Chapter Eighty

"Secure the cable up there," Adam yelled, directing the cable down as he stood inside the chase on beams situated over the top of structure. Once he could no longer see to position it, he lowered himself further into the chase. As he moved lower, he could feel the temperature rise to the point that he was sweating profusely at the same time he wondered if the men trapped below him would be alive in higher heat in the lower levels.

Finally, he reached the top of the pile of lumber that had been the chase. "Hello! Can you hear me?"

He heard nothing.

Making his way down through the collapsed chase, he used his back to slide beam after beam off the center hole that was barely wide enough for a man to pass. He reached a pocket of sorts, and there he found two men, almost unconscious and stripped down to nothing but their trousers and undershirts. He moved his fingers to one of the men's neck causing the man to flinch.

The man looked hollowly at Adam and didn't speak until Adam smiled. "We thought we were dead. There was no more room up here. The others are just below us."

"Get this rope tied around both of you, and when you're ready, tug on it," said Adam. "Someone up top will pull you up."

"Mister, can't we knock a hole in the side?" asked one of the men.

Frowning, Adam shook his head. "You feel the heat. "We're surrounded by melt. We can't even cool it without boiling you to death. Now get that rope around you and move up. We don't have much time before the chase goes." Adam waited for both men to clear the level, then moved down one more level to find the other three men. Two were dead. The other was close. Adam shook him. "Wake up and listen to me. I'm going to tie a rope around you. As you're going up, you're gonna have to keep yourself centered or you'll get stuck down here. Do you understand?"

The man nodded as Adam secured the rope around him. Just before he tugged, the chase began to collapse around them. As the chase fell away, Adam pushed up to grab the rope above the man he'd just tied in. Both men were left hanging over a growing fire below them where the chase was falling into the melt.

"Get us up now!" yelled Adam as he wrapped an arm around the rough rope trying to hang on.

With two men on the rope, it was difficult to pull from up top. The man tied in yelled, "Climb up above me and put your leg over my shoulder."

"I can't," Adam yelled back. "There's no place for a foothold."

"I'll be damned if you're gonna fall saving me," said the man as he moved one arm in between them.

Adam's hands had begun to sweat causing the rope to slip, and when it did, it tore at his skin. Still, Adam held on. He felt the man's arms move around him, then felt something tighten around his waist. Next, Adam felt the man's arm slide between his waist and whatever the man had fastened around him. He was carrying Adam's weight with one arm. Now both were in danger of falling. Adam held as still as possible, hanging mostly from the arm he had wrapped with the rope. It was moving slowly across his skin, taking his hide with it, and just as he was about to yell in agony, light burst forth, blinding him. He knew he was safe when he felt a dozen hands pulling him to the relative safety of the roof.

"Adam, we have to get off this roof. Can you walk?"

Opening his eyes, Adam found Jude Stephens unfastening a belt from around him. Someone gently unwound the rope from his arm as Adam winced, but nodded. His voice was raspy as he spoke. "Take them down first. They need water."

"The other two?" asked Stephens hopefully.

"They were dead by the time I got there," whispered Adam as he sat up. "The metal is getting hot here. We have to go."

Stephens pulled him to his feet, and moving his arm around Adam, both men moved to the far side of the building to take the stairs down. They made the stairs just as the other side of the building burst into flames.

A doctor had been called when Robert gave Donahue his report. He waited at the front of the building for the rest of the men. The first two men Adam had saved had already been moved down the block. More men were waiting to take the rest. Once they were well away from the burning building, Adam was lowered to the sidewalk.

"Get this man some water!" ordered a man who had knelt down next to him. "You must be Mr. Cartwright, the engineer."

"How are the others?" asked Adam.

"You mean the first two who came out? They're being treated for some burns and heat exhaustion, but they'll make it. It looks like you'll be getting the same treatment, only these burns are rope burns. I understand you almost didn't make it out," said the doctor. "What makes a talented engineer risk his life in a furnace?"

"Mens' lives," replied Adam sourly.

"Did you know these men?"

"That doesn't matter. They needed help. I knew how to get them out." Looking up at the doctor with furrowed brows, he asked, "Would you have preferred I left them to die a horrible death?"

The doctor took the brusqueness in stride. "No. But I would never have expected a professional man such as yourself to put his life at risk, especially when he has so much to lose."

Adam looked away. "I wouldn't hold myself much of a man if I stood by and did nothing. Nor would my wife."

"Oh, I don't know about that," said the doctor as he tended Adam's arm. "When it comes right down to it, even the strong ones would rather have their husbands safe. I know you weren't thinking about Mrs. Cartwright at the time. Perhaps you should now…and your children." After a long pause, the doctor continued. "Mr. Slater is with Mr. Donahue at the moment talking to the newspapers, but he has requested that I get you ready to leave at once. He'll be here shortly. Now, I want you to drink plenty of water today. I've told your son to make sure you have a glass of water with you at all times through tomorrow. He told me he wouldn't be able to keep you from your office, so I will come by your office tomorrow to change your bandages. We can't let those rope burns become infected." The doctor stood, nodded to two men who moved Adam into a sitting position, then each with a hand under his arms, lifted him to his feet and escorted him toward a waiting buggy. They were interrupted by Robert.

