Inside the house, the gunfire continued. Nick ejected the empty magazine from his weapon and replaced it with another, hardly missing a beat. He was gradually making his way around the table, determined to reach the son of a bitch who dared threaten them, when he began to smell the distinctive odour coming from the kitchen.
Oh, shit! That’s gas.
He thanked God Kelsey had got out. He switched directions and snaked his way to the open glass door.
If I can just get close enough…
“Tim!” Kelsey screamed when he answered the phone.
“Kelsey? What’s wrong?”
“Nick. He’s in the house. Anthony is shooting at him. He needs help.”
“He sent me a text, Kelsey, I’m on my way. I’ll be there in a couple minutes. Just keep yourself safe, okay?”
“Oh, God, please hurry,” she cried.
A deafening rumble came from behind. A giant fireball encapsulated the house, smashing out the windows and shaking the ground beneath her. The shock wave spread through the yard, knocking her off her feet and into darkness.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Tim was only blocks away when he saw the giant fireball explode into the sky. “Oh, God…no,” he whispered.
“Kelsey? Kelsey,” he yelled into the phone. Judging by the background noise and the distant sounds of gunfire, he assumed she’d been outside. He hoped to God he was right, because Nick would be devastated if anything were to happen to her. No matter—her lack of response wasn’t good.
He tossed his phone on the passenger seat when he fishtailed the corner, horrified to find that his fears were correct. It was Nick’s house that had blown. After screeching his car to a stop, he jumped out and sprinted towards the scene as fast as he could, unsure that he wanted to see what had happened to his dear friend and partner.
Neighbours came out to investigate the commotion. Concerned only with the man who might still be inside the burning shell of a house, Tim didn’t veer from his course until he spotted Kelsey, on an adjoining lawn, struggling to rise. “Kelsey!”
She lifted her upper body from the ground slowly. “Tim?”
He dropped to his knees beside her and helped her to a sitting position. “Kelsey, are you okay?”
“Huh? Uh…yeah.” She rubbed her head. She looked up to the mass of flames. “Oh, my… Nick! Nick’s in there!”
“Where was he when you left him?”
“What?”
“When you left him in the house, Kelsey, where was Nick? What room was he in?”
“Oh…he… He was… He’d just left the kitchen. He was just outside the kitchen in the living room!”
“I’ll go get him, Kelsey. Just stay here, please.” He jumped to his feet and rushed towards the burning house.
Tim approached the side of the house, his heart sinking when he saw the smoke pouring out. He peeled off his shirt and tied it around his face, dropped to his hands and knees, and crawled inside.
“Oh, please,” Kelsey prayed. How did they get here? In a matter of hours she’d gone from being ready to run away from Nick screaming, to hearing him profess his feelings for her as they’d made love in the most profound way imaginable. Now, in the blink of an eye, she was faced with the terrifying possibility of losing him. No, this can’t happen. Not now.
Why didn’t I tell him how I feel when I had the chance? He said he loves me how many times? I lost count. Why wasn’t I able to say it in return? I believed everything he explained, especially how difficult it was for him not to be able to tell me the complete truth about himself. Why couldn’t I have said those three little words? What stopped me?
“Oh, Nick. I love you,” she whispered as she started to cry.
Though her legs wobbled, she somehow managed to stand. She wanted to see something, anything to give her hope that Nick could come out of that building alive. As a nurse, she’d seen some horrific injuries, but she’d also witnessed many critically injured patients make miraculous recoveries. She prayed Nick was lucky enough to have survived the explosion. Anything else they could handle together.
“Please be alive, Nick. Please.”
Tim crawled into the inferno. The house was filled with fire, smoke and smouldering piles of debris, and he couldn’t see farther than a few inches in front of his face, but he was determined to continue.
“Nick,” he yelled, but his shirt muffled the sound. He crawled slowly, feeling the floor ahead of him with his hands.
