Too Grand for Words (BookStrand Publishing Romance) (18 page)

Patti thrust her hand to shield her eyes, looking up into the sky. “We’re talking about Moira here, Callie, you know what she’ll do.”

“What do you mean?” Steven asked, a heavy feeling dropping into his chest.

“She’s not just going to run for the stairs. She’s going to start banging on doors and helping people out,” Sasha said.

“She can’t do that,” he said, turning quickly to look at every face as people emerged from the hotel lobby.

“That fire is spreading fast, guys, it’s already taken at least fifteen rooms, and it’s jumped a floor,” Callie said. “This is not good. They’ll have to fight the fire from inside. It’s too high.”

Callie didn’t sound like a fun-loving little brat anymore. Even her voice had changed, and she was all business.

“I see her,” Marcus called behind him, starting to run.

The rest of the crew started to run as well, following Marcus. Moira had her arm wrapped around an old woman’s waist, helping her out of the hotel. She passed the woman off to a security guard, and said something to him quickly, then turned to run back inside.

“Moira,” Mandy called, reaching her first.

“Don’t talk, let’s go. There’s hundreds of people coming down the stairs and a lot of them are older. They’re having trouble. We need to help.”

Steven grabbed her arm to stop her. “No, Moira, that’s what the firemen do.”

 
“There’s only two trucks on scene. They need more resources, we’re it for now until more arrive.” She turned to head back inside.

“Moira, no. You’re not going back in there.”

She ripped her arm from his grasp. “Help or back off,” she ordered.

A young man and three of his friends who stood close by turned to face them. Their hair was shaved to barely a stubble. They wore khaki green shirts, and dog tags hung from each of their necks. In the prime of their life, they looked fit, and they were big guys. One of them stepped forward. “Ma’am, did you just say they need help in there?”

“Yes, are you military?” Moira asked.

“Yes, ma’am, Marines.”

“Then follow me,” she ordered.

Steven ran behind them. “They’re not going to let you back in there,” he said.

The confusion and amount of people swarming from the front doors was hard to control, but the traffic pattern was in one direction. Three security guards stretched their arms out to stop them as they approached the entrance. Moira didn’t even slow down. “Coast Guard, Marines.” She pointed at those who were with her. “You need all the help you can get.”

One of the security guards dropped his arms. “Go ahead, ma’am.”

Fuck, so much for that idea, Steven thought.

Moira stopped in the lobby and turned as her crew and the marines circled her. “Callie, Marcus, and Sasha take these big guys with you,” she said, pointing at two of the marines, “and head for the west staircase. Help those that are closest first and urge others to help people who aren’t making it down the stairs fast enough. They’ll bottleneck at the bottom, causing trouble up top. Go.” She turned to Patti, Mandy, and the other two marines. “Follow me to the east staircase. Mandy, I want you on ground level. Patti, you hand off to her. You two”—she motioned to the marines—“head to the upper floors and help from up there. Understand the plan?” she asked.

They nodded, and her crew disappeared into the opposing flow of people. She turned to face him. “Steven, go back outside. You’re responsible for a lot of people, you shouldn’t be doing this.”

“Christ, woman, shut up and let’s go.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her along with him, heading for the stairs.

Chapter Ten

Mandy met them, already coming back with a woman who had to be in her late eighties. The old girl leaned against Mandy who held her up with a strong arm clasped around her. A gentleman in his later years walked beside them trying to help, but he was barely managing himself.

Steven yelled at a security guard who stood on the side of the walkway keeping the traffic flowing.

“Yes, sir,” the guard said as he met them.

“Take this woman, and get her to the entrance.”

He turned. Moira had disappeared into the crowd. “Let’s go, Mandy.”

He fought his way through the people exiting the stairwell.

“Sir, you can’t go back up,” said a man in a suit with an earpiece and curly cord tucked into the neck of his shirt.

Steven could see that Moira had been right. People weren’t clearing the exit fast enough, and it was causing a backup. “You need to push people through here faster,” he yelled, so the guy could hear him over the clatter of conversation. He edged his way into the crowd and kept to the right side of the stairwell. “When you get to the exit, pick up the pace,” he said to people as they made their way down the stairs. Where the hell was Moira?

He met one of the marines on his way down with a young woman in his arms wearing a full-length leg cast. “Have you seen Moira and the others?”

