Free Edge of Eternity by Ken Follett

Seconds later the bundle exploded in grey smoke. But the weapon was not just a smoke bomb. It set fire to the upholstery, and in moments thick black fumes began to choke the passengers. A woman screamed: ‘Is there any air up front?’
    From outside, George heard: ‘Burn the niggers! Fry them!’
    Everyone tried to get out of the door. The aisle was jammed with gasping people. Some were pressing forward, but there seemed to be a blockage. George yelled: ‘Get off the bus! Everybody get off!’
    From the front, someone shouted back: ‘The door won’t open!’
    George recalled that the state trooper with the gun had locked the door to keep the mob out. ‘We’ll have to jump out the windows!’ he yelled. ‘Come on!’
    He stood on a seat and kicked most of the remaining glass out of the window. Then he pulled off his suit coat and draped it over the sill, to provide some protection from the jagged shards still remaining stuck in the window frame.
    Maria was coughing helplessly. George said: ‘I’ll go first and catch you as you jump.’ Grasping the back of the seat for balance, he stood on the sill, bent double, and jumped. He heard his shirt tear on a snag, but felt no pain, and concluded that he had escaped injury. He landed on the roadside grass. The mob had backed off from the burning bus in fear. George turned and held his arms up to Maria. ‘Climb through, like I did!’ he shouted.
    Her pumps were flimsy compared with his toe-capped oxfords, and he was glad he had sacrificed his jacket when he saw her small feet on the sill. She was shorter than he was, but her womanly figure made her wider. He winced when her hip brushed a shard of glass as she squeezed through, but it did not tear the fabric of her dress, and a moment later she fell into his arms.
    He held her easily. She was not heavy, and he was in good shape. He set her on her feet, but she dropped to her knees, gasping for air.
    He looked around. The thugs were still keeping their distance. He looked inside the bus. Cora Jones was standing in the aisle, coughing, turning round and round, too shocked and bewildered to save herself. ‘Cora, come here!’ he yelled. She heard her name and looked at him. ‘Come through the window, like we did!’ he shouted. ‘I’ll help you!’ She seemed to understand. With difficulty, she stood on the seat, still clutching her handbag. She hesitated, looking at the jagged bits of glass all around the window frame; but she had on a thick coat, and she seemed to decide a cut was a better risk than choking to death. She put one foot on the sill. George reached through the window, grabbed her arm, and pulled. She tore her coat but did no harm to herself, and he lifted her down. She staggered away, calling for water.
    ‘We have to get away from the bus!’ he yelled to Maria. ‘The fuel tank might explode.’ But Maria was so racked by coughing that she seemed helpless to move. He put one arm around her back and the other behind her knees and picked her up. He carried her towards the grocery store and set her down when he thought they were at a safe distance.
    He looked back and saw that the bus was now emptying rapidly. The door had at last been opened, and people were stumbling through as well as jumping from the windows.
    The flames grew. As the last passengers got out, the inside of the vehicle became a furnace. George heard a man shout something about the fuel tank, and the mob took up the cry, shouting: ‘She’s gonna blow! She’s gonna blow!’ Everyone scattered in fear, getting farther away. Then there was a deep thump and a sudden fierce gout of flame, and the vehicle rocked with the explosion.
    George was pretty sure no one was left inside, and he thought: At least no one is dead – yet.
    The detonation seemed to have sated the mob’s hunger for violence. They stood around watching the bus burn.
    A small crowd of what appeared to be local people had gathered outside the grocery store, many cheering the