One Last Call

by Susan Behon

  “It’s only for a little while.” To Sarah. “Give me the money.”

  Sarah had had more than enough. “Listen, you lunatics! Forget the money. Let me go. Don’t you smell the smoke? We need to get out of here!”

  Richard, glanced around them, finally taking in the hazy conditions. “Brandi, what did you do?”

  Brandi pointed an accusing finger before letting her arm drop to her side. “I thought you were in here, fucking her. I was going to see to it that you burned in Hell for it.” She narrowed her eyes at Richard’s arm around Sarah. “For all I care, you still can!” Brandi ran out, slamming the door behind her, only to have it pop back open again.

  “Brandi, baby, wait!”

  “Go to Hell!” Brandi screeched like a banshee as she headed for the back exit.

  “Brandi!” Richard kept the gun trained on Sarah while he called out over his shoulder, “You know I love you!” He coughed on the smoke and then he laughed. He muttered, “That’s my girl.”

  “What the…”

  He pushed Sarah away from him.

  Richard was grinning like an idiot. “Brandi’s right. She always had the brains.” He shook his head in wonder. “Sometimes I get distracted by her tits, but she’s the one who takes care of things. She remembered something I forgot.” He barked out a laugh. “It was my idea too!”

  “What?”

  “Life insurance.”

  “What life insurance?”

  “The five-hundred-thousand-dollar policy you took out when we got married.”

  “I never…”

  “Sure you did. Guess who the beneficiary is?”

  That rat bastard! “No!”

  “Yes.” He drew closer to her, and Sarah backed up. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to shoot you.”

  She tried to take a relieved breath. The air was getting too heavy.

  “Policy only pays out for a natural or accidental death.” He loomed closer. “Passing out from smoke inhalation and dying in a fire qualifies.”

  “I’m not going to…”

  “Oh, yes, you are.” Richard’s arm came up and the butt of his gun slammed into her temple. Sarah didn’t have time to pray that her ex-husband’s face wouldn’t be the last thing she saw before she died. Everything went black as she collapsed.

  * * * *

  Josh saw the smoke when he hit the parking lot. “Holy shit! No!” His hand shook as he tried to push in the numbers for 9-1-1. He didn’t wait for the dispatcher to ask his emergency. “Fire! There’s a fire at Sarah’s Suds and Spuds. Send…” His mind blanked on the words “fire truck.” He couldn’t think. “Send help!” He didn’t remember ending the call. He shoved the phone in his pocket and made a mad dash for the building.

  Most of the smoke was coming from the back where Sarah’s office was. Josh made it to the back door, but it was locked from the inside. “Shit!” He shot around the front and tore through the front entrance. “Sarah!” The bar was hazy with smoke. They had to get the fire out before it reached the liquor. Once it hit the store room or behind the bar, the place would be one huge Molotov cocktail.

  “Sarah!” The smoke was thicker in the hallway. He got on his hands and knees, hoping to suck in a little oxygen and crawled along the floor. Josh couldn’t see anything farther than a foot in front of him. He pulled his T-shirt over his mouth and nose, to block out the smoke. The heat was intensifying. Trying to peer through the gloom, he saw where the fire had started. The women’s bathroom door was closed, but Josh saw the bright orange and smoky gray flickering in the gap between the door and the floor. The fire was eating its way through the room. It wouldn’t be long before it spread down the hallway to the bar and the shelves of liquor.

  There was a crash and a boom. He heard the roar and was blasted with another billowing wave of black smoke. He froze on his hands and knees. This was all too familiar. Josh couldn’t breathe. Flashes of memory that he’d only seen in his nightmares came at him. He was sucked back to Afghanistan.

  Josh and his crew were supposed to be performing routine maintenance for ground support. He couldn’t shake the feeling that something about one particular vehicle hadn’t felt right. Some sixth sense screamed at Josh to back away, but his friend, Jake Jacobs, was already lifting the hood. He remembered calling out to Jake to get away from the Jeep. It all seemed to happen in slow motion. Jake, shorn scruff of hair bleached from the sun, face already dusty with sand, turned his head to see what Josh wanted. His inquisitive smile disappeared, and his light blue eyes widened when he saw Josh running for him, waving his arms like a bat out of hell. Josh never made it to his friend.

