Nick clambered over the two, closing the door behind them, effectively blocking some of the smoke from entering the room.
“We don’t have much time. The tunnel is too narrow for me to carry your father out.” Nick said. “Go and find help.”
Mary burst into a coughing fit, her eyes tearing. “I can’t leave you two here.”
Nick grasped her face between his hands and made her look at him. “You have to. We don’t stand a chance if you don’t. I promise I’ll be working my hardest to get your father out of here, but I’ll need help getting him up from the basement.”
“But I can’t lose you both.” She grabbed his hand and leaned her face into it, pressing a kiss to his palm.
“Don’t worry. I plan on sticking around. I want to get to know a certain woman named Mary Christmas a little better. I might even ask her out on a real date when this all settles down.” He smiled, pulling her close so that he could press his lips to hers. “Now take the flashlight and run as fast as you can.”
Mary staggered backward, then turned and raced down the tunnel.
Nick’s gaze followed her until the light disappeared around the water heater. Left in the dark, he coughed and struggled to his feet.
That Santa Claus hadn’t woken up through all of this had him concerned, but he couldn’t waste valuable time worrying at this point. He had to get the man out of danger.
Nick hooked his arms under the man’s shoulders and dragged him toward the tunnel. The door to the cubby wouldn’t last long once the fire found its way across the basement. Already the smoke thickened in the tunnel, making Nick’s lungs struggle to provide oxygen to the rest of his body. If he didn’t get out quickly, it wouldn’t matter.
* * *
The back of Mary’s head throbbed and her lungs burned, but she didn’t dare stop to catch her breath or she’d fall into another coughing fit and never make it out. Her feet stumbled twice on the basement steps leading into the storage room of the Christmas Towne store. Alarms blasted her ears and lights blinked off and on.
Mary ran out into the front of the store. Through the double set of glass doors, she could see police cars, fire engines and emergency vehicles skidding to a stop in the street out front. Too exhausted to think, she ran to open the store doors, making it through the first set, but she bounced off the outer doors kept locked when the store was closed. The doors could only be unlocked using a key. Mary sobbed and ran back into the store.
Nick and her father didn’t have time for her to find a key. Mary grabbed a wooden reindeer modeled into a rocking horse, ran back to the outer doors and slammed the toy into the double-paned glass. One pane cracked and splintered. On the second swing, the second pane shattered and Mary almost fell through.
A fireman must have heard the glass break because he turned toward the truck and grabbed an ax. Then he skidded across the snow and ice toward her.
Mary leaned toward the jagged hole. “I need help. There are people trapped in the basement!” Her voice came out in a croak, barely loud enough to carry over the store’s alarm. “Help!”
With his ax, the fireman hooked the door and pulled hard. The door jerked loose of the locks and flung wide. The fireman rushed inside. “Where are they?”
“In the basement. You have to hurry.” Mary fought free of the fireman’s grip and ran back the way she’d come, weaving through the aisles and Christmas decorations to the rear of the store. When she reached the stairs to the basement, smoke filtered up.
“I’ll take it from here.” The man pushed past her, intent on going it alone.
“You can’t. You won’t know where to go.” Before he could stop her, Mary slipped around him and leaped down the steps two at a time, the fireman clumping down behind her, hurrying to keep up.
More smoke billowed from the back of the basement where the tunnel connected the two buildings.
“Oh God, please don’t let me be too late,” Mary sobbed. She ducked low and ran for the closet at the back of the basement. “They’re through here!” Mary pressed against the wall and slipped through the opening.
The fireman yelled, “Mary!” Decked out in all his gear, he couldn’t squeeze past the water heater.
The smoke was worse than when she’d left the tunnel and she couldn’t see anything, even with the flashlight. “Nick! Where are you, damn it! Don’t you die on me! It’s a lousy way to get out of a real date.” Tears streamed down her face as she waited for the fireman to slip out of his gear and squeeze through the opening.
As soon as he was through, Mary inched down the tunnel, coughing and gagging, the smoke so thick she couldn’t see two feet in front of her.
“Get out, Mary! I’ll find them.” The fireman grabbed her arm and yanked her back.
“I want to help.”
He pushed her back toward the closet. “You’ll help more by bringing the others down here.”
“Mary?” Nick’s voice called out from the haze, scratchy and choking. A coughing fit burst from the darkness and Nick’s back came into view, as he dragged her father by the arms through the tunnel. “Do as the fireman says.”
“Nick!” Mary stepped forward, ignoring the smoke, the burning in her eyes and lungs. Nick was alive and he had her father.