He heard the creaking of the floorboards and knew they didn’t have much time. The upper floor was going to cave in or the ground floor was going to buckle. Either way, the house wasn’t going to be standing for much longer. He turned to see the door he’d just entered, but the billowing black smoke had already engulfed him, blinding him on every side. Though he was familiar with the house, he struggled with his sense of direction and continued forward, vowing to himself not to leave this inferno without his friend. Two more feet and he heard a groan and a gasp. “Nick?”
“Tim?” Nick responded hoarsely, followed by a violent spasm of coughing.
“Come on, man. Let’s get the hell out of here.” Tim sighed in relief.
The combination of the blast and the smoke inhalation had weakened Nick, but Tim could feel he was trying to drag his body closer. He just wasn’t moving fast enough.
If there was anything Tim could count on, though, it was the unyielding determination of Nick Jensen. “Come on, man. You gotta help me here.”
“I can’t, dude,” he said before another fit of coughing. “I just can’t.”
“Nick. We gotta get the hell outta here. Get up, come on!” Tim was more than willing to do what he could, but there was no way he’d be able to drag Nick with the amount of debris in their way.
Nick continued to cough, unable to lift his heavy body from the rubble that surrounded him. “Go on, man. I’ll be right behind you. I just need a minute.”
Tim flinched when he heard a loud pop and the sound of breaking glass behind him. “No, Nick. We don’t have a minute. I’m getting you out of here. Now!”
He tried to pull Nick up, but the dead weight combined with the toll the thick smoke was taking on his own body caught up quickly. A large beam crackled behind them and Tim knew their time had run out. “Nick, Kelsey is waiting right outside. If we don’t get out of here, who’s going to take care of her? Do you want to leave her alone, make her bury you?”
“Kelsey,” Nick grunted, coughing repeatedly as he struggled to his knees.
“She’s outside waiting for you, man.” Crawling bit by bit, Tim guided Nick as they inched towards the opening that used to be the sliding glass door.
“Kelsey,” Nick coughed again.
“Come on, you can do it!” Tim yelled through his makeshift mask. “Stand up, man. There’s glass everywhere.”
With great difficulty Nick managed to stand, Tim supporting much of his weight by pulling up on his arm and shoulder. “Kelsey,” Nick huffed, unable to steady himself.
Kelsey stood on the opposite side of the driveway as she watched the flames engulf the house. She was paralysed with fear of what may be happening inside or, her biggest fear, what may have already happened while she stood at a safe distance. “I shouldn’t have left him,” she whispered tearfully, hugging her arms around herself as her worry grew.
She finally caught a glimpse of something through the cloud of smoke. She took a tentative step forward, praying her eyes weren’t playing tricks on her.
Another step and the image became clearer, but when she heard the coughing, by two different men, her hope soared. “Nick?” she called out when she saw Tim guiding a semiconscious man away from the house as fast as he could.
She rushed to Nick’s other side, ducking under his arm and propping his weight onto her shoulders as she helped Tim cart him farther away from danger. The groaning and rumbling of the house continued, signalling that the structure would soon succumb to the flames.
“Bring him ov
er there!” Kelsey shouted as she pointed to a spot on the neighbour’s lawn. They stepped quickly and just as they reached the grass, Tim collapsed, taking Nick and Kelsey with him.
The two men coughed violently as they finally gasped for clean air. Tim pulled the shirt from his face and tried to breathe deeply while recovering from his exertions.
Kelsey turned Nick over, her instincts snapping her directly into nurse mode. She gasped when she saw the blood mixed with soot and dirt covering his face and hoped she was dealing with cuts from shrapnel and not a gunshot wound.
“Are you okay with him here?” Tim gasped. “Ronald and Faith should be here soon, but I need to get my phone from my car and call for more help.”
“Yeah, I’ll take care of him,” she said, assessing his injuries as he continued coughing on the ground in front of her. “Oh, Tim! Give me your shirt. I need clean material for bandages.”
Tim pulled the shirt off and glanced at it. “My shirt is filthy, Kelsey.”
