Page 14 of Changed By Firefighter Daddy

When I pulled the handle, though, it was wedged. I knocked on it and called out again.

“Clary? Are you in there?”

I waited, hearing nothing. I wiggled the handle again, then stepped back and kicked it. It shook, but didn’t budge.

“Fuck,” I muttered, running back to the truck. I looked up and saw Jordan smash the window, then reach into the cockpit to pull Charlie from the pilot’s chair. He looked bloodied but alive.

I hopped up with him and then lowered myself into the cockpit. The heat was starting to get intense.

“Can you get that fire out?” I called to Jordan.

He nodded through the smoke that was starting to get thicker, then jumped down to lay Charlie down. I heard him radio in for the ambulance, which was already on its way.

I pushed the door open to the small passenger area and saw her tiny body slumped, still in her seat. She even had her seatbelt on.

I breathed a sigh I hadn’t even realized I’d been holding in, then unbuckled her and took her in my arms. Her body was limp and her head was bleeding. There was a large bruise already starting to form on her temple.

I turned to the side door and kicked it open. From this angle, it flew open and I nearly fell forward. She moaned in my arms as the smoke started to overtake us both.

“Jeremy!” Jordan yelled from behind the plane. “You’ve gotta get out of there. I can’t contain it and the extra supplies are explosives! Get out of there!”

He started sprinting away from the wreckage, and hefted Charlie to his feet, pulling him away from the plane. I clambered out of the plane awkwardly holding Clary, then turned and sprinted for the woods surrounding the plane.

I’d barely made it ten yards when I was blown off my feet by the explosion. I used my body to cushion the impact, rolling and cradling her in my arms.

I grunted and felt pain reverberate all the way up my body, but held onto her tightly while explosions rocked around us.

When the earth was finally still, I put my head up and looked around.

“What the FUCK was that?” I shouted to no one in particular. My ears were still ringing while I rolled on the ground, shaking my head.

I saw Jordan poke his head out from behind a tree and watched Charlie shake his head in confusion and fear.

“I had some guys say they needed something transported up here. I didn’t ask what,” he admitted shakily. “Especially when they said what they’d pay for it. They are NOT going to be happy that it didn’t make it up there.”

Just then the ambulance roared over the ridge. Clary moaned in my arms and blinked up at me.

“What happened?” she asked, groggily. “Did I fall asleep on the plane ride?”

“Something like that,” I responded, relieved she had woken up and seemed okay.

“My head hurts,” she moaned. “And so does the rest of my body.”

Just then, I had to hand her over to the EMT. They loaded Charlie up into another vehicle and took them both back to the local doctor’s.

Jordan and I followed in the Fire Department’s truck.

“We’re going to have to look into Charlie’s story more,” he noted.

I nodded in agreement. There was definitely something there that didn’t line up.