Hank took off at a run.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO.

IT WAS STUPID, she knew that. She was going to catch h.e.l.l from Hank later.

But Gus was on the sidewalk"Gus who had come back from his Costa Rica trip only because he loved his cat so much. He was wringing his hands, looking across the low, flickering flames toward the bagel store, and above it, his apartment. On his balcony next to her own, she could just make out the large orange shape of Anchor.

It was taking both Johannes and Pastor Jacobs to hold him back and keep him from running across the street.

But Gus wouldnt make it if Anchor didnt. That cat was all Gus had left in the world.

And no one was holding Samantha back.

All of First Street was on fire. Not the buildings, not yet, but Samantha a.s.sumed that it wasnt long until they caught. Now it was just ripples of flame shooting up from cracks in the sidewalk and from the grates at the edge of street. And there were gaps in the flame.

She was fast. Samantha had always been fast.

A good block before her apartment, a block before anyone with Gus caught sight of her, Samantha raced between two jets of fire. Move, keep moving, dont slip, dont fall, dont stand still.

It was hotter than she could have imagined. She picked a good gap to run through, at least ten feet from the nearest burst of flame, but even then, the heat was intense. Her cheeks and the exposed skin on her arms hurt. The air was full of dark black smoke and smelled of chemicals and something blacker, tar or creosote. Behind her, safe in their berths, the boats masts clanked as if nothing was wrong. The sun was setting, an orange dusk lowering, just like any other day in Darling Bay. The birds were gone, though. No seagulls floated above"there were no scattered cries.

Samantha heard shouting, and ran harder. Almost there, almost there The photo alb.u.m. The one with the pictures of her and Grace as children in the Valley, their parents still smiling, her mother not yet in pain. She could get it, once she got to the building.

But she didnt think she could carry both an enormous squirming cat and the heavy photo alb.u.m"not both and still get back through the flames safely. Almost as quickly as shed thought of it, she gave up the hope of saving the alb.u.m.

Really, it wasnt important.

When she got to the building, Anchor wasnt on the balcony any more. He must have gone inside. Samantha barreled around the building to the back staircase. She had Guss key on her ring, and she raced up the back steps so fast she stumbled on the top one.

Guss lock stuck as it always did. Not now, please. She hit the door with her shoulder and the lock finally twisted. Inside, though, the orange beast was visible nowhere.

Anchor? Here, kitty-kitty. As if that cat had ever done a single thing anyone had ever wanted him to.

Maybe hed gone from Guss balcony to hers? She often left her French doors open, and more than once, shed found Anchor sleeping smack-dab in the middle of her favorite pillow.

She tore out of Guss apartment and into her own.

Shed just shut the door behind her when the explosion happened.

The heat was a roar. An inferno.

And it was coming from behind the bagel store. From near the staircase Samantha must have just gone up.

Hank had no fear, no nervousness"he felt nothing other than a complete, total urgency to get there, get to her, get there now. Something was preventing him, though. He yanked his arm as hard as he could, trying to get free.

No, roared Barger in his ear. Youre not going anywhere near that building. Its gonna light up in about a second.

Thats why Im going, Hank said calmly to his boss. Samantha's there.

I dont care if my mamas in there, youre not going. Barger increased the pressure on Hanks arm. Tox! Get over here! Hold this guy!

Oh, no. Tox was a beast. He was huge. If Tox got hold of him, Hank wouldnt have a chance.

He straightened and put on as calm a face as he could. Understood, sir. Where can you best use me, given that I dont have my PPEs?

Good man, said Barger, releasing him. I need a pair of eyes for safety on the corner of Lowry and First But Hank was gone. Whatever secondary fuel supply had just blown behind the bagel shop wouldnt give Samantha much time to get out. And in the whole town, in the whole world, there was only one person he needed to save.

Samantha.

He broke through the fire at Taylor where two fountains of flame sputtered. Maybe whatever underground tank had caught was running out of gas? If it were storage, that would make sense, but not if it was an incoming distribution line. If was incoming, it could get even worse, and fast. He darted toward the back of the bagel shop, but the heat was too intense. If he went toe her staircase was, the super-heated gas would rip into his lungs.

He had to get her out of here.

The front of the building was the only way to go. When the kid had fallen off the rock, Hank had gone down by climbing the drain pipe"he could go up it now.

Hand over hand, carefully placing his feet square on the wall so they didnt slip, Hank pulled himself up. One long reach and he pulled himself over the balconys rail. From inside her apartment, and from the one next door, curled wisps of black smoke. The roof, then, had caught. In a minute, maybe less, the entire building would be burning.