“Which one’s Moira?”

“The small one, shoutin’ orders.”

“Yeah, she’s already on the tenth floor. There’s a lot of people still at that level. It thins out after that, but I didn’t get to the top. And the smoke is getting into the stairwell from above. That shouldn’t be happening. The positive pressure should keep the air flowing out of the stairwell,” he yelled, not stopping. “There has to be a door open up above, and it’s just feeding the fire with pressurized air.”

He climbed another two floors, watching for someone who was having difficulty, but everyone moved as carefully and as quickly as they could. At the sixth floor, he met one of the other marines. Three kids hung off him, one under each arm and another clinging to his neck like a little monkey, the worried mother close behind. “Have you seen my friends?”

“They’re on the tenth floor, man. There must be a tour of old-timers all stacked together up there. The firemen and your friends are there trying to get them out.”

“Thanks.” He took the stairs two, sometimes three at a time. He yanked open the tenth floor fire door as Patti was coming from the other side.

“Steven, thank God. The firemen have control of the elevator, and they took some in wheelchairs down already, but there’s more. They’ll have to be carried.”

He held the door open for Patti. She gripped the old-timer’s arm around her shoulder, bolstering him up. “We’re going to be fine. One step at a time, sir,” she said.

“Where’s Moira?”

“She’s to your right, down at the end of the hall.”

An acrid scent of plastic, wood, and burning cloth permeated the air. It filled Steven’s nose as he ran into the hallway, but he couldn’t see any smoke yet. Two firemen came toward him, each carrying someone.

“Sir, you have to get off the floor.”

“I’m here to help. Where’s Moira?”

“If you’re talking about the bossy little brunette, she’s down there.” He jerked his head behind him.

He looked up to see Moira helping another man. Their hands were linked together, and an old woman whose legs had atrophied from lack of use sat between them clad in a pale pink nightgown.

“Moira,” he called out.

She jerked her head up. “Steven, there’s a man in one of the rooms behind us. He’s crippled, he’s big, and he’s resisting rescue. Can you help him? Two rooms behind us, right hand side. The doors propped open.”

He nodded, and found the man sitting on the bed. He wasn’t big, he was huge, weighing in at well over three hundred pounds, and at least six foot six. “Hello? Hey there, I’m here to give you a hand outta here,” he said.

“No, son, I can’t make it,” the old man said, shaking his head.

“Don’t give up yet, old-timer. Come on,” he urged.

“No, son, save somebody else. I’ve lived a full life.”

He knew every second that passed, the fire was eating the top floors making its way to them. He knelt in front of the old man. “What’s your name?”

“Klaus.”

“I’m Steven, and we have two choices. I stand here and burn to death beside you or I help you. There’s more rescuers coming behind me. We’re going to get everyone out, and that means you, too.”

“It’ll take three men to get me down those stairs.”

“Don’t think so, just me, come on we’re going. Besides, if I don’t get you out of here, I won’t hear the end of it from the woman I think I’m falling for. So gimme a break here.”

The old boy’s watery, blue eyes looked down at him. “Women like heroes.” He chuckled.

“Well, I don’t know whether I’m a hero in her eyes, but I followed her into a burning building, and I’m going to carry you out of here if I have to. There’s got to be some brownie points in that, and you’re going to help me.”

The old man jerked his head in agreement, and slung his arm across his shoulders.

“All right, can you use your legs at all?”

“Not much left in this old workhorse,” he said.

“Give me what you got.” He hoisted the man up with all his strength. “Lean against me, and I’ll take care of the rest.”

As they entered the hallway, and headed for the stairs, five firefighters burst from the stairwell. One of the firemen threw his hand in the air, and talked into his radio. “Fire’s made it to the eighteenth floor. Justin, help this man,” he ordered.

Justin, a man almost as big as him, broke from the rest of the firemen. “Can you use your legs, sir?” he asked Klaus.

“He doesn’t have much strength in them. We’re going to have to do the work,” Steven said.

“We’re going to use the extremities carry to start off. Do you know what that is?” Justin asked from behind his mask.

“I think so.”

“There’s a fault in the fire system. The stairwell is filling with smoke. If it gets too much you have to break away, and leave me with him. Do you understand?” the fireman asked.

He nodded.

The stairwell was empty now, most of the people having evacuated. Behind them, he could hear the heavy, purposeful steps of the rescuers helping the older guests.

