Читать книгу Rocky Mountain Sabotage - Jill Nelson Elizabeth - Страница 13

FOUR

A deep cough rent Lauren’s chest, jerking her awake. A blanket wrapped around her where she lay against a hard floor, head cradled by a leather cushion. Acrid smoke gagged her nostrils and burned the back of her throat. She lunged to a sitting position, as hacking coughs and cries of “Fire!” converged from every direction.

Her mind spun. In front of her eyes, the room was dark as the inside of a barrel. From behind her shoulders, a ruddy heat cast a muted glow. Where was she? Oh, yes. The sabotaged plane. Emergency landing. Shelter in the abandoned mercantile. And now...fire!

Crash-bruised muscles protested her sudden scramble to get to her feet, but the blanket entangled her, and she fell backward hard on her behind. A moan and a cough came from her immediate right. Richard. No sound from her left. Mags remained unconscious...or worse.

“Help!” she cried through a strangled cough. “Help me with the patients.”

Thumping noises, like hurried footsteps, answered her, but the sounds were headed in every direction except her location on the far side of the stove.

“Where’s the door?” a male voice screamed. Cliff.

Yes, where was the door, but also, where was the fire? She glanced over her shoulders, and made out the dark form of the potbellied stove. All normal enough, and yet bitter, pine-tinged smoke swirled everywhere.

She had to get her patients out of here! Lauren yanked herself from the blanket’s grip and stood, staring around. Hazy lights bobbed here and there. As they’d done before the group turned in last night, people were using their cell phone flashlights. Without cell service, the phones weren’t good for much else, and from the volume of smoke in the room, not much good for lighting, either. The glow was more disorienting than illuminating.

“Where are you, Lauren?” Feminine tones rose above the panicked din.

“Mom!” Lauren answered. “Don’t look—” she coughed “—for me! Find a way out!”

“Jade Eyes!”

A burn in the pit of Lauren’s stomach joined the burn in her throat. Kent. She needed his strong arms and back to move Rich and Mags.

“Over here. Help me with the patients.”

“Keep calling ou—” A throaty hack chopped off the last bit of the sentence.

“He...re!” Her lungs cramped against the invading fumes.

“Get low. Stay low, everyone.” His voice was much closer and near her knees.

Lauren dropped down to join him. “Where?”