The Marshal's Hostage - By Delores Fossen Page 0,36

them, causing both Dallas and her to cough. He pushed her closer to the open window. To the fresh air. It helped, but in that position Joelle noticed the blood spatter again. That sent another slam of fear through her.

The smoke might destroy the evidence.

And maybe that’s exactly what someone wanted. But how had the person known it was there? Dallas and she had just discovered it minutes earlier. Later, she’d need answers to that as well or decide if this was all just a horrible coincidence.

“We might have to jump,” Dallas warned her.

He stuck his head out the window and looked around the grounds. Not an ordinary glance, but one of his cop-type surveillances.

Until then, it hadn’t occurred to Joelle that someone might be out there, waiting to attack them. It might not be safe. But what choice did they have? If there was smoke, they had to assume there was also a fire that could eat through the entire building.

So they could burn or risk being shot.

“Stay close to the window,” Dallas added. “Try not to take in too much smoke.”

Joelle tried, but the smoke seemed to be coming in even faster and thicker. She yanked Dallas closer to the fresh air, too, when he started to cough harder. She wasn’t sure how much longer they could stay in the room, but she was afraid the fire department wouldn’t get there in time before they had to jump.

The drop suddenly seemed like a long way down.

Dallas and she could end up being hurt, and there was that possibility of someone being out there.

Even though her nerves were wired to the max, she couldn’t get her mind off the blood spatter. “You think we can tear off that part of the window frame?” she asked.

Dallas looked at it, and then he made another check of the smoke and grounds. He grabbed the edges of the frame, obviously trying not to touch the spatter pattern, and he pulled hard. There wasn’t room for Joelle to help, but she did keep watch out the window. That’s how she spotted the movement.

And that movement came from Rudy.

He came running out from the side of the building. “I can’t get in through the front door,” Rudy yelled. “Somebody locked it up tight.”

Great. Whoever was behind this had gone through a lot of trouble to trap them. Was that person Rudy? If so, they were looking down at the man who wanted them dead. Or at least the evidence destroyed.

“I’ll get a ladder,” Rudy added, and he raced back around the building and out of sight. Maybe he was genuinely trying to help them.

Or appear to be, anyway.

Dallas only glanced at the man, and he continued to pull and tug at the frame. “Hell. It’s not budging.” He looked at the ground again. “If we get down there in time, we might be able to use a hose to help keep the fire away from this room.”

That was a long shot, but since she was coughing like crazy, Joelle didn’t see they had much of a choice. Of course, there was a chance that the smoke could damage the evidence, as well. She had the pictures on her phone, but she doubted the lab would be able to get much info from that. And certainly no DNA match.

It seemed to take an eternity for Rudy to return, but when he finally did, he had both a ladder and Sarah with him. The woman screamed and put her hand to her mouth when she saw the smoke.

“Start trying to put out the fire,” Dallas instructed Rudy the moment the man had the ladder in place.

Rudy nodded and headed for the hose that was on the ground near some rosebushes. Sarah rushed toward them and held on to the ladder to anchor it in place. Both were obviously doing all the right things to save them, but Dallas clearly didn’t trust either Sarah or Rudy. He drew his gun before he started down the ladder.

“Stay close to me,” Dallas whispered to her.

Joelle did. She also grabbed her laptop and bag. There wasn’t room for many of the folders, but she stuffed as many as she could into the bag.

“Hurry!” Dallas insisted.

She hooked the bag on her shoulder and climbed out the window as best she could. Not easy to do in heels and a skirt though. She moved down the rungs along with Dallas, and when he reached the ground, he lifted her the rest of