  The concussive blast from the explosion had thrown him back yards from where he’d been standing. Everything had gone lights out. He woke with his ears ringing and his head feeling like a brick wall had slammed into it. Josh wiped hot, viscous liquid from his face. He thought it was oil from the Jeep until he was told later that it was blood from his head wound.

  With a Herculean effort, he’d forced his eyes open, only to be faced with a horrible truth. Jake was gone. Amid the smoke, fire, debris, and confusion, the only thing left of Lance Corporal Jacobs was a lone boot lying on its side. No! Jesus, no! Not Jake! Josh tried to scream out, “No!” The word never made it past his lips. His head fell back, and the darkness had overtaken him again.

  Josh must have blacked out for real because when he woke up, he realized he was in a smoky hallway. The hardwood floor planks underneath him were warm. Wood, not sand. Where the fuck was he? Josh stared at the floor, trying to get his bearings. It all came rushing back then in a kaleidoscope of catastrophic images. Sarah! He was home, and he had to get to Sarah.

  Josh ignored the cold sweat that broke out all over his body from the flashback. His past and present had run headlong into each other, and he needed to get his shit together. He wanted to take deep breaths to calm the pace of his runaway heart. It was slamming like a kick drum against his rib cage. In the miasma of smoke, it was impossible to sip even a little clean air. Oxygen was becoming a luxury. How long had he been out?

  Pushing back up, Josh called out. “Sarah!” He coughed on the smoke invading his lungs. Josh had to get to her. She should have answered him. He heard a pounding sound farther down the hallway. It was muffled yet frantic. Crawling forward, he found the office door on the right, slightly ajar. From his kneeling position, Josh could see the golden-blonde tendrils of Sarah’s hair where she was lying next to her desk. She wasn’t moving.

  “Sarah!” He rushed to her and shook her but she was unresponsive. He laid his head to her chest, praying to God for a heartbeat. Please. Josh couldn’t hear past his own pulse drumming in his ears. “Please, sunshine.” Josh had to trust she was alive. He couldn’t waste any more time trying to revive her, or they’d get trapped in the fire. There was no way to pick her up and carry Sarah over his shoulder without dropping from even more smoke inhalation. He grabbed her under the arms and dragged her out into the hall. The flames had crawled past the restroom, licking greedy tongues of fire toward the wall of booths up front. They were cut off and couldn’t get out that way.

  Maneuvering to slide Sarah out the back, he heard the thumping sound again. Julie was still here! He tested the door to the store room and found that it was already getting hot. Josh grabbed the knob to open it, but it was jammed. She must have been lying in front of the door. “Julie!” His voice was barely a rasp from the smoke. “Move so I can get to you.” There was no response from Julie. They were running out of time. He tried the door again and was overtaken with a fit of coughing. “I’ll be back for you!” He dragged Sarah farther until he reached the back exit. He pushed on the lever. Nothing happened. Sarah lay like a lifeless doll on the floor. Please be alive.

  This wasn’t how it was going to end for them. He’d finally gotten her back. She loved him and he loved her. That was worth fighting his way out of the near inferno and taking Sarah with him.

  Josh r
eared back and smashed his shoulder against the door until it crashed open. He fell out onto the asphalt, sucking in gasps of gloriously clean air. He reached in and pulled Sarah out with him.

  Alex Ross was barreling straight for them. “Is there anyone else in the building?”

  Josh had trouble talking. His throat felt scorched. “Julie,” he rasped out. “Store room.”

  Alex was on the move. He called out over his shoulder, “We need help! Get the EMTs over here.”

  He glanced up just as Alex dove into a turbulent wall of smoke. Josh picked up Sarah, and with his last reserves of energy, picked her up and carried her as far away as his legs would take him. A medical guy tried to take Sarah, but Josh wasn’t about to let her go.

  “Sir, we have to treat her.” Some young kid in a crisp white uniform, who didn’t look old enough to shave yet, held his hands out for Sarah.

