Although he tried to get to sleep, memories of Deirdre overpowered him. His three encounters with her, even though they had the feel of danger, still had a strange kind of softness to them. Especially this evening, the electric tingle of her closeness, her obvious eagerness to be with him and to hold him – he felt like he could replay every kiss, every touch. Why could it be wrong to enjoy what felt so perfect?
Several times he stirred from the mental reverie and glanced at the little clock. The digits blinked back at him . . . 1:22 . . . 2:04. At last he fell asleep.
It was Dan’s coughing that first awakened him. Stirring in frustration, Bucky momentarily forgot his earlier carefulness. “Litton, what’s the matter with you? You’re waking up the whole hotel, stupid.”
“I don’t know.” Dan coughed again. “It smells funny in here or something. I don’t know what it is.” He sat up in the bed. “Something’s really making me cough.”
All at once Bucky could feel a tightness in his own chest. “Yeah, what is that?” He tried to breathe, but the air was thick and oppressive. “Is that smoke or something?”
Turning, Dan pulled open the curtain at the window. “Oh, man!” He sprang to his feet and peered outside.
“What?”
The stocky athlete whipped around, almost tripping the tangled bedclothes. “Stone, this place is on fire!”
Chapter Nine: Into the Flames
“Are you kidding?” Bucky blurted out the words despite what his senses were telling him was true. Thick clouds of smoke billowed up from directly below them, and the air outside their small window had an orange glow. “Are you sure it’s this place?”
“Yes!” Dan tried to move to the light switch, but his leg was still tangled up in the bedsheet. “It looks like it’s the floor below, but it might be on three.”
“What do we do?” Bucky’s pulse began to pound.
“What do you mean? We get out of here!” Dan finally pulled free and hit the light switch. “Come on.”
“What about our stuff?”
Dan hesitated for just a moment. “Well . . . yeah. But hurry!” He grabbed a pair of shorts and put them on. “Come on, man!”
His mind working feverishly, Bucky pulled on the nearest clothes and grabbed for his suitcase. Could they make it out in time? In less than twenty seconds he’d dumped all the contents of two dresser drawers into the oversized bag. “Let’s get out of here!”
“I’m right behind you.” Wearing just his cutoffs and sneakers without socks, Dan grabbed one last T-shirt and stuffed it into his bag. “Hurry!”
“Wait a minute.” Just as he opened the door, Bucky hesitated. “Should we call 911?”
Dan pushed him out into the hallway. “Not from up here, fool. We got the fire below us. Let’s get out and then call.”
“Yeah, you’re right.” Tugging awkwardly on the suitcase, Bucky half - ran down the hall toward the elevator. As he passed the room next to theirs, another thought flashed through his mind. What about all the other hotel guests?
Pushing the elevator button, he waited for Dan. “What about all these other people?” he hissed.
“I was just thinking that,” Dan admitted, his breath coming in short bursts. “Do we just start running up and down the hall going ‘Fire’?”
“I don’t know either.” Bucky punched the button several times. “Are you for sure it’s this place?”
“Yes!” Dan looked behind him at the still empty hallway. “I suppose we should, but . . .”
Bucky looked at the still - closed elevator doors, thinking hard. “Wait a minute,” he said. “This thing may not be working. If the fire’s right below us.” He pressed a hand against the metal door. “Feel this thing, Litton.”
“Man, it’s hot!” Dan shook his head, confused. “Stone, what do we do?”
“Wait!” Bucky took a step back toward the room. “Aren’t there steps down at the end? Outside steps, I mean.”
“Yeah!” Dan grabbed his bag. “You’re right, man. I forgot about that!”
“We gotta do something about all the people staying here,” Bucky told him.
“First we get out.” Dan pointed toward the closed elevator door. “Look. There’s smoke coming out of it now.”
Quickly they went back down to the end of the hall. Bucky pushed open the door and scrambled out onto the wooden landing. A narrow flight of stairs criss - crossed down to the ground level. Already he could see several hotel guests milling around on the sidewalk next to the old building.