Patti met them on the third floor. “Turn around, Patti, they’ve got the rest.”

She followed them down.

It went faster than he thought it would, and he and Justin made it down to the main floor in a reasonable amount of time. The gaming floor had emptied except for some of the resort staff, rescue crews, firemen, and paramedics.

“I’m going to find the rest of the crew,” Patti said. “Come find us, Steven.”

They didn’t stall, carrying Klaus all the way to the lobby entrance where extra hands suddenly appeared to help. He released his grip, and bent over to catch his breath.

“Good job, thanks, man,” Justin said, clapping him on the arm.

“Thanks, son, I thought this was going to be my last day,” Klaus said, reaching his hand out to him.

“You’re welcome.” When he looked up a cameraman and reporter stood right in front of him. Great.

“Glen, did you get that,” the short, perky redhead said to the guy behind the camera as she shoved a microphone into Steven’s face. “Mr. Porter, you just saved that man’s life. What were you doing in this hotel?”

“Listen—” He gently put his hand over her microphone and pushed it down. “Please, not this time.”

“But you just helped that man out of a burning building, Mr. Porter, you’re a hero.”

“What’s your name?”

“Cindy.”

“Cindy, I’m asking you to let this one go. You’ve got enough of a story here.” She seemed to read the look in his eyes, and knew he was serious. “Next time, all right.” He walked away from her. He’d be surprised if she gave in, but she didn’t follow.

People had been cleared to the street. Barricades across the entrance kept anyone from entering, although many people wandered around the front lawn, cut and kept like a golf green, that flanked the driveway to the front of the hotel. More media had showed up, but the police stopped their vans on the street. It was time for him to get the hell out of here before they saw him.

A sharp whistle cut through the air. “Hey, over here.”

He turned to see who was calling. One of the marines flagged him over. The rest of Moira’s crew stood beside them, but no Moira.

He walked slowly toward them. The adrenaline wearing off, and the burn in his thighs beginning. “Where is she?” he asked, when he reached them.

“Over there,” Mandy said, motioning to their right. “She’s okay, Steven.”

He looked over to see her speaking with Vince.

“She might be okay, but all my stuff is burning up, and I’m sweating like a pig,” Callie said, crossing her arms over her chest. “I mean look at me. Our tickets, our money, everything is up there.”

Obviously, once Callie had done her duty she reverted back to brat status, he thought, giving her a small grin. “Don’t worry, Callie, I’ve got you all covered. You can stay at my hotel, and it has plenty of shops and amenities to get you back up and running,” he offered.

“Thanks, Steven,” Mandy said. “We appreciate that, really.”

Callie brushed the ashes that fell from the sky off herself, creating dirty streaks across her white bathing suit cover-up. “This will teach us to go on a holiday with the Black Magnet.” She scuffed her toe against the turf. “I guess we should have known this was coming.”

“Callie, that’s ridiculous,” Sasha said.

“That’s the second time you’ve said that, Callie, are you talking about Moira?” Steven asked.

“Of course I—”

Patti cut her off. “It’s nothing but a stupid rumor. Don’t listen to her.”

Moira continued to talk with Vince and four other men who hovered around them. “Why do you call her that?” he asked.

“Bad luck swirls around Moira. She’s been in so many close calls it’s just not normal,” Callie said, her face contorting with worry. “One day something’s going to happen to her.”

“It’s coincidence, Steven,” Mandy said quickly, then turned on Callie. “What’s the matter with you, Callie? Talking behind her back like that. She cares about you. And she’s given you more attention than anyone has ever gotten.”

“I know that.” Tears glazed over Callie’s eyes. “That’s what I’m worried about.” She bowed her head. “One day, Moira won’t get away. One day, she’s going to die.” Tears flowed down her cheeks. “It’s not coincidence. Our crew has triple the amount of incidents anyone else has at work, Steven. You’ve only known her for a few days and already there’s been two earthquakes, the bridge collapse, and the fire that’s devouring my makeup as we speak,” she said, sniffling.

Sasha raked her hand through her hair, and then threw her arm around Callie’s shoulder. “Callie, nothing is going to kill Moira.” Sasha looked up at him. “She’s making it sound worse than it is.”

“Uh-huh, ask them about her husband,” Callie said, rubbing her cheeks causing more black smudges. “He almost died.”