Free The Protector by Dee Henderson

first clear look at her face. Tears streaming, she was gasping for air, gagging. Seared lungs could kill. “Where’s the ambulance?”
    “Here.”
    The boots felt like lead on his feet when he wanted to run.
    Cole was there as well as two paramedics from the area hospital. Jack was grateful to see it was Neal and Amy who had been on duty. They were pros at fire scenes. He still wished it were his brother Stephen who had received the call as he carefully set Cassie down.
    Jack heard the order to drown the fire and knew it meant his men and the rescue squad were clear. An incredible rush of noise followed as water flowed.
    Cassie refused to lie back on the gurney. “Hot,” she protested.
    As Cole peeled away her jacket, Jack spotted the burn spots in the leather. She was going to need another jacket for Christmas.
    Amy slipped on an oxygen mask over the coughs.
    Jack stripped off his gloves. He unbuttoned the cuffs of Cassie’s shirt and carefully rolled up her sleeves. The healing scars on both arms were an angry red, inflamed by the heat, her right arm much worse than her left. Neal handed over cold packs and Jack rested them against her forearms. She flinched.
    “Better,” she whispered.
    Jack tipped up her chin looking for new burns. Her eyes were streaming and she couldn’t open them to more than a squint. He carefully slipped off her glasses, relieved to see they hadn’t been cracked. The exhaustion he had seen earlier in the evening was swamping her now. “The house was empty, Cassie. The family is on vacation.”
    Her relief was palpable.
    Neal slipped an ice pack behind her neck to help cool her down. “Cassie, hold on, the eye drops will help.” He brushed back her hair and carefully opened her eyes to add the drops. He blotted her streaming eyes with sterile gauze. “Let them water and clear.”
    A fit of coughing doubled her up.
    It hurt to hear.
    Jack had to get back to his men but he didn’t want to leave her side. He could only imagine how hard it had been to face a fire again.
    A firm hand settled on his shoulder. Jack looked up to find his captain beside him, watching Cassie. “Company 26 is half a minute away,” Frank said. “We’re covered. Stay with her. Anything she needs, let me know. Anything.”
    Jack nodded, grateful.
    Neal nudged his arm and Jack looked over. Neal had uncurled Cassie’s fingers to slip off her watch. There were blisters on the fingers of her left hand and palm, some already open and raw. Jack recognized the pattern: She’d grasped a doorknob. His own hand spasmed in sympathy.
    “Cassie, we’re going to get you to a hospital.” He stroked the inside of her right wrist, feeling her erratic pulse. “We’ll get someone to look at the blisters.”
    Her eyes opened, and in an uncoordinated way she lifted her right hand to push aside the oxygen mask. “No. No hospital.”
    There was fear in her eyes, but the hospital wasn’t a choice. She had to see a doctor, not just for her hands but her lungs. He didn’t need a fight with her, not over this. “Cole.” He appealed to the one person she would listen to.
    Amy tried to get her to put the mask back on and Cassie pushed it away. She tried to look around to see Cole. “No. I won’t go.”
    The man was her former captain. The history between the two of them extended back a long way before the nursing home fire, and Jack could almost see the silent conversation going on. Cole finally nodded. “Neal, do what you can here. She’s not going.”
    Incredulous, Jack turned, furious at him for that. A look from Cole silenced his words before he could speak.
    Cassie closed her eyes and let Amy slip back on the oxygen.
    Jack moved aside to give Neal room to work. “Cole—” He was ready to argue the point.
    “I want my glasses,” Cassie mumbled.
    Jack glanced at them in his hand. They were grimy with smoke residue. If he gave them to her, she’d just accidentally knock them off, possibly break them. “Later, Cassie.