Page 95 of Switch
Anything’s worth it for him.
I speed through the East End, through downtown, and out to the coast in a blur of lights and honking horns.I’m still easily a block away when I smell smoke.
Then I see something that has me fighting panic.
Bright light rising in the darkness.Smoke.Fire.
It’s Fallon’s house.I push the gas pedal to the floor, my lungs too frozen to screen.
Fallon’s house is burning.
ChapterThirty
Fallon
I’m pullingon pants when I smell the smoke.
My cell phone still has no signal.I rush into the hall cradling Bruiser with one arm while I bang on the door to the guest room, trying to blow the smell from my nostrils.Something toxic makes me want to gag.Burning plastic?Wires?
Whatever it is, it’s toxic.Deadly.Which is what staying here is about to be.
Tomás stumbles out, hurriedly doing up his slacks.His normally well-styled hair sticks out in all directions.
“Do I smell smoke?”
There’s an ugly orange glow coming from the left of the stairs, where the entrance to the kitchen is.I can’t see for certain, but the flames seem to be originating around the back door.Smoke curls along the first floor, snaking upward as it climbs the stairs.
“We need to get out of here.”Flames lick along the wall, telling me it’s already too much for the small fire extinguisher I keep in the kitchen.I’d have to get closer to the fire to retrieve it, anyway.I peer into the downstairs area, but I don’t see anyone.It’s hard to say for sure since it’s mostly shadow aside from the fire.
“This way.”I lead Tomás to the end of the upstairs hall, where there’s a decorative bench under the window.I open it and toss some throw blankets aside to reveal a collapsible ladder.
“Marina had this installed five or six years ago.I thought it was overkill at the time.Here.I’ll help you out, and then you take Bruiser.”
I slide open the window and pop out the screen.Then I hang the ladder out.“Go.”
Tomás, normally so confident, seems frozen in place.
“This is probably an awful time to let you know I’m afraid of heights.”He usually seems self-assured, but there’s a tremor in his voice.
I look to the stairs again.The glow from the kitchen is brighter.It won’t take long for the flames to start climbing the walls, the stairs.
Strangely, I feel more focused than I have in a long time.
“Go,” I tell him again.“You’re not jumping.One step at a time.Get on the ladder, take Bruiser, and get away from the house until you can call emergency services.I think someone has a jammer nearby.My security cameras are down and my phone has no signal.If you don’t get down that ladder, we can’t get help.”
That gets him moving.He throws one leg over the windowsill and sort of awkwardly shimmies until he gets a couple of rungs down.After some nervous noises when the collapsible structure shakes, he manages another step.I hand him Bruiser.Tomás tucks him into his shirt to keep him steady as he makes his way down.I wait until they’re both at least halfway before I step on the window ledge to follow.
Something hits me in the back of the head.Pain explodes in my skull.My vision goes dark and spotty.
Before I can figure out what I’ve been hit with, I’m dragged backward along the hall floor.There’s a man dressed in dark clothes hovering over me.When I try to push myself up, I’m rewarded with a punch to the face.
“Fuck.”I’ve known masochists who got off on getting punched.I’m not one of them.
My eye explodes with pain.I scramble back and try to kick at the man’s legs.He’s about my size but clearly stronger.In one of my books, Betty takes down a larger assailant by kicking the side of his kneecap, which is what I’m going for.Clearly, it’s harder to do in real life.
I’m hoping I can at least knock him down.When I pull back to try again, I’m stopped by a voice I haven’t heard in ages.
“Don’t kill him, Scotty.That’s for me.”
