Page 82 of Jump

“Okay.” My hands on the cold hood, and adrenaline coursing through my veins, I assure her, “It’s gonna be okay. Is there anyone with you, ma’am? Do you have passengers?”

“N-no.”

When the car groans, I quickly lift my hands from the hood, like their weight will be the difference between keeping the hatchback up here in relative safety or sending it plummeting a hundred feet.

“I’m in here alone,” she sobs. “I don’t know… I don’t… oh god.”

“It’s gonna be alright.” Axel holds onto the frame of the car and steps around to the passenger side. “Besides your leg, do you have any other injuries?”

“M-my head.”

Through the thinning smoke, I catch sight of her tenderly exploring a gash on her forehead. She pulls her fingers away, and when she witnesses the blood, her panicked eyes widen and shoot to me.

“Am I gonna die?”

“Nope.” I come around slowly toward her door.

The winch tightens, and the car groans in protest. Smoke seeps from the engine bay, thick, then thin. Clouds of more, then puffs of less.

“We’re gonna need water on this vehicle, Rizz!” I call out. “Something’s happening under the hood.”

“On it!” He grabs hoses and lays them out on the slushy, dirty snow, getting them ready. But until we have the water truck, there isn’t shit he can do.

“What’s your name?” I approach the very edge of the hill and look down, to what would be an unpleasant landing on trees and rocks below. “Ma’am?” I approach her door and try the handle. Locked, but her window is smashed out. So I stick my hand inside and work the mechanism that way. “What’s your name?”

“A-Aurora,” the twenty-something woman stammers. “My name is Rory.”

“Rory, my name is Matt. And he’s Axel.” I nod across the top of the car as I flick the lock, and when my boot slips in the mud, I’m reminded about the fact the vehicle is tied to our truck.

But I am not.

Still, I have a job to do.

“I’m the lieutenant,” I tell her calmly. “Lieutenant Matteo Ruiz. And Axel is a grunt. Unimportant.”

He rolls his eyes and slowly, ever so carefully, nudges the passenger door open. But Rory attempts to smile at my banter.

“What were you doing up here this time of the morning, Rory?” I shiver under my coat and reach in to unsnap her seatbelt. “Your engine’s cold, which means you didn’t arrive recently.”

“I-I was sleeping.” She drops her head back so it rests against the seat. Her chest heaves, and her leg… well, the bone is visible. That’s for sure. “I’m on my way back home and stopped here for the night.”

“And you thought sleeping in your car in ten-degree weather was the right choice?”

I slow my movements when the car slips an inch and the chassis groans.

Adrenaline thuds through my veins.

Taking a steadying breath, I tell her, “Firehouses are safe spaces, okay, Rory? Next time you need somewhere to stay and it’s snowing outside, just head to your nearest firehouse and ask for a little help.”

“I didn’t need help.” She attempts to snicker, but it comes with a squeak of panic as Axel peels the passenger door open. “I was fine until some asshole rammed into my car and woke me up.”

I shoot a look across to the busted up truck. To Rizz and Ivy holding fire extinguishers and spraying it thoroughly to make sure the engine doesn’t combust. Then I bring my gaze back to my imminent issue. “Not the most ideal way to wake up, huh? Woulda scared the shit out of you.”

“Lieutenant?” Axel’s voice is hard but unhurried. Firm, but patient.

I peer up to meet his eyes, only to follow them when he looks toward the hatchback’s hood. For a beat, we both watch the flames now licking the steel.

“Time to move,” he says.

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