“Hurry, man!” With the half - fastened suitcase bouncing clumsily against the wooden steps, Bucky dashed down the first two flights of stairs. “You coming?”
“Right behind you, shorty.” Dan was breathing hard with the exertion, choking as a slow cloud of smoke began to rise up between the stairs.
They finally made it to the bottom and tugged their suitcases away from the hotel. “Whoooh!” Bucky mopped at his perspiring forehead. “This is unreal!” He turned to look behind him. The fire was on four, and it appeared to be right beneath the room they had just been sleeping in. Flames licked at the curtains. In the Honolulu darkness the small fire created a reddish glow in the smoky air.
“Did anybody call 911?” Bucky turned to one of the people standing there watching the blaze.
The man shrugged. “I figure the hotel did. We smelled smoke, but we were just on two, so it wasn’t hard to get out.”
Bucky glanced at his watch. Less than five minutes had elapsed since they had first been awakened. “Litton, we’ve got to make sure that call went in.”
“Go for it.” Dan fumbled in his pockets, then shook his head angrily. “Man, I think my phone’s still up in the room.”
“Wait! I’ve got mine.” Bucky fumbled in his duffel bag and fished his cell phone free, hurriedly dialing the three emergency digits. “Come on, come on!” he breathed to himself.
“Yes?” The voice on the other end was alert, even at 3:00 in the morning.
“I . . . we . . . our hotel’s on fire.” Bucky tried to keep his voice from shaking. He moved a few steps away from the noise of the growing crowd.
The female voice on the other end snapped to attention. “What’s the name of it?”
The abrupt question paralyzed him. “I . . . I don’t know,” he confessed. “I’m with a basketball team from California here for a tournament. It’s kind of a junky place, about five blocks from the beach. Some real long name.” His brain was racing. Did he have the room key with him? That might have the name of the hotel.
“Did you say five blocks from the beach?”
“Yeah.”
“We already have it,” the woman told him. “The night manager called in about four minutes ago. Fire team’s on its way.”
“Thanks.” He was about to hang up when the woman asked, “What’s your name?”
“Stone. Bucky Stone.”
“All right. Thank you for calling, Mr. Stone. We’re glad you’re OK.”
As Bucky replaced the receiver he could already hear the wail of sirens in the distance. With a sigh of relief, he trotted back over to where Dan still looked up at the flames. “They’re coming.”
“It’s about time,” Dan told him. “That baby’s blazing away. Look.”
Bucky gasped. Sure enough, several rooms were now aflame. “Are people escaping?”
“Some.” Dan shook his head. “Man, you’d think there’d be alarms or something.” He pointed toward a small knot of guys. “All the team’s out. I think everybody but us was down on the third floor.”
The younger boy stared at the scene for just a moment. “Dan, we’ve got to go in there.”
“What? Are you nuts?”
“We’ve got to. People are still inside.”
“Yeah, but . . .” Dan looked at the darkened street behind him. The fire engine’s siren was growing closer. “Won’t they do it?”
Taking a deep breath, Bucky tried to quell his fears. “By the time they get in here and
set up, it might be four or five more minutes.” He gestured. “We can at least get these bottom couple of floors.”
“Yeah.” Dan nodded. “You’re right.”
“Come on!” Bucky led the way as they went back to the stairway and climbed to the second floor. The heat was definitely a factor now, he realized. Even on this cool January night you could feel the difference. Walking quickly down the length of the hallway, he began to shout the warning. “Fire! The hotel’s on fire!” He pushed away the incongruous feeling that it was a foolish 3:00 a.m. prank. Behind him he could hear Dan booming out the same words.
“Anybody still in here?” Dan moved up next to him just as Bucky called out the warning again. A few doors down, a long - haired man poked his head sleepily into the hallway. “What was that, man?”
“The hotel’s on fire,” Bucky told him. “Up on four, but you better get out.”
