by JM Dragon
Light brown eyes took in the chauffeur who had been very attentive on the five-hour drive from the nearest International airport to Grady.
“I had my lawyers send my granddaughter a letter. This is very disappointing.”
“I will find a suitable hotel for you to stay in tonight, I know of one two hours away.”
“No.”
A puzzled expression was aimed her way.
“I shall wait, even if it means that I spend the night in this uncomfortable chair.”
“I have a better idea,” he held out his hand, “the car is much more comfortable.”
She laughed. “Thank you, Toby, for your concern, but don’t you need to be heading home?”
“Oh, I’m all yours until you don’t need me.” He chuckled.
Amalie Desrosiers smiled. “That is a provocative statement for a French woman. The sky over there is very red, is it the weather?”
Toby looked in the direction she pointed. “I think that’s a fire and big one, close to the town too.”
“As we have nothing else to do, shall we follow the sky and see what is happening?”
Toby nodded. “Good idea. If it is a fire, they might need help.”
Chapter Twenty-three
Dee choked back the smoke as she re-entered the building. Whatever had happened had cut off all ground floor exits and forced them to remain on the upper floor. That was all except Gene, her dad, and Charlie, who were in the bottom floor. When the fire raged below Gene had screamed for them to find a way out.
When the fire department arrived, she called out to them and hoped that they could help and quickly. The old adage smoke rises, filled her with dread for the people she loved. They weren’t dead she knew it in her heart she did, no matter how it looked.
“Dee, you did great. Let’s hope they heard you.” Quinn wiped away the tears the smoke evoked.
“I think they did.” She glanced at the two men, who were frantically looking for items that would help them survive the smoke nihilation.
“Here take this.” Larry pushed a wet cloth in her hand.
“What do I do with it?”
“Place it under the door.”
†
“Felix, we can’t stay here. We need to find another exit. This was a bad idea of mine, I’m sorry.”
Gene forced herself to concentrate on the living rather than the dead, biting her lip as she saw the red welts on her factory manager’s hands. The burns would be intolerable for most, but he was carrying on as normal, having tried to save Charles who had been trapped under a falling hoist close to the exit into the office complex. The fire kept creeping closer. Charles had given her a wide smile and said it was okay, it was his time, and Francine was there beckoning him home. She’d dragged Felix away and they had run for the corridor. They made it out and shut the door behind them as another fierce blast of fire crossed the floor. The area was so engulfed in flames that there was no way Charles could have survived.
“This is the best exit, look at all the glass. We need to break some and, best case, the fire department sees us, and worst case, we can get out into the open ourselves. For the record, why did you leave the others and try to help us?”
“You are my family, Felix, I could do nothing less.” Gene sucked in a breath and wished she hadn’t as the smoke filled her lungs.
Felix frowned. “Look, we don’t have much time, the heat is intense, and the glass might break uncontrollably, then we will be tomorrow’s news.”
Gene nodded. “Felix, tell me what to do?”
“This is your life we are talking about, do you trust me that much?”
“As much as I trust Dee, and that’s with my life. Yes.”
Felix gave her a narrow glance as he threw a hammer at the glass roof. “Okay, know of anything in this room that can break that glass?”
Gene didn’t know off-hand, but she knew that she needed to concentrate. It meant the difference between life or death and she most definitely wanted to live.
“I’m not sure. How about one of the chairs? Though the glass is triple glazed and meant to withstand a lot of pressure.”
“Now she tells me.” Felix rolled his eyes. “Any panels with a vent?”
The smoke was befuddling her mind and her chest felt tight, it was hard to concentrate. “I don’t…wait, yes.” She pointed toward a place above the door.
“Great.” Felix looked around then shrugged. “Gene, get on the floor and head to the end of the building it will help.” He placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. “You look terrible.”
“I can’t let you endanger yourself. This is my business, I should be protecting you.”
Felix laughed, coughing simultaneously. “Thank you, boss. Right now, I think I’m the best bet.”
“Dee will never forgive me if anything happened to you.”
“Then let’s make sure we both get out of this alive. I can’t have Dee being mad at you, can I?” He winked and headed for the dense smoke near the door.
As Gene scrambled on her knees toward the end of the building she wondered if he knew about them. How could he?
†
Cars from every direction began arriving on the scene and the fire chief smiled. He wasn’t generally keen on people at his scene but right now an extra amount of brawn to help with the hoses and the trampolines would help. This fire had got out of control quicker than anything he’d encountered in his twenty years at the Grady Fire Department.
Galvanizing the troops, they quickly had the hoist and the ground safety nets in place. Within fifteen minutes, everyone from the upper floor was accounted for.
“Chief…my dad…my…Gene…Charlie…they are in the back of the building.” The young woman collapsed in a coughing fit and the paramedics took over.
“Anyone know the layout of this place?” he shouted.
“I do.” He turned to a nervous young woman watching the paramedics take away one of the victims of the fire.
“Well, young lady, what’s at the back of the building?”
