Her Guardian Angel (Fire and Snow)(17)

"Any casualties?" Kit asked over the radio from the other truck.

"As far as the manager knew, everyone was accounted for. So hopefully we won't find any nasty surprises." Jake responded through the radio.

They were all quiet as they mentally prepared for the day ahead of them; fighting fires was draining both mentally and physically. They needed to conserve all the energy they could as they all knew it was going to be a long day.

They got down to Strahan in under an hour--record time. When they arrived the ship was well and truly alight and burning. Unfortunately, it looked like the boat was only half loaded when it went up so there were still a number of piles of logs on the dock that had been waiting to be loaded onto the vessel. The fire had spread to the pile closest to it. They definitely had their work cut out for them today. Jake backed the truck up as close to the logs as he could. Within five minutes his team was out the truck and had the hoses going. Pumping water on to the burning logs and the piles closest to the flames to prevent any further spreading. The dockworkers had their skates on, moving as much of the timber away from the site as they could.

Three hours later they finally had the fire completely out and mopped up. They headed off to the Strahan station to debrief and re-hydrate. There were easily fifty guys and girls here, all of them having helped to put the fire out. The investigators were still going over the site trying to identify the cause, but that could take days. After the debriefing, Jake quickly gathered his team and they headed to the trucks to head home to get some rest.

~ * ~

Cole had stood back to watch all the action unfold. That will give that damn captain something to think about for a while; he'd been giving Cole crap for months. Never bloody happy no matter what happened. So while everyone was off on their lunch break and the coast was clear, Cole snuck on board and doused the crew's bunkroom in petrol. He'd soaked those mattresses good then grabbed one of the soaked sheets to use as a wick to trail out the door--getting himself lit up or burnt was not part of his plan. He pulled his lighter out and lit the end of the sheet. It had flared up straight away, quicker than he'd imagined it would. It burnt the tips of his fingers a bit but he didn't have the time to worry about it. He'd run like a bat out of hell to get off the damn boat before the fire took hold. Once he got above deck, he slowed down his pace to sneak off the ship and return to his duties.

His plan worked better than he ever could have planned. The fire spread to the logs still on the dock. Bloody beautiful. To top it off, the docks would be shut down while the investigation was going so he was going to have a few days off to spend some quality time training his slave. Now that was something worth smiling about. As he watched the fire trucks leave now that the flames were out he took out his keys and headed back to his ute to head home.

~*~

Kelly was curled up on the couch rubbing her arms and legs. She was so sore...but she was used to hurting now. In the months since her mother had died, she'd been at the receiving end of his 'attentions' and was always in pain. She'd already thought her life was pretty crappy, but before her mother's body even had time to cool, he had come for her, sending her world straight to hell. Week after endless week of being tied up and beaten, physically abused beyond anything she could have ever even imagined before. However, he still hadn't raped her. He seemed to like having a 'virginal slave' as he called her. She thought about the times when she would help clean her mother up, the times she had gone out and stolen clothes for them both. How she wished someone would do those things for her. It felt like forever since she'd had clothes to wear. He'd ripped all she had within the first few days.

Now she had nothing.

Was nothing.

Naked and collared.

More pet than person.

Subconsciously her hand went to her neck to grip and tug on the collar locked around her neck. She really did feel like a dog kept on a leash by her master, left to sit and await his return. She glanced up at the clock, 3 o'clock; she had another two and a half, maybe three hours before he would be back. She spent her days cleaning, cooking and watching TV. Tele was her only escape now. She was chained and there was no way to sneak out like she used to. He only ever unchained her when he took her downstairs. How she wished she had run away before her mother had died, but she couldn't do it. She couldn't abandon her mother like that.

She'd spent the first two days of her new hell trying to pick the lock on her collar and the one on the end of chain where it locked into a bolt cemented into the kitchen floor. She'd spent every spare minute trying to get free but she couldn't pick the locks no matter how hard she tried. She wasn't sure what made her think she could; she'd watched her mother try the same thing over and over again for years. So now her only escape was to watch TV, watch what the rest of world did with their days, all those lucky people who had the simple pleasure of freedom. She was pulled from her thoughts by the sound of a car pulling into the garage. Damn, he was home early. That was never a good thing. He would be in a mood, which meant her beating would be extra harsh. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. It was going to be a long afternoon and an even longer night; she was going to need all her strength to get through it.