varya, was afraid and asked her to help Varya. I told Masha her mother was waiting for her,” she whispered.
The girl hesitantly shifted in their direction. “Mama?” she asked weakly as she crawled forward.
“Da,” Julia hugged the girl tightly as soon as she could reach her.
Masha snatched the doll.
Ivan released the breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding.
“Mashen’ka, eto Ivan. On pomozhet tebe y Varye dobrat’sya do tvoyey mami,” Julia whispered to Masha and handed her to Ivan. “I told her your name and that you’ll help her and the doll to get to her mom.”
“We have to get out of here.” His throat constricted as he breathed into his sleeve.
Masha coughed in his hands, and he leaned her closer to him so she’d breathe less smoke. It was getting harder and harder to get air into his starving lungs, and he was becoming light-headed.
Julia’s body shook from a cough, and she moved her scarf to cover half of her face again. Smart idea.
His pulse roared in his ears. Keeping low to the floor to breathe whatever oxygen remained in the room, he rushed to the door. Carefully, he touched the handle with the back of his hand to check it, and jerked his hand back from the burning-hot surface.
That was a bad sign. The fire outside must be spreading rapidly. It was too dangerous to go into the hall now.
His heart sank. Even if they moved fast, they might not make it down the hall and the stairs. He didn’t have much choice.
Ivan whirled around to give Julia the bad news, wishing she’d already left with the rest of the people. “We have to jump from the window.”
Julia’s eyes widened above the blue fabric of her scarf. But to her credit, she nodded. He dashed to the window. As reluctant as he was to let fresh air inside and thus feed the fire, that was the price he had to pay for trying to escape.
Ivan threw the window open and took in a lungful of lifesaving air. He let the child breathe in, as well. The girl’s body went limp in his hands, and he was afraid that Masha would pass out. He looked out, searching for an escape ladder.
He spotted one, but it was too far. He sized up the distance to the ground.
A familiar panic made his throat constrict.
Ivan clenched his teeth. Worry for the girl and Julia spurred him on. He had to get them out of the building, even if that meant risking breaking his legs. He’d have to force himself to jump.
Or was there a chance the firefighters would arrive soon enough? He glanced back. Tongues of fire entered the room and danced along the walls.
They were out of time.
“We can’t wait.” Julia’s voice was raspy. She seemed to read his thoughts again.
Ivan turned to her. “Slide down here and hold the windowsill with your hands. Straighten your body. That will reduce the distance between you and the ground. Then drop. Make sure you land on your feet and then hit the ground with your palms.”
Julia shivered, despite the high temperature. “You won’t be able to jump that way with a child in your hands.”
In this life-threatening situation, she worried about him?
“Julia, hurry!”
“I’ll catch her after I land,” she said.
That would help him to avoid serious injury, but doubt entered his mind. “Will you be able to?”
Julia’s eyes stared at him without blinking. “I’ll have to.”
She climbed onto the windowsill, turned around, squatted, and slid down, grabbing the surface with her hands. She grimaced from obvious pain as the surface was surely hot to the touch.
“Now let go,” he said.
“Dear Lord, have mercy on us. In Jesus’s holy name. Amen,” she whispered.
She released the windowsill.
For a horrible moment, time stood still.
Then Julia landed on her feet and hit the ground with her palms.
Yes!
She was safe!
His feeling of triumph was short-lived as now he had to hand her Masha, who clung to him tightly with the doll. The heat was pushing him in the back, and he was getting more light-headed.
The little girl started sobbing into his shoulder, and he whispered softly, “Masha, Masha.”
Julia stood under the window, and a small crowd started gathering around them.
“Mashen’ka, mama zhdet!” Julia screamed, lifting her arms.
The child let go of her hold on him.
His heart thumping in his ears, he released the girl. The crowd gasped. A second later, there was another gasp, but this time with relief.
Julia caught the child!
Ivan felt a huge weight lifted from his shoulders.
A cough shook his body. Fire was claiming the room, its hunger increased by the oxygen coming from the open window.
Ivan repeated the movements he’d taught Julia, and soon he was outside the window, holding on to the windowsill. Even though the hot surface was burning the skin on his fingers, he hesitated. He could only imagine what kind of horrifying fear Julia must’ve felt without being trained for dangerous situations.
Ivan had to overcome his fear of heights.
He had to.
And jumping out the window of the second floor couldn’t in any way compare with Jake’s failed parachute jump.
Ivan couldn’t allow himself to be scared. A wave of shame rose inside him. He wasn’t a coward. The pain in his palms was becoming unbearable.
“Ivan!” Julia’s voice registered in his mind.
He let go.
***
Julia said a prayer of gratitude.
From the corner of her eye, she saw a fire truck, a patrol car, and ambulances. Firefighters had started subduing the fire.
And Ivan…
“Thank you so much! Spasibo!” The woman Julia had met earlier on the inn’s stairs shook her hand furiously.
Julia suppressed a gasp as the gesture irritated the blisters on her palms.
The wild look in the woman’s eyes contrasted with the grateful smile on her face. Her hair was tousled, and she was visibly shaking.
“Mashen’ka! My poor daughter!” The woman grabbed the little girl.
Julia let Masha go, fatigue taking over, making her movements sluggish.
An EMT stepped to the mother and daughter.
Julia moved away, allowing the happy reunion. The looks on their faces were worth risking her life.
Her limbs weak after the surge of adrenaline subsided, Julia glanced around, looking for Ivan in the crowd. She’d seen him land on his feet but had been distracted by Masha’s mother. A heavyset bearded man was at the place where Ivan had been a moment ago.