Without any regard for modesty, Kelsey pulled her own shirt over her head and grabbed Tim’s. She slipped his on and began ripping hers into strips, her only thoughts on helping the man she loved as quickly as possible. “It’s okay, baby. I’ll fix you right up. You just hold on for me, okay?”
Tim watched her for only a moment before rushing to his car. Kelsey thought she heard him laughing before he began coughing heavily once again.
“Can you hear me, Nick?” she asked firmly as she began brushing his face with the strips she’d made from her shirt. She first had to find the source of the blood, then she could begin to treat it.
“I can hear you, baby,” he said hoarsely in-between his coughs. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” She leaned over him and smiled at the worried look on his face. “You let me take care of you now, okay?”
He closed his eyes as she dabbed the cloth around his face. She noticed the blood coming from a series of cuts on his left side. “Looks like you got hit with something here.”
“I don’t remember,” he barely whispered. She could see it was painful for him to speak. She looked up at one of the neighbours who watched in horror. “Can you get him some water, please?” The woman nodded frantically and rushed towards her nearby house.
Kelsey turned Nick’s head to examine the injuries more carefully. With a sigh of relief, she realised he hadn’t been shot, but appeared to have some significant cuts and bruises. At a minimum, he was suffering from smoke inhalation, and she prayed the ambulance would arrive soon.
After grabbing a clean strip of cloth, she began gently wiping away the blood so as to get a better look at the cuts. When she brushed a little too close to his left eye, he groaned loudly and winced in pain. He continued to cough as he turned away, trying to avoid her touch.
“Nick. Can you open your eyes?”
His right eye opened without a problem, but she could see him struggle with the left. “Okay, okay, just hold on. Don’t force it.” She ripped a piece of her shirt and placed it over his left eye to protect it from any further injury. She then took a larger strip and wrapped it around his head to keep everything in place. “You might have something in there. Don’t try to open it until a doctor can take a look, okay?”
He nodded and continued to cough. The neighbour finally returned with a large bottle of water along with a couple of towels. Kelsey thanked the woman and gently placed one of the towels under Nick’s neck, propping his head back slightly to allow his airway to open as much as possible. After she helped him to drink some water to soothe his raw throat, she held tightly to his hand, having done all she could do until the ambulance arrived to transport him to the hospital.
The neighbour’s earth-shattering scream echoed through the night. Kelsey looked up just in time to see a man stumble around the corner of the burning building, his gun aimed directly at them.
“Anthony,” she said as her stomach dropped.
Nick turned his head in the direction Kelsey was looking and remembered the gun still attached to his ankle.
He rolled to his side, lifted his leg and drew his weapon as he tried to stifle his relentless coughing. He was weak, he was battered, and he was blind in one eye, but he prayed he’d be able to aim well enough to eliminate the threat. Kelsey’s life depended on it.
He’d barely lifted his gun when a shot rang out.
Chapter Forty
The scene played in slow motion as Nick lay helplessly on his side, his gun having fallen from his weakened grip. He looked up to see Anthony clutch his shoulder before another shot rang out, hitting the henchman square in the chest. With a muffled growl, Anthony’s hands fell to his sides and he slumped to the ground in an awkward heap.
When Nick knew the initial danger was over, he rolled towards Kelsey, wanting to protect her from the gruesome scene playing out before them. He was still unsure where the shots had originated, but he was thankful someone had taken Anthony out before anyone else had got hurt.
To his surprise, he turned to see her sitting straight up, a smoking gun held firmly between her trembling hands. The shock on her face was evident, as was the reaction of her body at what had just happened. Her chest heaved, and she focused solely on the wounded man lying across the yard.
“Kelsey,” he whispered as he lifted his hand to hers. He gently nudged her arms lower and spoke to her with a soothing tone. “It’s okay, baby. You can let go now.”
Her gasps came quickly and her grip didn’t loosen from the weapon she held, but she allowed him to point the gun away from them and engage the safety. “Kelsey? Look at me, baby, please?”
She finally looked at him, glassy-eyed, while he struggled to a seated position. “Nick?”