  “Treat her,” Josh swallowed against the dryness in his throat. “But I’m not lettin’ go.”

  Josh made it to the rear of the ambulance before his legs gave out. He landed his ass hard on the asphalt and still managed to hold on to Sarah. He cradled her and pushed her smoky blonde tendrils off her face. “C’mon, Sarah. Wake up.” He rocked her. “Come on, this is no time to be sleepin’. C’mon, baby girl. Open your eyes.”

  The EMT slipped an oxygen mask over Josh’s face. He tried to bat it away. It was no use. When the guy let go, Josh slipped it off and put it on Sarah. “Breathe.”

  The baby-faced kid took her vitals. “Pulse is a little thready. Sir, we need to take her.”

  Josh rocked her a little harder. “Sarah, I’m here. I’m not leavin’. You can’t leave either!”

  Her eyes fluttered open. The clear plastic on the oxygen mask fogged up from her breath. Sarah’s brows furrowed. “Josh?”

  “Right here, honey.” His vision was blurring. He wasn’t enough of a liar to say that the tears were from the smoke.

  “Am I dead?” Her emerald green eyes glowed bright against her soot-streaked face.

  “No, Heaven’s got enough angels. You’re stayin’ right here with me.”

  She rasped out, “Good. Glad it’s your face,” and passed out again.

  Josh loosened his hold so the man could take her. “I’m goin’ with her.”

  The EMT eyed him warily. “Of course you are. You need medical attention too.”

  He shook his head. “Sarah first.” There was too much adrenaline pumping through Josh for him to feel any pain.

  Baby-face shook his head and set a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “Don’t worry. My partner’s here. Plenty enough of us to go around.” He nodded toward another guy to help him.

  They strapped Sarah onto a stretcher and pushed her into the back of the cab. Josh barely made it up and in the ambulance on his own steam, but he managed it. Now that his pulse rate was getting closer to normal, his right arm was starting to feel funny.

  Josh watched the back door to the bar and caught sight of Alex, tricked out in all his firefighter gear, hoofing it out to the parking lot. Julie was in his arms, her shiny black hair matted and grimy from the smoke. Thank God. She was covered from head to toe in soot, yet conscious enough to have her arms wrapped around his neck. Josh hoped that was a sign that she would be okay. Alex carried her to another waiting ambulance while the rest of his men doused the flames taking over the bar. Josh was relieved they’d all made it out of there.

  Poor Sarah. She was going to be devastated. She was so proud of her business and now it looked like The Suds and Spuds wasn’t going to be saved. With the way the fire was blazing, Josh didn’t think there would be anything left.

  Someone would pay for doing this to her. After the obvious tampering with her car, the planted cameras, and the harassing texts, there was no doubt in his mind that the blaze had been set deliberately. Josh would find the person responsible, and God help the son of a bitch who tried to take his Sarah away from him.

  As soon as he took a seat next to the stretcher, the medical techs slammed the doors and took off hell for leather. Josh watched and listened as the EMT checked Sarah’s vitals and called out stats into the radio hooked to his shoulder. She was still unconscious, yet he could see the telltale movement of her chest rising and falling with each breath, each puff of air a miracle in and of itself.

  He grabbed her sooty fingers and held on with his own black-smeared hands. The mess of their clasped palms should have looked obscene next to the stark white of the stretcher sheet. At the moment, Josh had never seen anything more beautiful. Sarah was alive, and he hadn’t lost her. No matter what happened next, come Hell or high water, he’d never let her go.

  Chapter 25

  SARAH woke to the sight of Dr. Anthony hovering over her. Was she in the hospital? Did she have another accident? It had to be some crazy dream, images stuck in her subconscious from her mom insisting the doctor check her out.

  “My underwear is clean. Go on and look.” Why was her throat sore?

  Dr. Anthony typed something into a mini laptop. “I’m sure they were, but you’re not wearing them anymore.”

  What kind of dream is this?

  Sarah stared down at herself and found that she was in a hospital gown. She was about to lift the blanket and check out the underwear situation for herself before the doctor cleared his throat.

  “No need. Trust me on that.” The doctor had kind eyes, a patient smile, and still no desire to see her panties.

