by Sue Brown
“If anything happens, you’ll be caught in it.”
Gabriel shrugged. “What have I got to lose?”
Tim grimaced, knowing what Gabriel wasn’t saying.
It was a foolhardy risk of his own life, but he’d already lost everything that mattered to him. If the cottage came down on his head, he’d be with his family again.
Sam.
He pushed away the thought of the young man waking up alone. Toby would take care of him. He walked towards the cottage, shoved open the gate and passed an upturned plastic ride-along car that was half buried by earth and small stones. Gabriel trod carefully along the remains of the path as he assessed how best to find Maisie. The only reason the cottage wasn’t completely demolished was its stone structure. If it were timber framed, it would be gone by now.
He stood still and listened intently, tuning out the sounds around him and focusing on the one thing he needed to hear.
“Maisie?”
Nothing.
Gabriel picked his way over the rubble around the side of the cottage, taking care with each footstep not to dislodge anything that could set off another slip.
He reached the back and sucked in a breath. The scene was even worse than it had seemed from the road. The back of the cottage had completely vanished, and the tree trunks had acted like two javelins and pierced through the floors. There was no chance a small child could have survived.
“Maisie?”
The silence haunted him. He remembered yelling for Jenny and Michael until his throat was raw and Damien had dragged him away from the beach, still screaming their names.
“Mummy?”
It was so quiet he barely heard it. Gabriel blinked. “Maisie? Is that you?”
Oh my God, she was alive. Where the hell was she?
“Yes. Where’s Mummy?” The tiny little voice sounded scared.
“She’s outside waiting for you, sweetheart. My name is Gabe. I’ve come to find you. Do you know where you are?”
“I’m in the little toilet. I can’t open the door. It’s stuck. I waited for Mummy to come back and open the door, but she didn’t. I was scared.”
Poor little mite. He was going to have words with her mum when this was all over.
Gabe studied the structure of the part of the house that wasn’t destroyed. The cottages in the village had been built for the workers in the local mines and were the same basic structure. Over the years, some homeowners had converted the cupboard under the stairs into a downstairs bathroom. There was just space enough for a toilet and sink.
“Maisie, is the toilet under the stairs?”
“Yes.”
Heaving in a shaky breath, Gabriel surveyed the area. The stairs were still intact, the tree having speared either side.
“Maisie, I’m going to come and get you, but you have to stay still, okay?”
“Okay, Gabe.”
Gabriel looked at the slope visible behind the house. Tim was right. It wouldn’t take much to bring it down, but if he waited for the emergency services, it could be too late.
He edged around the tree and to the stairs, careful of live electrical cables. The cupboard door was visible. He and Michael had always called the under-stairs cupboard Harry Potter’s bedroom. The door was blocked by two large boulders, too heavy to carry.
“Maisie, I’m outside the door, but there are stones in the way.”
“There weren’t stones there when I went into the toilet.” Maisie sounded puzzled. “Who put them there?”
Gabriel closed his eyes. The little girl had no idea of the devastation that had just been wreaked around her. “You just hang tight, Maisie. You’ll be free in no time.”
If he moved the stones, was he going to bring the roof down on top of him? He had no choice. There was just enough space to move them one at a time. He cleared the area to give the boulders room to move and put every ounce of energy he had into shifting the nearest one. At first he thought it was going to be impossible. Sweat ran down between his shoulder blades as he heaved, but then it moved, just a fraction. He pushed again, and it rolled an inch.
“Oh, you beauty,” he cooed, wiping the sweat from his eyes.
Another heave and the stone was clear. The house shook a little. Gabriel froze, but nothing happened.
“Nearly done, Maisie,” he said, although it was more to reassure himself.
“I want to see Mummy.” Maisie sounded on the verge of tears.
“Very soon, sweetheart.”
He took the chance and pushed the second one. It didn’t budge, and he had a frustrating moment before he realised it was caught on the carpet. He sorted that, and the boulder moved more easily than the first one had. Then he tried the door. It was stuck, and he cursed under his breath. If he yanked hard, would it destabilise the stairs?