“The greenhouse laboratory. I know it’s got special glazing, never known anything break one of those panels. She’s there, isn’t she?”
“People are possibly back there.” He flicked a finger to one of his men. “Three possible in the back. Triple glazing on the glass probably. Let’s get there pronto. I don’t think this building has much more strength in her.” He glanced at the young woman. “Thank you…?”
“Chloe, my name is Chloe. You will get them out, won’t you?”
“Yes, we will.” He walked away. At least she didn’t ask him if they would be alive and for that he was grateful.
†
Dee sucked in the oxygen from the mask the paramedic gave her, desperately trying to focus on the inferno in front of her. How did this happen? In the years she’d worked there, and even when her dad had begun working, there was never an indication of a fire, at least none of this proportion. Tears flowed unchecked as she waited like everyone else for news of Gene, her dad, and Charlie. God, what will I do if—?
“Dee, thank god.” Max rushed forward and pulled her into a close hug.
“Oh, Max, I’m so glad to see you. Dad, Gene, and Charlie are still inside, and I don’t know what to do if anything happens to Gene. I never told her I loved her, and I do…I do.” She looked into the older woman’s eyes and saw sympathy, then surprisingly they brightened.
“In my family we have a motto: never give up until that is the absolute final choice. Knowing Felix as I do, he ain’t going to leave Megan, or you, without a damn good fight. And Gene,” Max smiled, “Gene knows you love her, so she’s got a lot to live for.”
Dee sobbed at the words and Max held her close. “Hey, baby, let’s make sure you are fine first. We can’t have you looking like you just survived a burning building, can we?”
Dee weakly smiled.
Several people began shouting but the only thing Dee heard was, “We have three bodies.”
&n
bsp; The words hovered in the air that seemed a breath held in expectation.
Chapter Twenty-four
Simone, like the rest of the town, or so it seemed, waited in anticipation. Three stretchers were placed on the ground with several people milling around them. Fire personnel and paramedics created a privacy screen surrounding the stretchers. The air was acrid with smoke and even she felt the harshness of the smoke invading her lungs, so she could only imagine what they must feel.
There were so many sounds in the air from sirens to voices and machinery, not to mention the water that was being sprayed to control the fire. It was difficult to know if the three stretchers held unconscious or dead people. Simone did hear someone shriek when the bodies came into view. It was a bit premature she hoped.
She’d half expected Quinn to be here to see the spectacle since it certainly seemed to put an end to the Desrosiers perfumery in Grady. That alone sent a shiver down her back. Now she regretted her handling of Quinn when she’d called. Backing off from her had been a defense mechanism. The woman had gotten under her skin in the space of a few days. She never acknowledged that love at first sight could happen to her or anyone. Her practical mind refused to admit such an event. Yet Quinn, who was probably as skeptical, had maybe done just that. Perhaps they might have worked a magic that neither had realized they were capable of. Christine had pressed a few of her buttons, but had produced only a couple of one-night stands. It was nothing she wanted to hang her hat on. Quinn, on the other hand. Damn that woman has got under my skin big time.
The circle around the stretchers moved and she could see two people moving while the other had a blanket over the face. She drew in a deep breath and wished she hadn’t as she started to cough. Then a voice called her name. Startled she swung around.
“Quinn?”
The woman came closer and shrugged. “In the flesh, but a little singed around the edges,” she said in a hoarse voice.
Simone stared at Quinn, whose hair was matted with god only knew what, her face streaked with black smudges, and her eyes, normally confident and bright, looked haggard. Slowly she approached Quinn and gently traced a finger over her sooty cheek.
“How?”
“You know me, in everyone’s business. Even if they don’t want it.”
Simone felt Quinn attempting to be brave but her tone said otherwise. She opened her mouth to speak and then simply pulled Quinn close and kissed the side of her neck as Quinn’s head dropped to her shoulder. “You can be in my business every minute of the day and I’d welcome it.” She held Quinn tightly as the woman gave way to inconsolable sobs.
†
Gene looked up into the face of a concerned paramedic, who smiled at her, except there was an obstacle in the way. Then she realized an oxygen mask was attached to her face. She attempted to remove it, but the man placed a firm hand on the mask and gently pushed her hand away.
“You need it, you’ve inhaled a lot of smoke. We are going to transport you to hospital when the chopper arrives in a few minutes.”
Gene didn’t want that. She pushed at the paramedic. She needed to know if Dee was okay. What about Felix and the others-her family? Tears welled up.
“No.”
“Sorry, ma’am, but at this moment you don’t have the choice.”
Gene, with all the vigor she had left, threw off the mask and bolted upright.
“I always have a choice. My family is more important right now.” She jabbed her chest. “I need to know they are safe, and you can’t stop me.”
“We are safe, Gene. If they got to us, they definitely saved the others, right?” a feeble voice from the stretcher next to her said.
Gene knew she wasn’t in her normal headspace. “Felix, do you know for sure? Have you seen Dee?” She looked at him and his skin looked gray, not the usual ruddy color, and certainly not as vigorous as he had been in the building.