  “Is this a dream?” Why was her voice raspy like she’d been chain smoking? Sarah looked down at herself again. Plain, nondescript hospital gown and thin-weave, light blue blanket. Not exactly sexy. If she was going to sound like Jessica Rabbit, the least her subconscious could do was let her look like Jessica Rabbit.

  Dr. Anthony set aside his computer. “No, Sarah. No dream. You’re at Madison Falls Medical Center. Do you remember what happened?”

  Sarah turned her head to look up at the doctor and regretted the movement instantly. “My head hurts.”

  Dr. Anthony nodded. “You took a knock to the skull. You have a minor concussion. Do you know where you are?”

  “Madison Falls Medical Center.” She was a little off her game, not stupid.

  “Do you remember being at work?”

  Work? Something about that was important. Then it hit her. Work! “The fire! Julie! Is Julie okay?” Sarah tried to jump up without much luck. Her body felt too heavy. Ow.

  Dr. Anthony’s expression never changed. “Miss Hanlin is in the next room over.”

  “That doesn’t answer my question. Is she okay?”

  “Oh, yes, of course. She’s recovering from a great deal of smoke inhalation, but her condition is stable. The fire chief, Alex Ross, is sitting with her.”

  Sarah’s gaze flicked to the empty visitor’s chair. “Where’s my…” Josh. Where is Josh? What happened to the rest of my family?

  “Here!” Josh rushed in from the threshold, carrying a vaseful of assorted flowers. He looked a little worse for wear with his right arm in a sling and both of his hands bandaged. He stared accusingly at the doctor. “I knew I shouldn’t’ve gone to get the flowers. Why didn’t you tell me she was awake?”

  “I just woke up, Josh.” It hurt less if she whispered. “Be nice.”

  Dr. Anthony took Josh’s anger in stride. “I’m going to check on Miss Hanlin. I’ll be right back to finish up after you two have a few moments. Excuse me.” Josh gave the doctor a barely there nod when he left.

  As soon as the door closed, he turned his attention to Sarah. “When was I not nice?” He set the flowers on the roll-around table next to the bed. “Okay, I might have been a little tense, but I’m always nice.” Josh sat on the side of the bed. “How you feelin’?”

  “Okay.” Her voice was hoarse from the smoke. “Why do I smell bacon? It’s not me is it?” Sarah’s hands flew to her face and hair. “I don’t feel burned.”

  Josh held up a paper bag. �
��You smell the BLT I brought up from the cafeteria. You got a little singed, but you’re nowhere near to bein’ bacon.”

  That was a relief. “Where’s my mom?”

  “Doc sent everyone to the cafeteria for a break. It was gettin’ crowded, and he had to check on you.” His lips firmed. “You weren’t supposed to be awake yet.”

  “I’ve only been awake for a few minutes. Why are you mad?”

  “I didn’t want you to be alone.”

  “I wasn’t alone. The doctor was here.” Sarah bit her lip. “I thought I was dreaming. I offered to show him my clean underwear.”

  “You what?”

  “I guess I’m not wearing any.”

  Josh stared down at the blanket covering her. “Tell me you didn’t show him anythin’.”

  “No. He already knew.”

  Sarah thought she heard him mutter, “Damned doctors.”

  “What?”

  “Nothin’.” His voice was a little raspy too. Mix that with the southern twang, and it was downright sexy.

  “Your voice is sexy.”

  “So is yours, sunshine, but take it easy on the talkin.’ You still need to heal.”

  Sarah took in his bandages and the sling. “Looks like you need to heal too.” She tried swallowing against her dry throat. Josh poured some water into a plastic cup and pointed the straw at her lips.

  “Drink.”

  The water felt wonderful on her scorched throat. She sipped it all until it was gone. Josh poured another and handed it to her again. At least she didn’t feel like she’d swallowed sandpaper anymore. “What happened?”

  “What do you remember?”

  “Richard…”

  “Richard was there?”

  She nodded. “He wanted money.”

  “That mother…”

  “Hold on. Let me talk.”

  Josh took hold of her hand despite the bandages covering his. “Go on.”