There was one way to find out. He wrenched at the door, and it opened, but everything creaked.
A little girl with long pale blonde hair gave him a watery smile that turned into a frown when Gabriel pushed his way into the bathroom.
He smiled at her. “Hello Maisie.”
“What are you doing, Gabe? I want to see Mummy.”
“Two minutes, sweetheart,” he promised.
He heard a few crashes, but nothing moved. After a moment’s silence, Maisie stared up at him with beautiful blue eyes. “Can we go now?”
“Yes, we can,” he promised her. “Maisie, something happened to your house. I need to carry you out, okay?”
“Okay.”
Gabriel eased open the door, grateful nothing had fallen in front of it. He picked Maisie up and headed out of the house as carefully as he could.
She stared around her, wide-eyed. “Did I do this? Is Mummy going to shout at me?”
He chuckled. “No, Maisie, you didn’t do this.”
Something stung his cheek, and he flinched.
Maisie pointed just under his eye. “The stone cut you.”
“Bad stone,” he growled, and she chuckled.
They made it back to the front garden without incident. He heard Maisie’s mum’s gasp and run towards them, and Maisie burst into tears, wriggling to be put down. As soon as it was safe, he set Maisie on the ground, and she ran to her mum, saying sorry over and over. Her mum wrapped her in her arms and cried harder.
“I bet that’s the last time she leaves her to pop to the shops,” Tim muttered to Gabriel.
Gabriel didn’t disagree.
“What the hell did you think you were doing?” Toby said in an icy tone from behind Gabriel.
Gabriel turned slowly to see his furious brother-in-law glaring at him. “Rescuing a little girl.”
“Are you insane? You went in there without equipment, without knowing if she was alive. You could have died.”
The cottage collapsed without warning, and dust and stones shot up in the air as the building folded in on itself. When they could see again, the stairs were gone.
“If Maisie had still been trapped in there, she’d be dead,” Gabriel said quietly. “I had to take the chance.”
Toby grabbed him into a rough hug. “I could have lost you.”
Gabriel felt him shake in his arms and held him close. His eyes prickled, and he realised, not for the first time, how much he loved his brother-in-law. “You won’t get rid of me that easily.”
Toby pulled back and stared into Gabriel’s eyes. “You promise.”
It was more than a throwaway promise. Gabriel knew what Toby was demanding.
“I promise, Tobes. I promise.”
Toby hauled him closer until Gabriel protested that he needed to breathe.
Chapter 6—Sam
SOMETHING WOKE him. He was trapped inside his body again. Oh God, had they found him? Who were they? They talked over him as though he weren’t there. Move, move! He tried to open his eyes, curl his fingers, do something, but nothing worked. His body was his prison again.
Nothing made sense. What had happened to him? Had he had an accident? Where was h
e? Who were these people? Was he being abducted? Fear threatened to overwhelm him again no matter how hard he tried to remain calm.
“This is wrong. Why do we have to do this?”
Who was speaking?
Sam tamped down the panic and tried to focus on what they were saying. He needed some clue, anything to make sense of what was happening.
“’Cause he told us to.”
“But—”
“Shut up, Mitchell.” The voice sounded angry.
Mitchell? Sam knew that name. It took a minute to think through the fog in his brain to identify the face. Mitchell. There was a Mitchell who worked for the management company as a security guard. Billy Mitchell, a big lout of a man with an ill-fitting suit and a permanent scowl. He made Sam feel uncomfortable, but he was good at his job. People stayed the hell away from Sam when Mitchell was by his side. Was this the same guy? The man carrying him felt solid and muscled. It could be him.
How had he ended up over the shoulder of a man who worked for the family? Had he been kidnapped? Was Mitchell rescuing him? His senses, dulled as they were, screamed that something was wrong. Was there a fire? He couldn’t smell smoke, but he didn’t trust his body to give him the right information.
Think! Think!
Someone touched his shoulder, and he screamed, desperate to get away from the people about to kill him!