“You’re kidding.” The man turned around and shouted at someone the boys couldn’t see. “Place is on fire, these guys say. Get dressed, kids.”
The words triggered a sudden memory in Bucky. “Man, Litton, what about those kids next to our room? What if they didn’t get out?”
Dan stopped in his tracks. “Boy, I hope they did.” His face was sober with fear.
“Didn’t you say their folks weren’t home?”
A nod. “Yeah, but that was a couple hours ago.”
Bucky made a quick decision. “Forget these people. They’re all below where the fire is. Those kids might still up on five, Dan.”
The older boy grimaced. “What do we do?”
“Let’s get out of here, anyway. See if the fire guys are here. They’ll know what to do.”
“Move it!”
They sprinted to the end of the hallway and back down stairs on the other side of the building. “Where’s that engine?” Dan grunted.
Bucky glanced around. “We’re on the wrong side now.” He looked behind him. “We should have gone back the other way.”
“Forget that. Let’s go around here on the outside. I’m not going back in there until I have to.”
The knot of people outside had grown now, Bucky saw. Spotting Jonesy, Bucky ran up to him. “Aren’t the fire trucks here yet?”
The tall center pointed down the street. “They came down this street right to there, but then stopped because it was too narrow. And now I think that big semi’s in the way.” He shook his head in derision. “Typical. By the time they get here this baby’ll be gone.”
Dan peered through the darkness. “Man, he’s right. Look, Stone. You can see the trucks way down there.”
“You’re kidding me!” In the distance a good four blocks Bucky could see the flashing red lights casting their murky glow through the now smoke - filled air. “Looks like they’re trying to move that semi,” Dan observed.
Bucky moved away from them and approached the building. At least four rooms were now burning, but he couldn’t tell if the fifth floor was in flames yet. Mentally he tried to count over from the end of the building and figure out which room he and Dan had been in.
All at once a basketball - sized knot of fear seized him in the stomach. “Litton! Get over here!” The words came out almost as a scream.
“What!” Dan raced up.
“Look.” Bucky’s hand shook as he pointed through the cloudy air. “Right up there.”
In one of the windows on the fifth floor Dan could see the kids from the room next to theirs, their faces filled with terror.
Dan pounded his fist into an open palm. “Those idiots! What’s the matter with their parents?”
“They’re not here!” Bucky gestured again. “Look for yourself.”
“Probably out drinking.” Dan turned to face his friend. “What do we do?”
Bucky didn’t hesitate. “We’ve got to go get them.”
“Up on five? Are you kidding?”
“Look.” The younger athlete pointed down the street. “They’re still stuck. We have no choice.”
Dan sucked in his breath. Already the fire was edging closer and closer to the outside stairway. In just a few more minutes flames would engulf the whole side of the hotel. A quick popping sound and a flash and all the lights in the building suddenly blinked off. “What do you think we should . . .”
“Come on!” Bucky gave him a push toward the stairs. “Every second we sit here we’re losing time!”
A gasp went up from the small crowd of people as they saw the two athletes dash back up the outside stairs. When they reached the third floor, Bucky almost began to choke.
“Hold your breath, Stone!” Dan gasped out the words as he passed his teammate. “Crouch low so the fumes won’t get you.”
The heat was stronger on four, but the stairs were still intact. Bucky breathed a prayer as they climbed quickly past the floor on fire and went up to floor five. “This is it, right?”
“Hurry!” Dan grunted as they pushed their way into the hallway. “Which room is it?”
“We were in 512, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Five-fourteen, then.” Running down the hallway, Bucky shouted again. “Fire! There’s a fire! Everybody get out!”
“I don’t think there’s anybody up here but those kids,” Dan snapped, wiping at his eyes.
Bucky pounded on 514, yelling as he did so. “Fire! Open up!”
No answer.
“Come on! The place is on fire!” He pounded again, his throat tightening.
“Get out here, you kids!” Dan joined Bucky in beating his fists on the door. “Open up!”
