‘Wait here, I’ll get help,’ she said to Sir Ben, as if he had any choice. Jo ran up the steps and looked up. To her horror, she saw the whole side of the house ablaze and she worked out that she was just below Audrey Parson’s room, where she’d left Saira and the rest.
She fumbled for her phone and, one-handedly, found Bob’s number. He answered before the second ring.
‘Jo, where the hell are you?’
‘It was spice, Bob. They poisoned the boys with spice, tell the hospital straight away.’
‘Sure, but what’s happening?’
‘I’m at Sir Ben Parson’s with Saira. Call the fire brigade, the house is in flames.’
‘What the fuck?’
‘Just do it Bob, but the hospital first. I’m going back in.’
She knew what he’d say next so she ended the call.
‘I’m going to rescue your mum,’ she shouted down to Sir Ben.
‘No, help me!’ he yelled exasperatedly. Jo pretended not to hear as she 335ran round the perimeter of the house, searching for a safe way back in. She found a set of French doors at the back. Thankfully, they were unlocked. She ran through what looked like a dining room and reached the door which led into the hallway. Opening it, she could already see the hell that faced her. They said it was the smoke that killed you in a fire, and there was enough of that to snuff out an army. She spotted a cabinet and willed what she needed to be in there. She flung open the cupboard door and snatched a folded tablecloth, grabbed a soda syphon from a tray and gave the handle a squeeze, soaking the material. Ramming her makeshift mask over her nose and mouth, she counted to three and ran out into the hallway.
The blaze, already devastating the ground floor and licking up the stairs, might as well have been an iron gate. There was no way she was getting up those alive. She thought fast. This was an old house. Surely, back in the day, the servants would not have been permitted to use the main staircase. There must be another way up, unless some floppy-haired interior designer had ripped it out.
Jo ran to the back of the house, using her free hand to navigate by touch as far as she could, the other crushing her mouth and nose through the tablecloth. Despite that, the fumes clogged her lungs and her eyes were screaming at her to get out.
She felt a door to her right and darted through it. The worst of the fire had spared this area so far, and she worked out it was the kitchen. At any other time she probably would have admired its grandeur, but her sole focus was to find a way up to rescue four innocent people and one killer, all probably screaming for their lives. Dr Blaketon was probably past saving. She ran to the back of the room, crying out as she caught her hip on the edge of a granite worktop.
In the far corner was a door, which at first she thought would lead out to the garden, but when she examined it, a narrow winding staircase presented itself on the other side. This house is a maze, she thought.
Despite knowing she’d soon be cut off up here, she ran up the stairs. When she reached the top, the door leading off wouldn’t budge. Holy fuck. 336She shoulder-charged it but given the locker-sized space, she couldn’t get enough momentum to crash it open. In panic, she kicked and kicked it before she spotted the bolt at the top. Cursing herself, she slid it, then now driven by logic saw the one at the bottom and freed that too. Rushing through, she found herself on another landing.
She didn’t break stride other than in a hopeless effort to gain some sense of direction. She gambled on turning left, but the smoke was billowing up from there. It wasn’t much better the other way but she had to make a choice if she was going to find any of them alive, so she headed right. She glanced in all the open doors as she crawled along the landing, but it was like staring through ink.
Then one closed door on her right drew her attention. It dawned on her that you didn’t get to become a paramedic without learning a little about self-preservation. She sized up the door, and learning from the last one, tried the handle. This time it opened.
Saira swung the gun at her, but dropped its aim back to Evans who was still writhing on the floor. ‘Welcome back, ma’am. On your own?’
‘Yep, we need to get everyone out of here.’
‘Even this piece of shit?’
‘I’m afraid so, even though he thinks it’s OK to poison children with spice.’ Evans looked up in horror. ‘Yep, even your boss will grass in the right circumstances.’
‘I’ll fucking kill him,’ he said. Saira stamped down on his injured shoulder. He wailed in pain.
‘Whoops, I keep doing that. Sorry again,’ she said.
‘Be careful,’ said Jo, nodding towards the two paramedics.
She was impressed that they’d already fashioned a smoke hood out of spare sheeting and were dousing the floor with water from the bathroom.
‘How’s he?’ she said, looking at Dr Blaketon.
One of the paramedics shook her head.
‘Let’s get out of here,’ said Jo.
The two women just stared at her. Hardly surprising, as it was her 337stealing their ambulance that had put them in this situation. They were doing all they could for now, so Jo dashed over to the remains of the window.
She’d not heard the cavalry arrive, but the sight of three gleaming fire engines chewing up the pristine lawn was like an oasis in the Sahara. The roar of their engines and pumps was deafening and she could see they’d just arrived, as not only were firefighters only starting to drag hoses from the back of each tender, but the gates they had crashed through were still swinging on their hinges.
‘Up here,’ she yelled. ‘Up here.’ But no one heard her amid the scream of machinery. There were plenty of helmeted firefighters staring at the burning building but none looking in her direction.
She looked around and saw a flat-screened TV on the wall. It was all she could think of. ‘You two, give me a hand.’ The paramedics stood and scowled. ‘Now.’
They scurried over. ‘Grab this.’ They did as she said and after several tugs, the bracket gave way and Jo and one of the paramedics had the screen in their hands. ‘To the window,’ she said, then, when they were there, ‘Help me throw this as far as we can.’ The paramedic looked at her quizzically. ‘Just do it. One, two, three.’
The screen seemed to fly in slow motion as it headed towards the largest fire tender. It crashed on the grass, not ten feet from a firefighter in a white hat who, for a second, looked down at it, then at the sky, then finally in Jo’s direction. She waved her hands frantically above her head and then the penny dropped for him.
All she could see was him mouthing orders, but within thirty seconds the nearest engine was racing across the grass towards them.
Once the aerial ladder was at the window, Jo grabbed the equipment on the platform. She, the firefighter and the paramedics worked in unison to ease Mrs Parsons onto the stretcher and carry her to the window. Jo insisted the paramedics be taken down with her, before returning. Then Saira and her prisoner were next. Jo had put everyone in this position, so 338she owed it to all of them to get them out before she did.
She had no idea whether the building would hold out for the time it took for the ladder to come back up. The rumbling and crashes did not bode well but once it was back in position, she stumbled into the safety cage, moments before her world went black.