Page 3 of Protecting What's Mine

“Honey, you best get going. It’s gettin’ hot over here,” the man said, squeezing her hand.

She squeezed right back and glanced over her shoulder. “Hey, yo! I need a hero glass breaker and a fucking fire extinguisher now! You, go scavenge,” she said, giving Tweety Bird a shove before turning back to the driver and gave him a serene smile. “There’s no place else I need to be. So I’m just going to hang out here with you until we get this figured out. Count me in for one of those cold beers.”

Jamming his hand into another pocket, Linc produced a seat belt cutter and reached around the front seat to grip the belt. “I’m gonna cut through your belt while we work on an escape route.”

“Okay,” the driver wheezed.

“What’s your name, sir?” Linc asked, hooking the blade of the cutter over the belt.

“Nelson,” he said. “Nelson. My wife. I got her flowers,” he said.

Linc gritted his teeth and tightened his grip on the seatbelt as he started to saw through it. The scent of roses hit him, and he spotted the bouquet on the passenger seat. White and pink.

“It’s her birthday,” Nelson said weakly.

“They might be a little wilted by the time you get them to her, but you will,” Linc promised.

Fuck. The angle made it nearly impossible. Instead of a clean cut, he was sawing through thread by miserly thread. Sweat was running freely, turning his gear into a damn sauna.

“I got you some guys,” Wonder Woman said, her eyes tearing with the smoke. Sweat matted her hair down, sticking it to her forehead. “One of them had a glass breaker in his car.”

Linc loved a prepared bystander.

“Where do you want us?” Two men appeared on the other side of the barrier. They each held up their tools.

“Climb over onto the hood,” Linc ordered. “We’re going through the sunroof.”

“Can we get a blanket over here?” Wonder Woman shouted at the gathering crowd. “And where are my fire extinguishers? The rest of you all need to get the hell back!”

“You’d make a great incident command,” Linc told her.

“Honey, I’ve got five kids at home. I can command the hell out of any incident.”

“Listen, you all give this two minutes. If we’re still not out by then, you need to get clear,” Linc ordered.

“Three minutes,” she repeated.

A blanket was produced and draped over Nelson’s head to protect him from the glass.

Time disappeared. There was only the intensity of the heat and Linc’s focus. The seatbelt gave way finally, the belt cutter slipping and nicking his hand. He heard the telltale whoosh of single-use fire extinguishers, the hiss of flames. But it was still damn hot. He was still burning. The good Samaritans attacked the sunroof, and chips of glass rained down in a shower.

“Thank fucking God,” he muttered, stashing the cutter back in his pocket and pulling on his gloves. It was too late. He already felt the blistering on his right hand. But what was a firefighter without a few burns to show off?

“Holy hell, chief,” Skyler’s pretty face appeared in the open sunroof.

“It’s about time, New Guy,” Linc shouted. “Nelson, buddy, are you ready to get the hell out of here?”

The heat was beyond oppressive. His muscles felt like they were liquifying. Black smoke filled the vehicle and poured out of the open windows.

“But I’m having such a nice time,” the man joked, coughing and sputtering.

Linc grinned. “Okay. On the count of three, Wonder Woman, you and I are going to heave Nelson here up and out. Rookie, you and your Good Sams are going to pull him out and get him across the barrier. And then everyone is going to run like hell. Copy?”

“Copy!” They shouted it as if they’d been training together for years instead of a fate-dealt group of strangers trying to save a life.

The back window shattered behind Linc as the flames licked closer. “Now!” he shouted.

Still using his body as a shield, he reached around to lever Nelson up out of the seat. His weight, the angle, the twisting. He felt the pop in his right shoulder and welcomed the pain as distraction from the misery of hell heat. They heaved and pushed and pulled together, grunting and shouting.