They heard a muffled sound on the other side. “Shhhh!” Bucky motioned his teammate to be quiet. “Listen!”
“I don’t hear anything.”
“Can you hear us?” Bucky called out.
“Yes.” It sounded like a child maybe seven years old.
“Open the door!” Dan knocked again.
A pause. “We can’t. My dad said not to ever open the door.”
“There’s a fire!” Bucky pounded on the door again. “Can’t you kids see it? It’s OK to open the door. We’ve got to get you out!”
Another brief pause. “Come on come on come on,” Bucky muttered in anger to himself, knocking again.
“OK,” the childish voice finally answered. There was a long fumbling sound. “It won’t open.”
“Come on!” Dan leaned against the wooden door. “Can’t you get it open?”
“It won’t turn.”
“Wait a minute,” Bucky interjected, aware that every passing second was precious now. “There’s a bolt plus the doorknob, right?”
“Yeah.” Dan raised his voice. “Listen, kid, turn that second knob first. Do you see it?”
“Uh huh.”
“OK. Turn that one.” Another muffled sound, and then the lock slid free. “Great! OK, now open the door!”
Slowly the knob turned and the door slid open – but only a crack. The safety chain slammed tight, holding the door securely in place.
“No!” Dan pounded in anger on the wall. “Come on, kids! Undo that thing!”
“I don’t think they can reach it.”
“Well, they must have, or they couldn’t have fastened it shut in the first place,” Dan snapped. “Aren’t your parents home?”
Through the crack in the door they could just see the little girl’s face. “Huh uh. I don’t know where they are.”
“Stone, we’ve got to get them out of there,” Dan told him. “Plus we got to go too. This place is going to fall in any second.”
“What do we do?”
“Stand back,” Dan told the child. “We’re coming in.”
Her eyes wide in terror, the small girl edged away from the doorway.
“This always works in the movies,” Dan grunted, “Here goes.” Backing up, he took a deep breath and gave the flimsy door a huge kick.
“You did it!” Bucky yelled. “Way to go, Litton!”
“Never mind that.” Dan pushed his way
through the open doorway. “Come on, kids. Out!”
Bucky grabbed a small boy whimpering in the corner. “How many of you are there?” he asked the little girl. “Five?”
“Uh huh.” She nodded.
“Run!” he told her. “Down to the end. We’re right behind you.” He turned to Dan. “You comin’?”
“Yeah!” Dan was holding another boy, slightly older than Bucky’s. “Let her rip!”
They dashed down the hallway, now nearly filled with thick smoke. “Hurry!” Bucky gasped. Pushing open the hallway door, they began their descent. The little boy he was holding stirred and began to cry.
“Shhhh!” Bucky’s lungs ached as he and Dan passed the fire floor and went down to three. There on the landing stood Jonesy and Bill. “Any more up there?”
“Yeah. Two.” Bucky handed the child to the basketball center. “Dan and I’ll get ‘em.”
With a whoosh the fire suddenly popped out of the corner room on the fourth floor, just a few feet away from the stairway. Jonesy whipped around to shield the small child from the searing heat. “You’ll never make it, Stone! Let’s get out of here!”
Bucky hesitated, then began to follow his teammate. “Isn’t the fire department here yet?”
“They just got free,” Bill said, holding the other child. “They were just coming down the street a second ago.” At that very moment Bucky could hear the wail of the sirens as the long engine pulled into view a block away.
“Dan, we’ve got to go back,” he implored. “Those other two kids are still up there.”
His friend looked at him. There was just the briefest moment of hesitation as they considered the risks. “Come on!”
Another audible gasp went up from the crowd down below as Bucky and Dan began to fight their way through the thick billows of smoke. Yellow flames licked their way through the fourth floor, creeping closer to the stairs. Taking a painful gulp of air, Bucky dashed up the stairs, two at a time, straining to see through the darkness. It took just seconds to reach the fifth floor again.
“You coming, Litton?”
Bucky Stone: The Complete Adventure (Volumes 1-10) Page 89