Inside, he found her down on the kitchen floor. The smoke had taken her out. Not dead. Not dead. She couldnt be dead. Frantically, he pushed his fingers against her throat. He found her pulse, still strong. Relief tasted like sugar in his soot-filled mouth.

Hank grabbed the nearest two pillowcases and shook them free of their pillows. He wrapped one around her face and then one around his. It wouldnt do much to prevent the gas inhalation, but it would help with the heat, at least. Scanning the apartment, he caught sight of the blankets on the back of the couch. Perfect. Wool. Wool was naturally fire r.e.t.a.r.dant.

He wrapped one afghan around his body as best he could, then he pulled the other one around her p.r.o.ne body. She held something soft and heavy in her hands"the cat. Shed come back for her neighbors cat. Well, at least it was unconscious, too, and wouldnt present much of a problem to carry out, if he bundled it inside his blanket. Hanks hands fumbled as he attempted to tighten the blanket around Samantha's arms, her hair. If he didnt hurry, he too would be unconscious in about thirty seconds, if he didnt get them all out of here right now. Unceremoniously, he shoved the cat into his blanket, using it like a Snugli, the way women at Mabels Cafe did in the mornings.

Then he slung Samantha over his shoulder in a firemans carry.

He put his hand on her door. Too hot.

It was way too hot.

Hed be lucky if the stairs were even still there. If they werent there, then he and Samantha werent getting out of this place alive, not with active fire surrounding the block it sat on.

It was against every protocol in the book to open the door to her stairs. It would have been better for him to go out the French doors and drop her off the balcony, following her over. But he couldnt protect her that way, couldnt guarantee that shed fall the right way, that she wouldnt land on her head and die instantly"or worse, die later, slowly, after a painful injury.

d.a.m.n it all. The whole block could ignite any second. It could go up like San Bruno had. There was no time to waste, none.

Hank tore open the door, ignoring the initial blast of heat he felt against his face. The entire parking lot behind the building was on fire"even the pavement was burning. Four or five cars were fully involved, but miraculously, the stairs were just starting to singe from the heat and werent actively on fire yet.

He ran toward the water with her. He ran toward dusks sunset faster than hed ever run on any fire department test, faster than when hed been sprinting 5ks every weekend. He ran faster through the heat than hed ever run with the work dummy over his shoulder. He raced so fast over a plume of flame that shot out of the pavement that the wool they were wrapped in didnt even scorch.

But Hank wasnt running as if his life depended on it, even though it did.

He was running as if hers did, and that was the source of his speed.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE.

AN OLD MAN Hank didnt know was at his elbow, tugging.

You saved his life. You saved his life.

Hank looked down at the gra.s.s where Samantha lay. Smoke from the smoldering asphalt blew across them. PG&E had capped the gas line, and there was no more active fuel for the fire, but the fire department was just now attempting to fight the two active blazes"the bagel shop and Skips Ice Cream. Usually, Hank would do anything to fight any one of those fires. On a normal day, there would be nothing that would keep him away from helping his department and his community.

Today? With her lying in front of him, that mane of hair tangled and dark with soot, Barger could have offered him a million dollars and a promotion to deputy chief and he would have quit before leaving her side.

Not that Barger would have. Mutual aid engines and trucks from Eureka had arrived, along with a fleet of ambulances to treat the injured. Darling Bay would lose the two buildings, but it had lost buildings to fire before. Hank hated that Samantha would wake to find her home"and her second job"gone, but at least she was here. With him.

Her life, he corrected the old man. Yeah, sh.e.l.l be okay.

Chaos swirled around them"parents rushing to find their kids whod been hanging out after school at the marina, news vans whod crawled out of the woodwork the moment gas fire had been said on the radio. People were yelling, crying.

None of it mattered.

Samantha would be okay"just fine to live her life, to leave and start new elsewhere, because when did someone like Samantha settle down, really? He was just lucky shed stayed as long as she had.

No, his life, insisted the man. He gestured at the orange blanket under his arm. Only it wasnt a blanket.

Anchor. Thats your cat.

Im Gus. The girl has told me plenty about you.

She has?

Yup. Youre all she talks about.

Anything I want to know? Probably not. Most likely, what Samantha told her neighbor was about what a close call shed had. Maybe shed even confessed that shed made a man fall in love with her twice, the second time about a billion times worse than the first.

Gus shrugged. Its hard when youre in love with someone.

Thanks, man, but you can keep your pity.

