Serafina smiled at her and looked down to see Addy’s knitting needle sticking out of her chest. Serafina cursed, ripped the needle free and struck Harper with the gun. Harper’s knees gave out, and she collapsed to the floor.
In a daze, Harper heard her in the kitchen before the door slammed. Her eyes felt heavy, and she lay her head on the wood floor.
* * *
Zayne watched the clock.Thirty-one minutes had passed since the last check-in. “Arrow, I’ve got the female leaving the house. Man identified as Gabriel Matin, Mockingbird, and the two children remain. Mockingbird is one, now two minutes past check-in.”
“Send text. If no response, attempt solicitation door knock,” Chad Thorn reported.
Zayne watched the time tick one minute after his text with no response. “Eyes open, boys. Attempting door knock.”
He walked up the steps of the porch, used the door knocker and waited. With no immediate response, he knocked again. At the lack of response, he looked inside the windows fronting the porch.
“Damn it.” He tapped his comm. “Crescent 1 Leader to base, I have a man down on the living room floor. Crescent 1 operators, breach on my call.” Zayne moved to the second door, called the breeze door, which had large glass panels that would be easier to breach with a well-positioned kick. “One, two, three, breach.”
Zayne made quick entry. The smell of gas was heavy in the air. “Base, Matin is toes up. Beginning search for Mockingbird. Gas smell throughout house.”
“This is 3. Clear here. 2, no sign here. Shit, I need a medic forthwith.” Zayne lifted Harper over his shoulder and brought her out of the house to the front lawn.
“Arrow, get me that medic forthwith. Mockingbird is down, repeat, Mockingbird is down.”
One of Crescent 1’s operators threw open their medical bag. He tossed bandages over to the other operator and started oxygen on Harper. Zayne pulled out the IV kit to start a line.Whoosh.Fire exploded out the kitchen windows.
Harper’s eyes fluttered open. “Ba….bies…”
Zayne made it to his feet. “Base, send fire department, home is on fire. Attempting rescue of two children.” He ran into the now fully involved downstairs and up the flight of stairs. He found the girls asleep in their cribs. “2, I need you below the rear window. I have no egress.”
He ran down the corridor and opened the top window at the back of the hall. Returning to the girls’ room, he scooped both into his broad arms. The infant gave him a tiny cry. Babette grabbed on to him, her eyes wide and teary, her thumb firmly ensconced in her mouth. Smoke poured out from behind him as he made it to the window.
“First the two-year-old,” he yelled. After laying the infant on the floor, he took Babette’s hands, and, leaning as far out the window as he could, he dropped her into his operator’s arms.
Next, he lifted the infant, dropping her to safety. With the smoke worsening and flames erupting through the wooden floor, Zayne backed out of the window, dropping to the ground below to the sound of sirens. Rolling onto his knees, he managed to drag himself to his feet and lope away from the burning structure.
* * *
Police,fire department, and ambulances filled the street. Tobey O’Mara, Chad Thorn, the remaining Crescent 1 Team and Bravo Team, along with Casey Reynolds and Kevin Harper made it to the scene. Casey jumped into the ambulance with Harper. Kevin followed in a second ambulance with the girls.
Harper’s eyes flitted open again.
“Harper, you’re safe. We’ll get you to the hospital,” Casey assured her.
“Ba…bies,” she whispered and mouthed.
“They’re safe.”
She gave him a faint smile. “Chan..ny…Kip…love…” Her eyes closed.
Chapter 29
“That sucked. Those knuckle-draggers have no support and no assets. If we get a levee break, at least it looks like University Hospital and we are prepared. PD is short on manpower. FD is short on manpower. The power grid will crash. And the levees, at minimum, will top. We need to double-check our pumps and start deploying assets.” He tapped his Bluetooth. “Call Elin.”
“Kip?” she asked.
“How are we on home board-ups?” he asked.
“The last will be complete by tomorrow afternoon.”
There was something in her tone. “Elin, all okay?”
