Harper’s heart pounded. Her eardrums throbbed. Fear would choke her to death.
Heath’s body pressed over her, protecting her as glass and debris showered them. The throbbing turned to sharp ringing in her ears and seemed to circle her whole head.
She couldn’t move. Was it dead weight? Was Heath—
Oh, Lord, please . . . no . . .
Pressing her palms against the rough concrete, she pushed, but he was immovable.
“Harper, wait.” His voice was raspy. Was he hurt? “Stuff is still coming down.”
As if on cue, a chunk of wood slammed onto the pavement next to them.
Harper screamed.
Squeezing her eyes shut, she sent up a hundred desperate prayers for safety and protection. Several more seconds passed before Heath moved from his sheltering position, then assisted her to sit. No standing for either of them yet.
Waves of dizziness washed over her. Over and over. Comprehension eluded her. What? How?
“Are you okay?” Heath’s words broke through her confusion, his tone gentle, raw. “Hurt anywhere?”
He shook his head as he looked her up and down.
“Heath. Someone could need help. Others must be hurt.” From between the two trucks, she couldn’t see where the blast had occurred.
Sirens screamed. He hauled her to her feet. How come the blast hadn’t seemed to affect him as much? Dizziness swept over her as she leaned against his truck.
“Are you guys okay?” Liam rushed up to them.
“I think so.” Heath looked Liam over. “You?”
“Only because I hadn’t gotten into my truck yet.”
Harper glanced across the street. A large, flaming chunk of metal had crushed the cab of Heath’s extra truck that Liam had been using.
“I’m going to see what I can do to help.” Liam took off.
Heath grabbed Harper and urged her toward the sheriff’s department building. “I need to get you somewhere safe.”
She resisted. Down at the end of the block, flames devoured what was left of the old train depot. “Heath, that building was locked up and empty, wasn’t it?” Empty like Heath’s cabin, though not nearly as remote. “So that would mean no one was inside during the blast. No one was hurt.” She hoped and prayed that was the case.
“People who were standing anywhere nearby could be injured. The shockwave or shrapnel could have hurt them. We need to get checked out too.”
“They need our help though.”
The same crippling anguish she felt was reflected in his face. “Promise me you’ll stay here.”
He didn’t wait for an answer but rushed off to assist a woman limping in the parking lot, tugging along her crying little boy.
Harper hurried to aid a man in his sixties who stood over a woman sprawled on the ground. A gash in her forehead oozed blood. Harper leaned over to assist. “Let’s get you out of here. Away from the building.”
With the man’s help, the woman rose to her feet and leaned into him. “We’re okay,” he said to Harper. “I’ll get her to the hospital. Don’t worry about us.”
Harper rushed to help anyone she could find. A crying woman. Two teenagers sitting stunned on the ground. She could do nothing more than make sure they weren’t seriously injured, and reassure them.
She let her eyes scan the scene. The glass windows in the closest vehicles were shattered. Bystanders sat next to each other holding hands. Law enforcement and staff exited the sheriff’s department building. People poured out of the burger grill across the street. Someone handed out plastic gloves to protect against glass. Employees from the local hotel only two blocks away were wrapping blankets around people. Volunteer fire trucks approached and emergency crews arrived.
A little girl cried. “My mommy. I can’t find my mommy!” Harper lifted the girl into her arms. “Shh. It’ll be okay. We’ll find your mom.”
Her heart pounded in rhythm with the girl’s sobs.
She searched the tragic scene for a young mother. Harper spotted a woman lying next to a vehicle across the street. Unconscious? Not wanting to scare the little girl, she approached the woman cautiously. What if she was dead? Holding the child, Harper crouched at the same moment the woman moaned and opened her eyes.
“Mommy!” The girl scrambled from Harper’s arms.
“Careful now. I’m guessing your mommy has a concussion.” Harper waited with them until a paramedic rushed forward to assist.
Harper made sure the woman was gripping the child’s hand before she retreated to give the paramedic space to work.
Black smoke obscured the sky as a fire raged at the depot, joining the darkening clouds of the impending storm.
Huffing, Sheriff Taggart stepped in her path. “Harper, get your camera. Take as many pictures as you can. Take pictures of everything. The building, the flames, and the smoke. Everything. The people. Understand?”
“But I can’t be impartial. I was near the blast.”
“You’re pulling that now? Come on, we were all near the blast in a manner of speaking. Everyone is going to be taking pictures, but I want the professional shots. It’ll be hours before other agencies get here. Maybe not until tomorrow. I’ve contacted ATF as well as the Cody Bomb Squad, which is much closer. They’re part of Wyoming Homeland Security Regional Response.”
“What if it was only a gas leak or something?” she asked. He was scaring her.
“I wish I could believe that. In the meantime, we have work to do. Now I have to get busy setting up a command center. It’s going to rain soon, so you’d better get busy. Are you with me?” Fury and desperation twisted his expression.
“Yes.”
Shame at making him waste time infused her. She shook off the emotions, jogged over to Heath’s truck and opened the door to grab her camera.
Harper came around the truck and began snapping pictures. She started by photographing the people, which she usually did last. Those helping and those injured. Those who were merely spectators. Sometimes the criminal returned to the scene of the crime, more often in arson cases, so the perp could be in the crowd. Did an explosion that ended in fire have the same dynamics as arson?
Had this been caused by a firebomb? Flames continued to raze the building as firefighters exited empty-handed.
Through her camera lens she could also search for Heath. Where was he? What was he doing?
Was he okay?
Liam jogged up to her, breathless.
“I don’t know where Heath is,” she said. “He was helping people, but now I don’t see him.”
Harper pulled her gaze from the viewfinder to look at Liam.
Soot covered his face. “Heath. He’s inside,” he said. “He went inside the building to search. Someone told us they’d seen a woman go into the building to search for her child. I went in after him and tried to find him.” He leaned over his thighs to catch his breath. “A fireman pulled me out.”
Of course Heath would be driven more than most to save someone trapped in a fire. Harper almost crumpled at the news.
Instead, she propelled herself toward the building.