Reckless Desire (Saved By Desire 6)

Kerrigan suddenly appeared in the periphery of his vision. He landed a volley of punches on the coachman, who fell backward into piles of straw and packing boxes. The toppling mess knocked over several candles, which immediately caught light. When the coachman tried to stand upright he staggered and fell over again. The tails of his cloak flickered too close to the hungry flames and began to smoulder seconds before flames began to appear.

Kerrigan lifted his gun and took aim. The coachman fell before the rest of his body was engulfed in flames. Kerrigan watched the man fall then trained his weapon on Sayers. Joe knew his colleague would shoot Sayers if he moved or threatened anyone. Strangely, he did neither. Nor did he make any attempt to stop Joe from hurrying over to the bound men, and releasing their ropes.

“We need to get out of here,” Joe murmured around a cough.

The smoke was already thick and cloying. Joe began to suspect that Sayers was waiting for the smoke to become thick enough to provide him with cover so he could leave them in the burning building. Unfortunately for him, neither Joe nor Kerrigan were prepared to allow that to happen.

“Take him down, Kerrigan,” Joe snapped.

He didn’t have to wait long before Kerrigan took a shot at the gangster. Sayers stumbled beneath the force of the shot and looked down at the growing pool of blood in his midriff. He looked confused, as though disbelieving it was his blood. He still didn’t speak. Nor did he look up. Kerrigan, aware that the shot would bring about his eventual death, lowered his weapon and turned his attention to getting his colleagues free.

“Marcus, we need to go,” Joe snapped.

When Marcus didn’t appear to hear him, Joe suspected that he would have to carry his colleague out. He eyed the Marcus’ lifeless body while he frantically considered their options. They would be lucky if they got out alive if they waited for him to regain consciousness enough to be able to move by himself. Still, Marcus was tall and solidly built.

“Marcus?” Joe determinedly shook Marcus’ shoulder and kept on prodding until Marcus jerked and tried to shake him off.

Suddenly, Marcus woke up and, in a wild frenzy of kicking and flailing arms, tried to attack Joe.

“Marcus, it’s me,” Joe cried, horrified at just how little effort it took to control his weakened friend. “Let’s go.”

“Joe?” Marcus peered at him through swollen eyes.

“Marcus. I need your help to get out of here,” Joe said. “You have to stay awake for me. I need you to walk.”

Marcus immediately began to stumble to his feet. Once he was upright, he wobbled and stumbled, and had to cling to Joe for support for a few moments, but he remained on his feet.

Thankful, Joe slid the man’s arm over his shoulders and took most of his weight as he led him over to the door. Ben was mobile, thankfully, and hurried to the door swiftly followed by Eustace.

The fire took hold swiftly and was nipping at their heels by the time they left the room. Joe paused briefly to look back but couldn’t see anything beyond flames and smoke. Unless there was another entrance, Sayers was now trapped. Nobody bothered to look for him given his lack of respect for other people’s lives. They knew he was going to be dead within the hour anyway, if not by the fire then because of his wound.

Relieved to be able to leave the man to his fate, everyone made for the back window Joe and Kerrigan had used earlier. Somewhere outside, the sound of muffled shouts could be heard amongst sporadic bursts of gunfire.

/> “We have to go this way,” Kerrigan snapped. “We can’t go back.”

With little choice, Kerrigan, Ben, and Eustace, all climbed out of the window.

“Right throw your leg over, Marcus, and lower yourself to Kerrigan.”

Thankfully, Marcus did just that.

“I am nearly out of shot,” Jacob cried. “Hurry up.”

Joe paused and shot at one of the guards who appeared around the side of the timber building. He then turned to help Marcus out of the building.

Inside, loud popping noises were interspersed with the sounds of beams crashing to the floor. Joe knew it was only a matter of time before the entire building collapsed. The heat at his back warned him that the flames had already reached the room they had just left.

“I cannot believe you are here,” Eustace murmured, horrified yet relieved at the same time.

“I am alright,” she whispered.

She turned to Joe, who was helping Marcus stumble closer to the river. The entire building behind them began to groan. Windows exploded, showering glass everywhere. The flames were visible now, licking the side of the building.

“Look!” she cried in horror. “Someone is trapped inside.”

They all turned to look at a darkened figure standing in an upper window. He appeared to lift his arms as though pressing on the window frame. In that second, the building began to rumble as the beams collapsed and the entire structure fell in on itself. Debris and flames began to roll toward them.

“Get in the river!” Joe cried.