A Winter Wedding(76)

He wasn’t even sure he responded before he shoved his bare feet into his boots and dashed out, still trying to get that sweatshirt over his head. He’d put so much time and effort into his business, had finally built it into what he’d always imagined it could be. This didn’t seem possible. A fire could set him back months, years, if it destroyed the whole plant.

He floored the accelerator on his truck, but the three-or four-minute drive seemed to take hours. He wished it would start snowing again. The precipitation might help save the plant. But the wind was all that remained of the mild storm they’d had earlier—and wind was definitely not what he needed.

When he slammed on his brakes in the parking lot and jumped out, he saw more than the “odd glow” Warren had reported. Flames leaped from the window near Morgan’s desk. And the stench made him sick. He’d been trying not to panic, since fire could mean a lot of things. There were small fires that were easy to put out and didn’t do much damage.

And then there were blazes like this one...

“Son of a bitch!” he yelled and ran around to the back, where he felt the door to check for heat before opening it. Fortunately, the entire plant hadn’t been engulfed—not yet. His machinery and inventory were worth a few million dollars. The fire department might be able to save it—if they arrived soon. But the volunteer force was spread over several neighboring towns, not just Whiskey Creek. It could take some time for the bulk of the firefighters to get here.

Kyle grabbed the fire extinguisher inside the door and held it in front of him. But the smoke and the heat drove him back before he could reach the flames. The blaze had broken out in the offices. Kyle had no idea why or how, but he couldn’t focus on the reasons, anyway. He needed to get the computers. Morgan was supposed to back them up regularly, but he had no idea how diligent she’d been. Missing files, purchase orders and contracts would cripple him when it came to filling his most recent orders.

It was getting difficult to see and even harder to breathe. He ducked low, closer to the ground, hoping he might be able to reach the front. He was going to lose all his office furniture and equipment, and the paperwork that floated between his desk and Morgan’s. But if he could just salvage the computers, and the fire department put the fire out before the flames got to the back end, he could recover from this sooner rather than later.

The closer he got to his own office, however, the more certain he became that it was too late. That portion of the plant was already destroyed.

The deafening growl of the fire reminded him of a year ago, when he and his friends had purposely set one of his houses ablaze (one that needed to be torn down, anyway). That had been controlled and yet it had shown Kyle how quickly fire could consume a building.

If not for Warren raising the alarm tonight, he would’ve lost everything.

He could still lose everything...

A large crack reverberated over the roar of the flames. Then Kyle heard shattering glass—a window blowing out—and part of the roof fell in. A burning chunk of debris landed only a few feet away from him.

He had to give up, he realized. He couldn’t save the computers or anything else. As much as his business meant to him, it wasn’t worth his life.

He was making his way back when he heard someone call his name.

“Coming!” he yelled. Then he started coughing and couldn’t seem to stop. He’d breathed in too much smoke, searing his lungs.

He covered his mouth, but minutes later two firemen in full regalia came charging in, grabbed hold of him and half dragged him out into the night.

“I’m fine!” he insisted between coughs and gasps. “I was just trying to get a few things. Let me go so you can put out the damn fire!”

They released him only when he was clear of the building and told him to stay put. Then they hurried over to join several other men who were training fire hoses on the blaze.

“Shit.” How could this have happened? Maybe he shouldn’t be feeling so grateful to Warren. Maybe Warren had been lying to him about where he’d been smoking that cigarette. Could he have accidentally started the fire?

Kyle suspected that was the most likely explanation. He and Warren—and Lourdes, of course—were the only people on the property this late at night.

But then he caught a glimpse of something that made his skin prickle and had him surging to his feet. Was that who he thought it was?

There was a pole light near the building, so it wasn’t completely dark around the property, even this far from town. But with all the headlights from the various vehicles pulling in, the haze created by the smoke and the frenetic activity of the firemen running to and fro in front of him, he couldn’t be sure.

But a car that looked like Noelle’s Honda turned in at the drive, then backed up and quickly took off.





21

Lourdes had put on some jeans and a sweater. She knew the firefighters didn’t need another person getting in the way during an emergency like this, but she was so worried about Kyle—whether he was safe and how he was coping with this tragedy—that she borrowed his heavy coat and walked over to the plant. She’d never been there before, but it wasn’t difficult to find with all the vehicles barreling down the road toward it.

By the time she arrived, the place was swarming with activity. Although the sirens had been silenced, lights still swirled on the fire trucks as well as a few police cars. Men rushed around to get a better footing or a more advantageous position. And she could hear one firefighter yelling at several others through a loudspeaker. “Take it higher, Pete. Right there at the top. That’s it.”