Page 15 of Deadly Rescue
The staircase groaned beneath him as he moved slowly up the steps, though he didn’t feel anything shift. That was good. By his guestimate, he was the heaviest person here. If it held him, then it stood to reason it would hold the rest of them. Of course, he didn’t breathe normally until he had both feet on the landing, and he turned to glance back at the rest of the group.
“Just take it slow and steady and you’ll be fine.” He nodded to give Celina the go ahead, and she eased onto the first step, then the next. Once she was safely standing next to him, Polly began to make her way up, then Leo followed shortly behind her.
“Well, that was easy.” Polly turned to the next flight of stairs, her face falling. “Easier than this looks, anyway.”
The next flight of stairs was in far worse shape. The wall had been pushed inward and caused the stairway to shift, as it now sat at a ninety degree angle, the upper edged corner wedged against the wall, while the lower railing pressed into the railing from the staircase below. Cooper didn’t like the looks of it, but what choice did they have? For the time being, this was their only way upstairs.
What I wouldn’t give for some climbing gear right about now.
“What do you think?” Celina asked.
He tested the strength of the staircase by first setting one foot on the stair, then the other, slowly adding his full weight. The concrete groaned beneath his feet and shifted, the sound of metal sliding against metal briefly filling the air before stopping. Everyone froze, hardly daring to even breathe.
“Maybe we should find another way.” Celina worriedly chewed her bottom lip.
“There isn’t another way.” Cooper lifted his foot and put it higher this time, hoping that by putting his weight on the elevated side of the staircase it would offset the balance enough to stay in place. When the concrete didn’t shift, he moved up again. “Stay to this side. We do it like we did the last one by going up one at a time. Once I’m up, you all follow the same path.”
“Well, at any rate, if it falls we don’t have very far to go,” Polly offered, peering over the side of the staircase to the steps below.
The woman was all heart. Cooper pretended not to hear her as he inched his way up the stairs. Sweat beaded his brow, and the muscles in his arms and legs burned with the effort it took to position each careful footing. Slow and steady, one foot in front of the other. After what seemed like hours but was probably only a matter of minutes, he finally pulled himself onto the next landing. He breathed a sigh of relief and rolled onto his back. “I think we’re good—”
The landing beneath him began to shift with his added weight and he cursed as Celina cried out, “Cooper!”
He shoved the door to the fourth floor open, his hand wrapping around the edge of the frame just as the landing beneath him gave way. Heart thundering in his chest, he hoisted his body up and onto the carpeted floor.
Below him, Leo pressed the women against the wall, his large frame shielding them from the concrete crumbling around them.
“Don’t move,” Cooper warned, a sense of helplessness washing over him. Half of the fourth floor staircase now covered the lower staircase, which meant there was no way they would be able to get back down that way.
They were trapped, unable to follow Cooper’s path and unable to turn back.
“More like don’t even breathe.” Celina tried to put on a brave face, but the quiver in her voice tore at his gut. If the staircase fell, it would take them with it, and there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it.
His eyes caught on a firehose across from the stairwell entrance and he slowly pushed to his feet. “Hang tight, I have an idea.”
“Sure, we’ll just wait right here for you,” Polly called after him. He couldn’t tell if her chipper tone was sarcastic or not.
The hall was eerily quiet as he stepped up to the glass door. The silver lock on the door gleamed as he gave it a tug. Locked. Why in the hell would they put a fucking lock on a firehose door? Did they really think a fireman was going to stop to unlock it during a fire?
Shrugging off his vest, Cooper wrapped it over his fist, drew in a sharp breath, then slammed his fist through the glass. A shard caught his forearm as he cleared the frame, though he ignored the burn and wrenched the hose out. He dragged it to the open doorway.
“Resourceful, I like it.” Leo nodded his approval.
With the hose anchored to the wall, Cooper wrapped another loop around his waist for secondary support before lowering the excess hose down to Leo’s outstretched hand. The doctor easily caught it, careful not to make any large movements as he drew it towards him.
“What’s the plan?” Leo asked, meeting Cooper’s solemn gaze. “You can’t hold all three of us.”
“No, but that landing isn’t going to hold your weight for much longer.” Cooper eyed the wall over their heads, not liking the looks of the fresh cracks in the paint. “Celina and Polly, take the rope and start climbing up to me.”
“That’s too much weight, you can’t take both of us at the same time.” Celina frowned, shaking her head.
Sensible as always, and, of course, she was right. The strain to his body alone would be a bitch, but Cooper would deal with it if it meant getting them on solid ground.
“It’ll work if I climb up and give him a hand.” Leo secured the firehose around his waist, tightening the end with a quick jerk. “I’m a rock climber, remember? A mess like this is nothing compared to climbing Denali. Besides, losing my weight here will give the structure more stability until we can get the women up.”
Damn, that might just work. Cooper was liking this doctor better and better.
“Youclimbed Denali? As in the mountain in Alaska?” Eyebrow raised, Polly eyed the man doubtfully.