“Sam, you’ve got to wake up. It’s me, Toby. You’re all right. You’re safe.”
Sam opened his eyes to see the doctor standing over him, a look of concern on his face. “T-Toby?”
“You were having a nightmare.”
“I dreamt people were trying to kill me.” He shuddered and wrapped his arms around himself.
Toby sat down on one of the chairs. “Is this something you remember?”
He shook his head. “I hope not. It’s just a dream, but I’ve had it before.”
“Gabriel mentioned it,” Toby said, his brow furrowed. “I’ll talk to you about this later.”
“Is Gabriel here? He… left earlier, and I haven’t seen him.” Sam stumbled over what to say.
Toby’s eyes narrowed, but he merely said, “He’s over at my clinic.”
Sam sat up. “Is he all right?”
“After he left you, he went for a walk. There was a landslide on the old coast road. He helped to rescue a trapped child.”
The rumbling from earlier. Dammit, Sam should have gone looking for Gabriel.
“Oh my God. is everyone okay?”
“We’ve got two unaccounted for, but the little girl is safe. The two that are missing might be on holiday. We haven’t had a chance to check yet.”
“You said Gabriel was at your clinic?”
“He got hit by a stone on his cheek as he pulled her free. Gabriel’s fine. He just needed the wound cleaned and to be given a tetanus shot.”
“Does he make a habit of rescuing people?” Sam asked.
Toby’s lips twisted wryly. “Our Gabriel used to be a bit of an action man, but you were the first for a while. He didn’t have much choice this afternoon. He was right by the old coast road when it happened.”
“Is he coming home?” Sam flushed, realising how presumptuous that sounded. This wasn’t his home, and he had no claim on Gabriel’s time.
“He’s going to wait until he knows whether Bert and Elsie Wooding are trapped. Their neighbour thinks they went to their daughter’s this morning.”
“Is there anything I can do to help?” He didn’t want to sit around, not when people were in need.
Toby gave him an approving smile. “How are you at making sandwiches?”
“What are sandwiches?” he asked.
Toby opened his mouth to answer, but then he caught Sam’s sly smile. “You haven’t lost your sense of humour, I see.”
“I’m sorry.” He grinned as Toby huffed and stood.
“Come on, then.”
They got to the door before Sam stopped. “I haven’t got any shoes.”
Toby opened the tall, thin cupboard by the front door and pulled out a pair of brown suede walking boots. “These are a size eight. They were too big for Jenny. She never wore them. Wait, you’ll need socks.”
“I don’t have any socks.”
“Wait here.” Toby ran over to Gabriel’s bedroom, obviously not worried about the closed door. He returned with another T-shirt, and a sweater. He threw a pair of socks to Sam. “Gabriel is filthy. He’ll appreciate the clean clothes.”
Sam quickly put on the socks and boots, which were a little large, but at this point he didn’t care. He just wanted to check for himself that Gabriel was all right. He didn’t want to examine too closely why he was concerned for Gabriel’s welfare, except that Gabriel had risked his life for him yesterday. That had to mean something.
As Toby led him down the path, he looked around curiously. The cottage seemed completely isolated, but then they turned a corner onto a narrow road that led to a row of cottages. Toby stopped at the first house and pushed open the gate. This one was bigger than Gabriel’s—two stories, with an extension on the side. It was pretty, with a cottage garden he envied. Someone had obviously put a lot of time into it.
Toby caught the direction of Sam’s gaze. “The garden is all Damien’s work. He doesn’t let me near it. I kill everything.”
“I hope not,” Sam murmured. “I thought you were a doctor.”
Toby grinned. “Plant life,” he amended. “I don’t think I need to worry about whether you had the wits knocked out of you yesterday.”
“Just my memory.” Sam sighed, and Toby patted his shoulder.
“It’ll return soon enough. Don’t worry.”
“I keep telling myself that.” He ran his hand through his hair and winced at the tangles and wished he’d brushed it before they left. “Anyway, enough about me. Where’s Gabriel?”
