A woman raced out of a burning building, her clothes tattered, her face smudged. “Help! Please help me,” she cried. “My husband is trapped inside.”
Angel, Devlin and Teller leaped onto the dock and ran toward the woman as she turned and ran back into the burning building.
Rex leaped out onto the dock, took two steps and stopped, his gaze following his teammates. Then he glanced back at the two women on the tour boat. He hesitated.
Kimo waved at him. “Go! You have to help.”
Rex’s attention shifted back to his teammates as they reached the building and dove inside. Flames rose from the roof, smoke billowing into the sky.
The front of the building collapsed.
Kimo and Leilani gasped.
A weird feeling washed over Rex as he ran toward the burning building. How many explosions happened around this marina. As he stepped into the building to save his friends he almost turned around to go back out. Was this all a set up?
“Oh, my God. Angel!” Leilani cried and leaped out onto the dock. “We have to help him.” She ran after Rex.
Kimo hurried to follow but stumbled over her flip-flops. A gentleman in a Hawaiian shirt, ball cap and sunglasses, rushed over to help steady her by gripping her elbow.
“Thank you,” she said. “I’m okay now, you can let go.”
“Sorry, lady. I can’t do that.” He released her arm, clamped a hand over her mouth and jabbed a needle in her neck.
Kimo jerked away, staggered and would have fallen, except the man who’d helped her scooped her up in his arms and carried her away from the fire, Rex and the others.
As he stepped down into a small boat and laid her on the back seat, she knew she should fight, but none of her muscles responded. When she opened her mouth to scream, her vision faded to black.
* * *
Rex leaped over the fallen awning and ran into the burning building. Smoke assaulted his lungs and burned his eyes.
Devlin led the woman who’d screamed past Rex, ducking low to avoid the smoke.
Angel appeared, holding a man up on one side with Teller on the other.
“Anyone else inside?” Rex asked.
“No,” Angel said. “We need to get out. The roof’s about to give.”
Leilani rushed in behind Rex. “Angel!”
“Get Leilani out of here,” Angel said, his voice raspy.
Rex gripped Leilani’s arm. “Come on. We need to clear a path.” He helped her over the fallen awning and out into the open air.
Angel and Teller followed with the injured man. No sooner had they stepped away from the building than the roof collapsed inward, sending up a firestorm of flames and ash, whipped higher in the air by a blustery wind.
Angel and Teller helped the man away from the fire and eased him to the ground.
Leilani flung herself into Angel’s arms. “You could’ve been in there when the roof gave.”
“I wasn’t.”
Rex glanced around. “Where’s Kimo?”
Leilani’s head spun toward the tour boat. “She was right behind me.”
Rex ran back to the tour boat and jumped on board, his gut telling him what he already knew.