“My kid is a survivor.” He turned to the paramedic. “Find my daughter and she’ll give you no trouble,” he said gesturing toward Gene.
“Felix…” She watched Felix struggle to breathe and then the paramedic ignored her, and the crescendo of noisy voices around disorientated her. Felix was whisked away amid the noise.
She lay on the stretcher and wondered if you hallucinated from smoke inhalation when a figure approached her and leaned closer.
“Well, Cherie, I didn’t think you would go to this length not to see me.”
“Grand-mère?” Gene lifted a hand and touched the weathered skin. It felt real. “Are you real or a figment of my imagination?”
“I’m very real, Cherie. Save your strength, they are taking you to the hospital.”
“I need to know if Dee is alive, please, Grand-mère, she means everything to me. Will you find her for me?”
“Yes. Now be steady, my little Genevieve, and get well.”
Gene relaxed. She wasn’t sure if the conversation was real—it felt like it. Right now, her body was exhausted, and she closed her eyes. “You promise, Grand-mère?”
“I promise, Cherie.”
“Thank you, Grand-mère, I’m sorry I wasn’t home when you arrived. I’ll do better…”
“My love, you never needed to do better, you just needed to be you.” She glared at the paramedic hovering. “This is my granddaughter and she is special, ensure she gets the best help.”
Amalie turned to her chauffeur. “Can you find me this person called Dee?”
“I’ll do my best. Want me to take you to the hospital first?”
“No, I want to speak to this important person in my granddaughter’s life.” He frowned. “You have a problem with that?”
“No. I’ll try to find her.” He headed off into the crowd and she sighed.
†
Dee wiped away tears as Max hugged her close.
“I’m sorry about Charlie. He was a good man, but you need to go to the hospital and be checked out, I’ll come with you.”
“You are sure Dad and Gene are alive though, Max? You wouldn’t lie to me, you are my friend.”
“Never have from the first day I met you, squirt…”
“Why are you in my Auntie Alice’s house?”
Max stared at the midget glaring at her with arms crossed over a polka-dot school shirt.
“Why are you?”
A frown puckered the young brow and Max wanted to laugh.
“She’s my auntie and I’m allowed. I don’t know you, and I’m not supposed to talk to strangers.”
This time a determination settled on the young features. Good for you.
Max liked the spunky kid, not the parents, but hell, who could choose those.
“I’m not a stranger.” She walked toward the girl and held out her hand. “Hello, I’m Maxine Reed. Your Aunt Alice is my best friend and she said it would be good that we got to know each other.”
Again, that suspicious gaze. Then her hand was taken in a remarkably firm grip.
“Pleased to meet you, Maxine, I’m Deirdre Trudy Lawrence.”
Max smiled and shook the small hand. “Good to meet you, Deirdre. I prefer Max. Do your friends call you Dee?”
A wide-eyed expression reminding Max of a deer caught in headlights puzzled her. “I’m sorry, I was presumptuous.”
“No, no,” there was a pause, “I don’t have any friends.”
Max’s heart constricted at the comment. “Well from now on you do, and I’d like to call you Dee Lawrence, is that okay?”
A smile that illuminated every corner of the room greeted her request…
“Oh god, what about Mom and Alice? Do they know?”
Max clasped her hand. “Well no, but I wanted to make sure everything was okay before I told them.”
“Won’t they have seen the fire?”
“Dee, you had your mom half comatose before you left, and Alice, well by the time I poured them out of the café for our house, neither one of them was good for anything except a decent sleep.”
“Mom’
s at your house? Dad will never understand.”
Max shook her head. The kid had always been surprising and today she had exploded exponentially. “Your dad loves your mom as much if not more than I do Alice. He will understand. Right, time for you to go to the hospital and see your dad for himself.”
“I need to see Gene more. Does that sound terrible?”
Max was about to answer when an unfamiliar foreign voice interrupted.
“Are you Dee?”
The authoritarian attitude grated on Max and she moved between Dee and the old woman. “Who the hell is asking?”
“My name is Amalie Desrosiers. Genevieve is my granddaughter.”
Max balled her fingers into a fist. “Let’s see your passport?”
“No, no, Max, remember when we became friends, I took you on an act of trust. I love Gene, and if this is her family, I need to speak to her. Please understand.”
“For goodness sake, Dee, you’ve been through a hell of a trauma. This family reunion bit can happen later when we know everyone is okay.”
“This woman is right,” Amalie said. “I just wanted to know...” She walked toward a man in a dark suit.
Max threw up her hands. “Know what?”
“That my granddaughter was loved, and she loved back, and not because of her money.” The old woman waved her cane toward Max.
The woman slowly walked away, and Max frowned. “Guess she doesn’t know her precious granddaughter hasn’t a cent to her name.”
“It doesn’t matter to me, Max. I love Gene for who she is.” Dee gave a bright smile. “Money has nothing to do with it.”
Chapter Twenty-five
“How is he, Doctor?” Dee stood when the doctor who was looking after her dad approached.