Toby studied him thoughtfully for a moment. Then he led him into the clinic. Sam paused on the doorstep of what was obviously the waiting room as the conversation died and all eyes in the room turned to him, although none of them belonged to Gabriel.
“Okay, okay,” Toby grumbled. “Don’t scare the poor man away. He’s here to make sandwiches.”
There was a rumble of laughter, and a man in the corner, covered in mud that was a sharp contrast to the pristine white dressing on his arm, said, “You mean you’re letting Damien near him?”
“Ha bloody ha,” Toby snapped. “Everyone okay? Any news on Bert and Elsie?”
The smiles were wiped off just like that and worry returned to their faces.
“Not yet,” a man said. “I rang their Jeanie about an hour ago, but she’s still not returned my call.”
“They’re not letting us near the road now,” the man who’d spoken before said. “The experts—” There was a wealth of derision in his tone, “—think the whole road could collapse.”
“I’ll go and check in a minute.” Toby turned to Sam. “Gabriel is probably with Damien. Follow me.”
He opened a door with Staff Only written in big red letters and beckoned him through. The conversation died again, but this time Sam recognised one of the people despite the layers of caked-on mud and the oozing wound on his right arm. He stood and came over to him.
“Good, you’re here,” Gabriel said. “I’m so sorry for leaving you alone.”
“That’s okay. You’ve had a busy morning.” Sam frowned as he saw his arm. “I thought you hurt your cheek.”
Gabriel turned to show him the slight graze and bruise where the stone hit his face.
“You didn’t have a damaged arm when I left you,” Toby said.
Gabriel touched the cut and winced. “I went back to check on Bert and Elsie. I scraped up against some rocks.”
“Sit down here, and I’ll clean you up,” Toby said, pointing to a stool.
“I’m—”
“Sit!”
To Sam’s amusement, Gabriel sat. Toby opened a cupboard and brought out a first aid kit. Gabriel grima
ced as Toby started to wipe away the blood.
“I hear you saved a little girl,” Sam said to distract him.
“I don’t make a habit of doing this. Most of the time, I just sit at my computer and work.”
“Don’t you believe it,” Toby said. “He’s got a superhero suit in his wardrobe.”
“He’s a hero to me,” Sam murmured. then he flushed as he realised what he’d said.
Damien crowed, and though Sam couldn’t be sure under all that mud, Gabriel looked like he was blushing too.
“You finally have one fan,” Damien chuckled. He waved a sharp knife at Gabriel, who flipped him off.
Toby sighed loudly and turned to Sam. “Just ignore my husband. His sense of humour gets the better of him sometimes. You’re done, Gabriel. It was just a graze.”
“I could have told you that,” Gabriel grumbled.
Toby cleared away the first aid kit. “Stop getting hurt. You’re not my only patient today. You can take a shower if you want, and change.” He pointed to the pile of clothes on the countertop.
Gabriel raised an eyebrow. “You been rummaging around in my bedroom?”
“Yes,” Toby said. “Sam, I need to check on my patients. Are you okay alone with my husband? If he gets too much, just smack him on the nose like a puppy.”
Sam turned his attention to Damien, who was studying him just as curiously. He was maybe in his thirties, tall, dark, very broad across the shoulders, and with a face weathered from hours in the sun—almost the complete opposite of Toby’s lean physique and blond features. The reason for the sharp knife became evident when he looked at the two loaves of bread in front of him.
Sam felt a momentary panic at the prospect of being away from the two people he knew, but he nodded and smiled. “I’m here to help. What do you want me to do, Damien?”
Damien nodded approvingly. “You butter the bread, and I’ll finish slicing this loaf.”
Gabriel stood and came over to Sam. “Are you sure you’re okay? I didn’t intend to leave you alone for so long, but when I saw the landslide, I just couldn’t walk away.”
“Of course not,” Sam hurried to reassure him. He felt guilty. Gabriel had been rescuing people, and what had he been doing? Taking a fucking nap.