Gus looked startled, but only said, Are you the one who brought my cat back to life?

He was, actually. Bonnie Maddern, one of their medics, hadnt let him touch Samantha when he got her out of fire danger. You cant. Youre too close to her. Get out of my way. I mean it, Coffee. Youre on thin enough ice with Barger as it is. He said h.e.l.l have your badge by the end of the day. Go fix that cat you dragged out.

Fine, Hank had thought while giving the cat oxygen and ma.s.saging its chest. Barger could take his badge, but Hank would know for the rest of his life that Samantha had lived because of him. She would be dead right now"Hank had given a choked cry as the cat stretched and yawned under his hands. She wasnt dead. The cat, too, was alive. Anchor, hed said. Anchor. Youre back. You son of a b.i.t.c.h.

Yeah, Hank said now to Gus. I did bring him back to life.

Samantha said you didnt take no risks.

Normally I dont. He stood taller to look over the short mans shoulder. On the lawn, Bonnie was still attending to Samantha. She was talking now. Awake. He saw her sit up halfway and then be encouraged by Bonnie to lie down flat again. How were her lungs? What was her O2 sat now? What if Bonnie didnt keep a close enough eye on it?

Anchor and I thank you.

Why do you call him Anchor? Anything to take his mind off Samantha and his need to rush to her side.

I was a sailor, see. Gus grinned. Thats funny. See, sea, get it?

I get it, said Hank shortly.

I met this girl when I put in to Darling Bay in my boat. Well, you know, I fell in love. I was young. Okay, younger than I am now. I was sixty-eight when Sheila and I met. She was younger, only sixty. A looker, too. Did you know her? Sheila Westin, from just north of the harbor?

Hank shook his head, barely able to focus on the mans words. Samantha was sitting up all the way now, moving her hands as if she was arguing with Bonnie about getting up. Uh-uh. Bonnie better not let her up. He put one hand on Guss shoulder. I dont think I knew her. I should get over there"

You listen to me just one goldarntootin minute, you hear me? Under Guss arm, Anchor hissed as if on cue. I got something to say to you.

Okay?

Shes in love with you, and shes terrified that shes not good enough for you.

The middle of Hanks stomach lurched. For me? Im not good enough for her.

Yeah, said Gus, nodding. Shes worried about that, too. Thats what Im trying to say. I didnt think I could take care of Sheila on my pension, what with how much money I blew on my boat every year. She didnt want to be with a sailor"she hated water. And the fact that I was allergic to cats was the capper. I left. Sailed away.

By the time I turned around at the Farrallons and sailed back, she was gone. She went into the hospital with a stomachache and left dead of a cancer she didnt know about till the end. She had time to write a will on the back of a hospital tissue box, and she left me this d.a.m.n cat right here. Anchor, she told me to call him. Because this cat was my anchor to this place, to her memory. Gus swabbed his lower lip with a purple-checked handkerchief. What she didnt know was that I was already on my way back to her side. I was never gonna leave her again. And I guess, in my way, I havent. He hoisted the cat rear-end first, waving his luxurious tail in Hanks direction. Im saying go to her, you fool boy. What if you can change her mind? You have that chance. Take it. I never had mine.

Hank stared at the old man for a second. Then he turned and ran toward Samantha.

From behind him floated Guss quavery voice. Just kiss her, boy! Dont be an idiot!

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR.

SAMANTHA CLOSED HER eyes and concentrating on stilling her breathing. Her lungs hurt, but not too badly. It felt as if shed never get the smell of smoke out of her nose, and she knew it would stay in her hair for weeks. She was freezing, too. Dusk had almost fully dropped, and the already cold day was turning to ice as the cold ocean air pushed its way inland. It was clear tonight, no fog, making it even colder. Samantha saw one star struggle to draw breath as the sunset reddened the sky.

Bonnie Maddern was nice enough. Shed started to tell Samantha how shed gotten out of her apartment, but then shed been called away by a man in uniform with a huge mustache and a booming voice.

Oh, her poor beloved apartment. The one that Hank had thought she would burn down with her c.r.a.ppy extension cords. If she looked over her right shoulder, she could see it, a blackened hull, the fire now out, having left little behind. Her heart ached for Johannes"the bagel shop was all he had. She hoped his insurance would let him rebuild.

Her photo alb.u.m. The only remaining pictures of their parents, gone. Shed only been borrowing them from Grace"theyd talked about making copies at some point, or digitizing them, and they hadnt gotten around to it yet. Now they never would. Her mother. Shed never see her mother again.