Page 40 of Flashback

EIGHT

The only thingshe could do was wait.

Allie knelt on the sidewalk with an arm around each boy, their small frames the only solid thing she could hold on to. Smoke poured out the front door and drifted up. Sirens screamed in the night. The whole roof was on fire now. And Dakota was still in there. She’d already called the dispatcher and hung up with them. The longer they waited, the harder Nolan started crying.

Allie needed to distract them.

No, what Allie needed was for Dakota to walk out that front door in one piece with Jen Haroldson. But since that wasn’t happening…

“Mommy!” Nolan screamed and shot off into the shadows. Allie lunged after him and fell to the sidewalk as he disappeared around the corner of the house.

Ethan ran after him.

“Boys!” Allie jumped to her feet and took off.

If they kept clear of the burning structure, they’d be okay.

Giving the burning house a wide berth, she skirted around the corner to the side yard. “Ethan! Nolan! Come wait with me out front. It’s not safe back here.”

Between the roaring fire and nearing sirens, she could barely make it out, but she could still faintly hear one of the boys shouting from the backyard. She turned the corner…

Fire ate up the whole rear of the house. Flames shot out the windows. Sparks flew. Walls and siding were consumed by yellow-and-orange tongues. For a moment Allie couldn’t move. Couldn’t turn away from the destruction. How had this happened?

Dakota was in there somewhere.

But Nolan’s cry pulled her back to the moment. The yard was lined with a privacy fence. A tree in the corner kept that part of the yard in the shadows. She found Ethan on his hands and knees.

“Ethan! Where’s Nolan?”

Ethan pointed under the tree.

Fire trucks pulled onto the street, the sirens deafening now. Allie lifted the branch and gasped.

There, huddled against the trunk of the tree, was Jen Haroldson. Her eyes opened as they came closer but didn’t focus. Blood caked the side of her face from a gash on her temple. Nolan cried in her lap.

Allie moved closer. “Nolan, I need to be super gentle. Your mom is hurt, and we need to get her help. Ethan, go call one of those firefighters in the front. Tell them Dakota is inside and your mom is back here and needs medical attention.”

The boy nodded and ran off. Nolan cuddled up in Jen’s lap.

“Jen, can you hear me?” Allie hunched over to avoid the low tree branches.

Jen moaned in response. At least this time she kept her eyes open and made eye contact. Her thin arms wrapped around Nolan.

“Hey, we’re getting you some help, okay?”

A couple EMS workers ran over with Ethan. Allie coaxed Nolan into her own arms and backed out of the way. After a quick assessment, they shifted Jen out from under the tree and lifted her onto the stretcher.

Thank goodness Nolan gave her something to hold. She held him close and stood by Ethan. Surely Dakota was out of the house by now. He needed to know they’d found her.

They followed the EMS personnel back to the front yard. Two more paramedics took the boys to one of the rigs to look them over. While they headed to the ambulance with Jen, Allie stopped in the corner of the yard. Firefighters raced around, some dragging a hose across the grass, others talking into radios. Police pushed back onlookers. But nowhere did she see Dakota. She ran to the first firefighter she could find.

“Excuse me. Have you seen?—”

“Sorry, ma’am. I have to ask you to leave.” He gently pushed her back and turned back to talking to his coworker, an older man with a beard.

“No, wait. Someone is in there!”

They both looked at her. The one with a beard asked, “Who?”

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