Page 61 of Jolene's Justice

Wispy smoke was seeping into the room from under the door. As she coughed again, her body convulsed, and she doubled over, trying to catch her breath. Her stinging eyes darted around the room, searching for something to push into the gap under the door. She had to slow the buildup of smoke in the room. She spotted her sweatshirt and snatched it up off the back of her desk chair. Falling to her knees next to the door, she shoved the material in the crack, but it wasn’t long enough. She whipped her shirt off and filled the remaining space with it. It was a good thing she’d gone with her sports bra instead of one of her lacy numbers.

She gasped for breath between coughs, struggling to rise from the floor. Crawling back to the window, she scanned the room, hoping to find something to break the glass. Her body was working against her now, her energy waning.

She had to pause for several seconds between coughing fits. She tried to take a deep breath, but the burning in her chest made it impossible. Her stomach muscles hurt from all the coughing. Her parched throat begged for a sip of water. She wanted to lie down and go to sleep.

No!She fought against that suggestion. Finch was coming. She just had to hang on a little longer. Find something to break the glass. She pulled herself up on her knees and ran her hands over the surface of her desk. Her fingers bumped into her stapler. It was an old industrial type of stapler. The thing had some heft to it. Maybe that could work.

With the stapler gripped in her hand, she tried to move closer to the window, but was hampered by another coughing fit that made her lightheaded. Once the worst of it passed, she crawled to the window and smacked the stapler against the glass.

That wouldn’t do.Her strength was dwindling. Her efforts hadn’t even left a smudge on the window. She tried again. Coughed. Hit. Cough. The hacking turned so violent that it left her weak and unable to lift the stapler.

The stapler slipped from her grip and clattered to the floor. Her eyes were burning so badly she could barely see a foot in front of her. She slipped to the floor, trying in vain to find her stapler. She told herself to keep moving. Screamed at her body to get up. But it wasn’t listening.

She was so tired. Maybe if she took a little break, she would then have more energy to try again. She lay on the floor, her cheek against the cool wooden boards. It felt wonderful after the heat building in the room.

Just a short break.Her eyes slipped shut. Finch would be there soon. She’d take a little break, then she would go back to work.

Her final thought before blacking out was about how pissed Finch would be knowing his favorite bar was now a memory.

Chapter 27

AsFinchdrovebackto Jolene’s, a strange glow on the horizon caught his attention. The closer he got to the bar, the more his gut tightened until his worst nightmare raged in front of him. Without bothering to park in the lot, he hastily pulled his truck to the side of the road, making sure it was out of the way of the firetrucks, and ran to the bar.

The front door of Jolene’s bar was fully engulfed. Fingers of flames flickered while billows of black smoke rose into the sky.

“Jolene,” he shouted, praying she’d gotten out and was standing nearby. No response. The flames crackled loudly, drowning out any other sounds.

The front half of the bar was a fiery inferno, with flames shooting up toward the ceiling. The burning building radiated so much heat that he could feel it from several feet away, causing him to sweat heavily. He raced around the side, where more flames licked up the walls. It was both terrifying and mesmerizing as they danced and leaped through the front half of the bar. The acrid smell of smoke wafted through the air as the fire consumed everything in its path.

He continued to call out her name as he ran. The sight of the big dumpster pushed up against the back door caused him to swear uncontrollably. There was no way Jolene would have been able to get out this way. She couldn’t have moved it, even if she had used all her strength to push on the door. The massive hunk of metal was locked in place with blocks of wood shoved under the wheels.

Icy fear raced down his spine. This was deliberate. Grady had never been able to prove that Angelica had been behind the threats to Jolene. Finch kicked himself. He should have been more vigilant. He should have realized the threat wasn’t over.

“Jolene!” he hollered, banging on the part of the door he could reach.

“Finch!” Hearing his name, he spun around to find Ox and Evan running toward him.

“Is Jolene still in there?” Jolene’s burly bartender asked.

“I think so. Help me get this thing out of the way.”

“Fire trucks are on their way,” Finch’s teammate Evan said, bending down to yank a chock block out of the way. Once the wheels were free, the three of them pushed the noxious dumpster out of the way.

Finch tried the door, but, of course, it was locked.

“Here.” Finch assumed that Ox had been visiting his girlfriend, who lived in the same building as Evan. He was thankful the man was there as he deftly inserted his key into the lock and gave it a quick turn. He yanked the door open, and billows of smoke rushed past them. Shit. It was so thick he couldn’t see anything beyond the threshold.

“Jolene,” he called, while getting to his hands and knees. He felt the guys doing the same behind him, and he glanced over his shoulder at them in appreciation.

“We’re with you,” Evan said. If anybody could understand what he was feeling at this moment, it would be Evan. It wasn’t too long ago that they’d had to rescue his girlfriend from her deranged ex. Finch had been with him through that crisis. Now Evan had his back.

The smell of smoke and burning wood filled the small space of the hallway. The roar of the flames just beyond was deafening, but he kept calling out to Jolene as he crawled.

“I’ll check the kitchen,” Ox said, peeling off in that direction.

“I got the break room,” Evan announced.

Finch kept moving forward, his instinct screaming at him that she wouldn’t be in either of those places. He felt along the walls until his fingers encountered the molding around her office door. It was cool to the touch compared to the intense heat that was being funneled down the hall from the main room.

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