A Profiler's Case for Seduction(81)

The fire burned the bottoms of his feet through the soles of his shoes as he choked and gasped in the smoke. When he had freed her feet he reached up to chop at the next rope.

He had no idea if she was dead or not. He only knew she did nothing to aid him. He was vaguely aware of people screaming, not in revelry but in horror.

He was never going to get her down in time. The hungry flames now licked at the back of his legs, the intense heat searing through him. He paused long enough to reach down and slap his pants where flames had jumped to greedily consume the material.

Realizing he didn’t have the time to chop at all the ropes that held her upright, knowing he couldn’t reach her upper body without a ladder, he began to push on the pole, needing it to fall and praying that somehow, if she was still alive, the fall wouldn’t kill her.

He didn’t know if it was the smoke or the agony of his heart that shot tears streaming down his face; he only knew that he was the failure. He wasn’t going to be able to save her from the flames.

And then Joseph was next to him, helping him push against the pole, and Lori stepped into the fray, manning a handheld fire extinguisher that cleared the area around the base of the pole.

Mark cried out with effort as he and Joseph shoved on the pole and felt it teetering, ready to fall. The crowd of people behind the pole began chanting and Mark realized they intended to break the fall, to catch Dora.

The tears that now raced down his face were a mixture of emotions. She wasn’t going to be burned alive...but was she already dead? She hadn’t given any indication of consciousness since he’d begun working to get her down.

As the pole fell backward, several men caught it and eased it to the ground. Mark and Joseph jumped out of the fire. He had no thoughts other than those for Dora. As he pulled the helmet off her head, Joseph worked the last of the ropes that held her to the pole.

“Please...please...” Mark repeated over and over again, pulling the silver tape from her mouth and checking the pulse in her neck. He nearly sagged into a puddle as he felt the beat against his fingers. “She’s alive,” he yelled to nobody and everyone.

“An ambulance is on the way,” Lori said as she squatted down next to Mark and Dora. Mark nodded absently, his focus solely on the woman he now held in his arms.

“You have to be okay,” he whispered to her, unmindful of the people gathering around. “Dora, hang on. Help is coming.” As if summoned by his words, the sound of a siren filled the air.

It was only when Dora was loaded into the back of an ambulance and driven away that the rage took hold of Mark. He looked around at the crowd, his heart beating the thunder of anger. The flames from the fire pit burned bright, torching red and yellow colors on the faces of the spectators.

What had happened to Ben and Melinda? He’d been so intent on making sure he got Dora down that he didn’t know what the rest of the team and the local law enforcement had been doing in the meantime.

He spied Richard standing at the edge of the people and beside him was a handcuffed Melinda. He fisted his hands at his sides as he stalked toward the woman who had nearly taken away Dora’s life.

“I thought you might like to have a word with her,” Richard said as Mark approached.

“Where’s Ben?”

“On his way to the sheriff’s office in matching bracelets.”

“It was Ben’s fault,” Melinda said, tears streaking mascara down her cheeks. “He killed those men. He put Dora on the stake. I didn’t know anything about it all. He’s crazy.”

Mark raised his hands and clapped them together three times. “Stunning performance, Melinda. You should have majored in drama,” he said.

“You have to believe me. I had nothing to do with any of this,” she exclaimed.

“I’ve got your tin box.”

Her eyes narrowed and glinted with a hard stare that reminded him of his nightmares of her. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“The photos on the camera speak for themselves,” Mark replied. “Maybe you can teach some classes from the prison cell where you’ll spend the rest of your life.” He looked at Richard. “I’m done with her,” he said with obvious disgust. “She’s a complete failure.”

As he walked away he heard Melinda raging behind him, telling him that Dora was the failure and calling him a loser. The last thing he cared about was what a sociopathic killer thought of him and Dora.