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Sticking her hand under her sports bra, she ducked her face to rub the fabric across her eyes. Then she looked down to where the woman hung from the harness, framed by smoke. “Figure eight?” She didn’t wait for an answer; she just flipped her hand, joined the two lines, dressed the knot, pulled it tight, and then added a stopper knot to each line. She knew what she was doing.
“Excellent.” He told her, then bit the mic. “Halo. I have enough line rigged to get the mother to the third story.”
“Halo, let her down.” Nutsbe stayed in his ear. “Keep coming. Keep coming. Three feet. Good. Hold. Gage, get that rope released before it catches on fire.” And after another moment. “Halo, spool up the line stat.”
The much-awaited fire trucks slowed in front of the neighboring buildings. The emergency workers jumped from the still-moving vehicles as they assessed and got into place at the same time.
No ladder truck, Halo noticed.
“Hey!” Halo asked as he brought up the last of the line. “You hanging in there?”
The warrior goddess tried to speak but was barking a cough. She extended a thumbs up.
“Halo, be aware, Thorn and Gage have to abandon their window,” Nutsbe said. “You need to get the two of you down to the second story.”
Suddenly, the balcony lurched to an angle. “The fire must be eating away at the connective structure,” he yelled past the roar of flames. If that happened, there was nothing else to tie into. For a moment, he considered holding the woman’s wrist and swinging her back to the pole she’d climbed up. Considered making a jump for it himself.
He tucked those thoughts away as a last resort.
If they could get to the second story, even dropping from the end of a rope was a matter of broken bones. And shouldn’t kill them.
There was no time to lower her by herself.
They were going to have to go over together.
Chapter Fourteen
The man had hollered at her to wrap herself around him. And as soon as she complied, they went over the lip.
That was – whew! This was—yeah.
Clinging to him, her system was freaking out.
When training to be a flight nurse, learning how to care for patients in the back of a helicopter, she had seen rescue-types working with ropes.
It looked pretty easy.
But then again, when people knew what they were doing, pole dancing looked effortless. And it was anything but.
At her pole dancing school, they also offered aerial silk classes that Mary wasn’t brave enough to try yet. The women would knot themselves into long drapes of fabric and perform graceful gymnastics flows. Seeing them perform didn’t translate into the body coordination needed for achieving the move.
But the silks class provided a better, more proximal image for her to hold. Unlike the jacked-up rescuers, the silks class was comprised of women of all ages, shapes, and levels of physical ability. Heck, there was even a class for kids that taught “fairy school” and how to “fly” on the apparatus.
Granted, they were doing it three feet off the floor, and there were mats and spotters.
Feeling them come to a stop, Mary batted her lids open to find the Tool Guy looking directly at her. His eyes were warm, intelligent, and full of concern.
“What’s happening?” Her legs wrapped around his waist, and her thighs rested on his as he crouched against the wall. Her arms wrapped over his shoulders, his wrapped around her, holding the rope behind her back. Their limbs knotted them into a single whole. With dawning awareness, Mary understood how a man and a woman could partner to reach their goals, each contributing their skills. Equals. It was a powerful moment—a zing of electricity.
“No more line,” he said. “Don’t panic.” He smiled when he said it like it was a joke. Like he knew he could trust her the way she was trusting him.
He had a great smile.
“No.” She wasn’t panicked. She wondered how much it hurt him to have her weight adding to his own. She’d been trying to think “light as a feather” thoughts. But how much could that have possibly helped? “Sorry,” she said without offering any context.
“Patience. We’re almost down. I promised you I’d get you down. You trust me?”
“Completely.” Mary didn’t have to think about it, didn’t need to consider it. Her conviction came from the very marrow of her bones. She knew that with this man, she was safe. “Absolutely. A hundred percent.”