Page 95 of Tasting Fire
He hauled her to her feet like she was a life-sized doll. “Where is Emmy?”
“Uh…uh… She was here. We were watching strippers and… The bathroom! She went to the bathroom.”
“Hang your head out the window,” he told his sister. “I’ll be back in a second.”
Cash rushed into the bathroom and tight relief threaded through him. Emmy was there. He quickly checked her pulse. She was unconscious, but alive.
He’d bet a million dollars this wasn’t a random fire.
With careful movements, he hunkered down and scooped Emmy over his right shoulder where she hung like a fish on a trotline. “C’mon, Em. Stay with me.”
He strode back into the living room to find Riley passed out again over the window jamb. The air was becoming more noxious by the second. Exactly how he did it, he didn’t know, but somehow he maneuvered his sister onto his other shoulder and steadied himself. Felt like he was deadlifting six hundred fifty pounds.
And at some point, that would be funny. But not tonight.
Thank Jesus these old building windows were wide.
Cash placed one leg over the sill and onto the ladder. Careful not to knock Riley’s head against the window frame, he contorted one side of his body outside.
Then came the tricky balance issue. While he was easing the rest of his body through the window, he leaned against the side of the ladder, trying like hell not to smash his baby sister.
Of course, Riley was the Kingston Menace, and she came to again just as he was executing the dicey extraction.
“Oh, God! Cash…” She flailed on his shoulder, throwing off his center of gravity and making him stumble.
He was sure he was about fall and tumble down the ladder, taking two of the most important women in his life with him. Breaking all their necks.
“Be still, Riley,” he ordered. “I’ve got you.”
For once, she did as she was told, becoming a limp sack of potatoes against his back. The heat from behind him was so intense that Cash imagined he could feel the back of his neck blistering even through his protective gear.
He took three careful steps down the ladder and away from the burning building.
Donaldson stomped up the ladder and held out his arms. Cash dipped his right shoulder and let Riley roll into the man’s safe grip.
Her pretty face was a mess of soot, wide eyes, and tears. “Cash—”
“Get her down.” He adjusted his grip on Emmy. The last time he’d held her like this they’d been teasing. They’d been about to make love. Now, he was trying to keep her alive. “It’s okay, Em. I’ve got you.”
She didn’t stir at his reassurances, but that didn’t stop him from rambling on. “Everyone is out. Your mom, Kris, Riley. You’re all going to be fine.”
His own words were the only thing keeping him from losing his fucking mind right now. When he hit the bottom ladder step, the on-duty medics from another station had a stretcher ready, and they helped him lay Emmy on her back.
Her head lolled to one side and an arm drooped off the side before the medic could get her totally secure.
“Oh, Jesus. Is she—”
“Pulse is a little high. BP is normal,” the medic told him before instructing his partner, “Get her in the ambulance and on supplemental oxygen.”
Cash tried to keep up with the gurney, but he was clumsy in his turnout gear. The medics slammed the ambulance doors in his face and he stood there like a statue watching it speed off.
