“I hope you’re not foretelling disaster,” Cade said, feeling distinctly uneasy. He and Tam had fallen behind the other couple so they could talk more freely. She took his hand during the rest of the walk to the Royal Laboratory.
As they approached the impressive building, a well-dressed older man who looked much like Beth was coming down the steps from the laboratory. He waved cheerfully to Beth, then stopped in his tracks. “Andrew Jameson! Is that really you?”
“Mr. Caton, I’m so happy to see you!” Andre rushed forward and caught the older man’s hands. “I just arrived in England and of course I immediately wanted to see you and Beth.”
“Especially Beth!” Caton said, beaming. “Hasn’t she turned into a beauty?”
“She has always been beautiful,” Andre said earnestly.
It was enjoyable to watch young love blooming, but Cade’s sense of foreboding was increasing exponentially. His worried gaze traveled to the long storehouse opposite the laboratory a moment before a series of powerful explosions sounded inside the structure.
As the ear-numbing sounds ricocheted among the buildings, fires blazed up in several spots along the length of the storehouse. “Firetraps like those set in Portsmouth!” Tam gasped.
Cade swore and caught Tam’s hand hard. “Shall we see if we can summon rain?”
As shouts rose furiously from all sides, Cade and Tamsyn raised their gazes to the clouds and visualized rain. Masses of heavy rain comingnow!
The sky darkened and a cold wind blasted from the river. An initial spattering of raindrops was rapidly followed by a soaking deluge, but the fires had already caught hold in the storehouse.
Mr. Caton gave a cry of dismay. “That storehouse is full powder and ammunition! Come back into the laboratory—the brick building will provide some protection if there’s an explosion!” He grabbed his daughter’s hand and pulled her up the steps with him.
Cade swore again when he saw the flames flashing higher inside the building. He shouted at Caton, “Are there people inside?”
Caton hesitated, then pointed at a small wooden addition to the brick storehouse. “Probably only in that office on the end. It might be empty at this hour.”
His guess was proved wrong when three men staggered out into the rain, coughing as the wooden office addition crumbled behind them. The gabled roof fell almost intact to the ground. Cade barked, “No! There are men trapped inside!”
He jerked free of Tamsyn’s hand and raced toward the burning structure, grabbing a fire ax from an outside wall as he ran. Andre gasped in horror, then grabbed a second ax and followed.
Tamsyn summoned every ounce of power she had and aimed it at the storm clouds.Harder, harder, pour down right there.The rain helped prevent the fire from spreading, but it wasn’t enough to douse the flames inside the storehouse.
Cade and Andre were hacking at the wooden frame of a broken window set in the end of the collapsed addition, fragments of wood flying in all directions. After widening the opening, Cade stopped chopping for a moment and leaned inside to grab the flailing arm of a man and yank him out to safety.
Coughing and covered with soot, the man said hoarsely, “My son! My boy is right behind me!”
Face grim, Cade studied the fallen gabled roof, took a deep breath, then bent over the bottom sill of the window and plunged swiftly into the remnants of the building amidst broken glass, smoke, and flames. Instants later, the remnants of the roof fell inward, collapsing into the space below.
Tamysn felt the suffocation and blazing heat as intensely as if she was inside with Cade. Felt his fierce determination as he grabbed on to the boy, the struggle for breath, and then . . . darkness. Horrified, she breathed, “No! Nooooo!”
She saw that workmen were racing toward the collapsed building, most carrying axes and crowbars and other tools. “There are two people in there!” Tam called in her most commanding voice.
“We’ll do our best!” one of the men said grimly. Working furiously, the newcomers chopped into the roof, yanking chunks away with leather gloved hands to open the area inside.
Barely able to breathe, Tam drew as close to the workmen as she could without getting in the way. She sensed that Cade’s life force was flickering. “Please!” she begged. “My husband is in there and I think he’s still alive!”
“Better pray you’re right!” the leader of the workers growled as he and another man expanded the open area of the collapsed structure.
It seemed hours had passed while they worked to get to the trapped victims, though Tamsyn knew it was only minutes. She dimly noticed that the rain began diminishing as soon as she stopped paying attention to the clouds.
After massive pieces of roof and rafters were carefully lifted away, the lead workman called, “I see them!”
Two burly men stepped warily into the hole and hauled out an unconscious Cade. A young boy of about twelve was clasped in his protective arms.
“Jemmy!” The man Cade had rescued earlier needed help to wrench the boy from Cade’s grip. Jemmy was crying and gulping for air, but alive. Surely Cade must be also....
Cade had been laid out on the roadway, and the workmen didn’t seem to know quite what to do yet. “Looks like a goner,” one of the men muttered.
Frantically Tam pushed her way through the group of men and knelt by Cade. She rested one hand on his heart and the other on his forehead. He was still alive, but barely, his beloved face losing the golden light that made him who he was. “Caden Tremayne,” she barked at him, “don’t youdareleave me!”
