Page 10 of Heartbeat

The chopper was coming down faster than they could run. She slammed the door shut behind her and shot up the hall. She couldn’t see her children. She couldn’t see Kit, but she thought she could hear the principal over the loudspeaker, shouting something about exiting at the front of the building. She was still running and had just turned a corner into an empty hall when the chopper hit the ground. The explosion was earth-shattering. Ceiling tiles were falling down around them, and glass was flying.

Maisy Eggert, a teacher’s aide, was just coming up the hall with a small group of children, running for the exit when it blew.

Dani ducked into the first classroom she came to as debris from the crash flew through the southern windows, through the open classroom doors, and out into the hall, catching Maisy and the children in the middle of the blast.

Dani heard the horrifying screams. She had to help.

“Lili, honey! Get under the teacher’s desk. I’m going to help Miss Maisy get the children in here, okay?”

Lili nodded, dropped where she was put, and crawledunder the desk, ghost-white and frozen in fear, her eyes welling with tears.

Dani ran out into the smoke-filled hall, shouting, “Maisy! Maisy! In here!” and began herding the crying, bleeding children into the classroom with Lili. As soon as they were all inside, Maisy began tending to the children, while Dani pulled Lili out from under the desk and into her arms. Lili buried her face against Dani’s neck and wrapped her arms tightly around her neck.

“You’re okay, baby girl, you’re okay. Aunt Dani won’t let anything hurt you. Now sit here beside me while I help Miss Maisy, okay?” Then she grabbed her walkie-talkie and keyed it up to the office. “Is anybody there? This is Dani Pope! We need help! We need help! Do you read me? Maisy and I are in a third-grade room on the north side of the building with some children. Is it safe to get them out the front door? Are there any blocked hallways?”

The silence was frightening, and Dani knew they needed to get out now because the smoke in the hall was acrid and blinding. She couldn’t lead children into a death trap. She needed to know the safest way out.

Then suddenly they heard Justine’s voice.

“Dani? Is that you?”

“Yes! Maisy and I are here with thirteen children. They got caught in the blast. We have injuries.”

“Take a right as you go out of the classroom. Proceed to the four-way junction in the main hall and turn right. You can’t go out any of the side doors, because all of the other halls are compromised. Your exit will have somefallen ceiling tiles, but they’ve cut the power to the school to prevent electrical fires, and there are no fires in the building. Proceed at a safe pace.”

“Got it,” Dani said, and glanced at the aide. “Maisy, honey, are you okay?” Maisy Eggert was pale and shaken, bleeding from cuts on her face and neck, but it was the children they were most concerned about. Nearly all of them had been cut and a few were bleeding profusely. Some were too traumatized to talk. Others were in hysterics. It was to be expected.

“Yes, I’m okay,” Maisy said. “So, it’s safe to leave the room now?”

Dani nodded. “That’s what she said,” and then looked at the other children. “Okay, boys and girls, we need to exit the building now, but we only have one way out. Is anybody too injured to walk?”

“We can walk,” Maisy said.

“Then everybody please stand up. I know you have cuts that are bleeding, but doctors will be outside waiting for you. Grab hands with a partner and follow me out the door in a line. Miss Maisy will be right behind you. Understood?”

One little girl was bleeding from a cut on her neck and sobbing quietly. “I want my mama,” she whispered.

“I know, darling. But we have to get outside first, okay?”

Then another little girl slipped up beside her. “Don’t cry, Pammy. I’ll walk with you,” and took her by the hand.

“Good job, all of you,” Dani said, and then opened the door.

The constant shriek of approaching sirens was all theycould hear as they moved out of the classroom, but the moment they stepped out into the hall, the visibility level went to zero.

“My eyes are burning,” Lili whispered.

“Then close them and lay your head on my shoulder,” Dani said, shifted her hold on Lili, and then grabbed the hands of the two children behind her and started up the hall, with Maisy Eggert bringing up the rear.

Aaron Pope and his partner, Bob Yancy, were on patrol when they heard the explosion. But when they saw the flames and rising smoke, Aaron’s heart nearly stopped.

“Is that the school?” Yancy asked.

Before Aaron could think, their police radio lit up with traffic.

“Chopper crash outside Jubilee Elementary. Proceed immediately to location for emergency evacuation.”

Aaron hit the lights and siren and floored it.

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