Free UlteriorMotives by Chandra Ryan Page B

escape before the smoke became too heavy.
Hopefully. Then she’d deal with Jake. Jake the snake. She would’ve laughed at the
rhyme had she not been so busy trying to make her way over to her crutches
without putting any weight on her broken ankle.
    When she finally had the supports under her arms, though,
the struggle wasn’t any easier. The rubber pads slipped on the wet floors
several times, pitching her forward with any attempt to balance herself. When
she reflexively put her foot down to catch herself, a sharp pain would shoot up
her calf and through her body that nearly made her pass out. And she’d only
made it to the hallway. For the first time she started to think of her escape
in terms of “if” instead of “when”.
    There might still be a chance though. The suppression system
wouldn’t seal her in the house. So as long she made it to the door before the
fire got to her, she might be okay. Unless someone hit the safety bypass. She
shuddered at the thought. There would be no surviving the heavy foam that would
coat the house. It would suffocate her as easily as it did the fire.
    She tried to hurry but that only made her crutches slip more
frequently. Her escape teetered on becoming an exercise in futility. She’d made
it most of the way down the hall when she glimpsed the first flicker of flames
licking the walls. But her situation seemed destined to get worse. When she
came out of the hall, it was to the discovery that the front room already had
flames rolling up the walls and scorching the ceiling. She was trapped.
    Waves of heat from the fire surrounded her, causing sweat to
drip down her face and her back. And the thick blanket of smoke made it hard
for her to breathe. She should lower herself to the floor and crawl, but her
broken ankle prohibited that. Even if she could somehow manage to get down to
the ground, the pain would make her pass out before the smoke got to her.
    She always had the answer. With her job, she had to. But now
she had none. She leaned against her crutches and surveyed the situation one
last time. She was dead if she stayed in her current spot. But she might be
able to make it across the front room before the ceiling collapsed on her, if
she could go fast enough. Which meant she had to put on her big girl panties
and get a move on.
    It was difficult to balance on the crutches while her body
shook with coughing fits but she did her best. She’d made it to the middle of
the room before she heard the ominous creaking of the ceiling. She tried to
push herself faster but one of her crutches slipped. It all happened in slow
motion. She was falling in a room currently being devoured by flame and she
couldn’t stop. There wasn’t even a way for her to brace herself. In that moment
she didn’t doubt the outcome. This tiny slip meant her death. There were no
remaining options. Just as she expected to feel the sting of hitting the floor,
though, she didn’t. Instead someone lifted her into his strong arms. Cradling
her like a small child against a strong chest.
    “Stubborn, impatient woman. Couldn’t wait for the cavalry,
could you?”
    She couldn’t make out Jasper’s face through the mask he
wore, but she easily recognized his voice. “Determined,” she corrected around a
cough.
    Jasper slipped a mask over her head as he carried her out of
the room. “What the hell happened? We were all in the barn when we heard the
alarm.”
    “Jake came for a visit. I think he’s the one working with
the energy company. When I wouldn’t seal the ranch’s fate by sending you away,
he decided to up the stakes.” In his embrace she was able to make it out of the
house before the ceiling collapsed but, even after the door closed behind them,
the suppression system still didn’t seal off the house. “Someone is still in
there.”
    Jasper took a deep breath and handed her over to Stan. “I’m
going back in. If there’s someone trapped in there, we need to get them out
before the whole