Backstreet Boy

|Chapter 24: Rescued and Safe|

Jason

The phone call came through, and as soon as it did, I knew it was something bad.

Isabella didn't even need to plea for help, because I was alarmed and alert as soon as I picked up the phone.

"Alex, I need to go," I growled, throwing down a little cloth into the bonnet of the car and nearly splitting the sleeve of the overalls further – previous split from a hazard in the office. "Jackson just doesn't give up."

"Do you want me to drive or anything?" Alex said, wiping his hands on his own yellow cloth.

"No," I hollered, rushing into the office for my own car keys to my Jaguar XF. "I don't even know where he or Isabella are. I just have to guess. I'll be back later. I'll be back at the house. Call me if you need anything!"

Whether or not Alex audibly heard the end of my sentence was an enigma because I had darted out of the garage and went straight to my car at the side of it. Getting in, I hastily checked all around and surged off onto the main road at a distressingly high speed which was indisputably breaking the law. It took me a good twenty minutes before out of rage, I hit the front of my car with all the controls and inadvertently knocked on the radio.

"And just off from the main route near the abandoned industrial estate way, there are reports of a burning building which was vacated and deserted nearly ten years ago. Reports are saying that there's a teenage girl inside from The Valley. Witnesses have said that they've seen several sports cars cruising from that way. The fire brigade are on their way."

The depiction of the rich teenage girl seemed to equate to Isabella so my foot pressed down on the gas, hitting the floor as my speed heightened. I was close to the burning building because a light whiff of smoke was beginning to fly away in the wind and seep through into my car from the grills at the front. Arriving at the raging inferno dancing in the building, predominantly at the top floor, my foot slammed down on the brake pad and then the other on the clutch. Tires skidding across the concrete floor for a few seconds, I turned the engine off and ran out.

"Someone's in there!" a woman screamed, pointing strongly at the building. "Isn't someone going to get her out? The police and fire brigade aren't here yet!"

The sirens were still quite distant away. The heat from the fire was so immense that even standing this far back, I could still feel it scalding my skin. The flames were so orange and red with a tint of yellow in there, too. And even with the sirens bellowing in the distance, there was the distinctive sound of a girl screaming.

There was nothing holding anyone back. Instead, they were backing up themselves. Instead, with the surge of adrenalin pumping through my veins, my fists clenched and I muttered, "May God save me," as I raced forward right to the front door and entered the unlocked building.

For the most part, the building was unfilled and bare. There were the occasional things freckled around in the rooms but I disregarded this minor factor. Having never been in this building before, it took a lot longer than I would have desired to find the stairs.

"Isabella! Shout for me!" I bellowed, roaring above the ferocious sounds of the fire.

Because I had now entered the second floor which, incidentally, was the top floor where the fire had vastly infected and harmed it, coughing had overtook my body. Out on instinct, I put my hand over my mouth with my sleeve when I remembered it was ripped when the fraying rubbed against my face. Yanking it off, I covered my face with it as the smoke was overwhelming.

"Isabella! Where are you?"

My running had not ceased since I was outside. Adrenalin was the cause of it – I was acting upon that. It was only when I stopped still to see if I could decipher where the screaming was emanating from did I hear, "Jason!"