Page 75 of Hard Ride

23

Van was surprised at how light Ollie felt as he yanked him out of the burning building.It must be adrenaline skewing his perception.Or at least that’s what he thought before he pulled another arm-length of nylon and Kyra’s head poked through the wall.

“Oh, thank God!”Van’s knees went weak as he reached up and took her out and down.

A crew of firefighters stormed the loading dock, screaming at him.“You can’t be in here!We’re taking you out, right now!”

One of them put Kyra over his shoulder and toted her away toward the fresh air and flashing lights Van now noticed behind them.As she bounced, she groaned, making Van nearly collapse with relief.She was alive at least.

“No!”He fought the first responder who tried to pry him away too.“There’s someone else down there.”

He jerked his thumb toward the vent, then screamed, “Ollie!I’m sending the strap back!”

Van threw it into the vent and heard it slither down, but no response came and there was no pressure on the line.So he shouted again.“Ollie!”

Nothing.

“Time to go!Leave this to us!”the fireman yelled at Van.

“Not going to happen.”Van lunged for the guy and yanked the axe out of his hands.

“You’re going to get yourself killed!”the man roared, but no one was crazy enough to stop an axe-wielding psychopath the size of a refrigerator, so Van made it back inside to the jammed stage door and began to hack away at it.

The firefighters quit wasting time trying to convince him to leave and instead assisted him.Three of them together were able to smash the door to smithereens then bust the rest of it down.

Van held his hand out and blindly sought the wall with the vent.It couldn’t be more than twenty feet away, but it felt like twenty miles in those conditions.

When he reached the form crumpled on the floor, he thought he might be too late.Flames were licking so close to them he could no longer hear the firemen shouting at him to flee.

He didn’t need to be told again.

Van lifted Ollie over his shoulder, then turned and crouched.He kept as low as possible as he ran from the stage and out his sneaky side entrance.He headed for the ambulances lining the back lot, in the direction they’d taken Kyra.

By the time he reached them, he was staggering and gasping.

Paramedics took Ollie from him, strapped an oxygen mask over his face, then started administering first aid.Van gulped down fresh air until the fringes of his vision returned to normal and he thought he could ask a question without succumbing to unconsciousness himself.

“Kyra?”

“The blonde with tattoos?”one of the emergency crew asked.

He nodded.

“She’s going to be okay.Coming around now.Needs to go to the hospital.Looks like she sustained some injuries in addition to the smoke inhalation.”

“Ollie?”Van croaked.

The paramedic wasn’t as quick to answer this time.His lips were pressed together in a grim slash.

“Ollie?”Van insisted.

“They’re doing their best to keep him here.”The guy put his hand on Van’s shoulder when he lurched to his feet.“Sit down.Let them work.”

Yeah, not happening.

Van rushed to spot they’d taken his precious cargo and leaned over the gurney.He grabbed Ollie’s hand in his and squeezed it tight.Van said then what he should have said before.“Don’t go, Ollie.Please, don’t go.”

Still, he lay limp while the paramedics worked frantically over him.

Van leaned in and murmured, “I love you, Ollie.Kyra does too.We need you.Please don’t leave us.”

After a few heartbeats, Van began to lose hope.

And that’s when Ollie arched off the table, his eyes flew open, and he began to hack up a lung.

Though he’d spent so much of his life surrounded by music, Van had never thought anything had sounded so beautiful before.

---