He nodded and finally pulled the gun from her hands. “It’s me, Kelsey. You’re safe now. Let me have it, okay?”
“He was gonna…” she choked out as the tears welled in her eyes.
“I know.”
“You said shoot first, right?”
His heart broke for her when he heard her voice. She sounded like a child trying to justify her actions. “And you did. You did exactly what you had to do, Kelsey.” His voice remained soft yet firm, though suppressing his cough was becoming difficult. “You saved me, Bright Eyes. You saved both of us.”
“But I… I think he’s dead,” she whispered.
Nick wrapped her into his embrace, still trying to catch his breath. The sound of the distant sirens told him help would be here soon, but it couldn’t be soon enough. “It’s okay, baby. It’s okay,” he repeated as he helplessly felt her weep.
He’d never been forced to take a life in his time as an agent, but his training had prepared him if the inevitable were to happen. Kelsey didn’t have any such training. In fact, her life had been spent taking the opposite path—healing people. He was sure she’d faced death, but she hadn’t prepared to be the one who caused it. He could only pray she would be able to live with the consequences of what she’d been forced to do.
“You did the right thing, baby,” he whispered in her ear as she cried on his shoulder. A split second later, he saw Timothy jog past them, gun in hand, and over to the man who’d just been taken down.
Comforting the distraught woman he now held in his arms, Nick turned them to see what was happening in front of the massive ball of flames that was once his house.
After kicking the discarded gun away from the unmoving man, Tim bent down to feel for a pulse. The slight shake of his head told Nick all he needed to know. The bastard was officially dead.
Nick looked back to the massive inferno, amazed at how quickly the house had succumbed to the powerful flames, and felt a huge weight lifted from his shoulders. It was finally over. Gianelli had been arrested and Anthony was dead. He was now free to do what he’d wanted to do since the moment they’d met—devote all his time and attention to Kelsey. After what had just happened, she would need no less.
He bent his head to look into her face when he realised she was watc
hing Timothy as well. “Oh, God,” she cried. “He’s dead. I killed him.”
“No you didn’t, Kelsey,” Timothy said as he approached. “I killed him.”
Nick and Kelsey both looked at him in surprise as a handful of cars finally made it to the scene and numerous police officers began to swarm around. “Your shot hit him in the shoulder. It was my shot that killed him.”
Nick sighed in relief, causing another coughing spell to begin. His breathing was still laboured, but he refused to release his hold on the woman he loved.
“I didn’t kill him?” Kelsey asked incredulously as she pulled her head away from Nick’s chest.
“No, but your shot prevented him from shooting you or Nick. You did well, Kelsey. You saved the both of you,” Tim said as he knelt down.
The paramedics and fire department finally arrived with a loud roar of sirens that threatened to muffle Tim’s words, but Nick knew that she’d heard. She hadn’t killed him—had wounded him, but hadn’t killed him.
“Oh, thank God,” Nick wheezed between coughs. At least she wouldn’t have to live with the memory of killing someone, as justified as it was.
The paramedics rushed with a gurney to care for Nick, while another team hurried to Anthony. Kelsey released Nick only so they could prepare him for transport. She returned to his side after he was settled, clinging to his hand.
“Ma’am, let us care for him, please?” one of the paramedics asked gently. Her face was filled with concern, but Nick watched her reluctantly step back to allow them full access.
“Look at her, too,” Nick huffed weakly before they slid an oxygen mask over his face.
“We will,” the female paramedic answered. “You just relax.”
Nick nodded and closed his eye, finally feeling as if all would be okay.
“Kelsey!” Ronald shouted when he and Faith finally arrived. They ran immediately to her side. “Are you okay?”
Kelsey accepted her big brother’s hug, but didn’t leave Nick’s side. “I’m okay. Nick made sure I wasn’t hurt.”
Ronald gave her a little squeeze before releasing her into Faith’s urgent embrace. “Oh, I’m so glad you’re okay, sweetie.”
Unexpected Consequences Page 26
