“Where is Kenzie? Where is she?”
“Axe. She… She’s…”
Shaken, I turned my head, noticing Wade stumbling toward me.
There were several trying to use fire extinguishers, but the fire had already gotten out of hand.
Sirens blasted in the distance, several of them. Without thinking clearly, I rushed toward him, grabbing him by both arms and shaking. “Where is she? Where?”
“No. Axe. Don’t.” Josh suddenly appeared. “He tried to get her out.”
“You’re to blame for this!” I spit out. “She’s in there because of you and your fucking father.”
“Whoa!” Jameson yelled, trying to pull me off.
“Go. Go. Go!” Rock yelled, flying past me with several of the other smokejumpers.
Wade was shaken, gripping my forearms. “I tried, Axe. I tried to get her out. Too hot. Too fucking hot.”
“Is there a damn opening? Is there?”
“Come on, Axe. Not like this.” While I heard my brother, I just didn’t give a shit.
“Around the side. But it’s hot. Someone blocked her in. They locked her in. Why would they do that?”
I wanted to scream at him once again it was all his father’s fault, but I couldn’t waste any additional time.
I wasn’t interested in paying any damn attention. There was no time to wait to see if the sirens were from the oncoming engine. The roof was getting ready to collapse. I flew toward my truck, grabbing an axe from the back bed.
“You heard them,” Jameson said. “It’s too hot.”
“Try and stop me. I will save her.” Anger fueled everything as I pounded my boots on the ground. All I could think about was getting to her.
“Axe. You can’t go in there!”
While I had no idea who was trying to stop me, it wasn’t going to work.
“I don’t give a shit.” I rushed around the side, noticing what Wade had been talking about. Someone had fucking blocked the door.
So I’d do this the hard way.
Taking a stance, I swung the axe. The single splintering sound was enough to fuel me.
So I swung again.
And again.
With two more brutal swings, I created an opening almost large enough to get the fuck inside. When I felt a presence, I hissed. Through the light of the flames, I recognized Wade.
There was no sense in arguing.
We ripped the boards off together, jumping inside. With flames everywhere, we’d have one shot at getting her out alive.
“Go that way,” I yelled, pointing toward the corridor that housed several horses. Thankfully, this barn wasn’t in full use. That much I’d learned before.
I made my way toward the main portion, darting through falling timbers and pieces of the ceiling.
Boom!