"Adam, do you feel up to speaking to Donahue for a moment?" asked Robert.

Pulling his arms away from the men who'd lifted him from the sidewalk, Adam said, "Yes. Please," as he shot an aggravated look at the two men who had held him.

"You sure? You're still a bit unsteady."

Adam's flippant smile was back. "I'm sure. But where is Beau?"

"He's waiting for us," said Robert. "Lean on me, old man. You're listing."

By the time Robert, Adam and Beau got away from Mr. Donahue and the newspaper reporters, the damage had been done…again. Adam wanted no notoriety, at least none for saving mens' lives. He was already too well known in San Francisco, and one more thing that separated him from his peers in his chosen profession might make him a pariah among them.

"Adam, I don't know what you're worried about. This was not an egotistical act. You didn't even know what you were in for when you got there," said Robert. When Adam kept walking to his office wearing an aggravated smirk, Robert continued. "And I made sure the newspapers understood you had no idea what you were walking into." Robert knew Adam heard him, though it was as if the man was oblivious to what Robert had been saying. Robert followed him into the office.

After a heavy sigh, Adam said, "Robert, after I told the city how to recover from the first quake, I then became the head of the consortium to rebuild it." His eyes narrowed. "Then I was asked to come after the second major quake to deal with the City Hall. That didn't seem so bad because both of those requests had come from a mayor. But now I've got businessmen…in businesses I know little about…coming to me to save them." Bowing his head, Adam rubbed his forehead. "I need to leave here as soon as I can to join Shiloh and the children. And I can't…I won't abandon her again." Waving his finger, he added, "And I don't expect her to quit what she does any more than she expects me to quit." Leaning back in his chair, closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose, Adam said quietly, "I need to find a balance between her career and mine. That means I will be traveling with her whenever she leaves for a performance which means I won't always be available to save anyone."

As Robert walked away, he said, "There is only one man in this company who expects you to run off to save people."

Adam sat up in his chair. "Who?"

Robert laughed as he looked down at his shoes before he looked back at Adam. "A man named Adam Cartwright, and you'll have a hard time convincing him. He seems compelled to save people who are in trouble whether it's in the office or on the ranch or somewhere in between." With a wink, Robert added, "Let me know if you need anything," before he walked out of Adam's office, closing the door behind him. Before he went to his own office, Robert found Beau leaning against a desk with his arms crossed. He had watched everything that had gone on in Adam's office. "Beau, would you come with me?"

Still looking at his father, Beau pushed himself away the desk. "Yes sir."

Robert waited for Beau to enter, then closed the door behind him and motioned to a chair. "You can ask me anything, though I won't promise I'll give you an answer."

Beau sat down on a chair in front of Robert's desk and rubbed his chin for a moment. "Mr. Slater, I don't claim to know my father really well. What I do know is that he has more patience than any man I have ever known…except maybe his father." He went back to rubbing his chin, but quickly let his hand drop to his lap as if it was frustrated…as was its owner. "Just from watching him in his office, he seems stuck between a rock and hard place and has no idea how to move forward."

Robert sat back in his chair and chewed on the end of a pencil. This young man could certainly get right down to it. He was much like his father in that regard. Robert knew Adam struggled with his sense of duty between his commitment to his wife and family and his commitment to his fellow man. Still, Robert knew well Adam's allegiance was to his wife first and that he would stew for a while and come back to a decision and promise he'd already made…and rightfully so. But, he thought, with Beau being so like his father would he grow to be somewhat tortured by not being able to help everyone in need…like his father. Perhaps Beau's early upbringing would spare him. "Beau, there's no need to worry. He knows what he has to do, and he'll do it. Shiloh comes first…always. As it should be."

"And how does that affect his partnership with you?" asked Beau.

Now, Robert smiled at Beau's directness. "It doesn't affect this partnership in the least. I already know how lucky we are that your father chose us." When Beau's eyebrow rose, Robert added, "We made the offer to him, hoping he would accept. If he hadn't, I would have been devastated. I knew he was the man who would move this company forward. Not accepting wouldn't have been difficult for him. He could have gone to any firm in San Francisco, if he'd wanted. But…he…chose…us. Not the other way around."

Hearing his father's door open and close next door, Beau rose. My father will be looking for me. I should go back out to the work area. Thank you for confiding in me, Mr. Slater. It's not always easy to understand what motivates my father. You've helped." Beau smiled and nodded, and waited for Robert to nod back before he turned and left the office.

XXXXXXXX

Shiloh wore a dressing gown and sat in a chair at a small table. A piece of stationery lay in front of her. Her pen soaked in an ink well. Yet, she hadn't written a single word. She was torn. Should she tell Adam all about the Indian attack on the train…about how she loaded rifles for the Pinkerton's while their children lay hidden away under a bed with Amalee? Should she tell him she'd killed her share of Indians right along with the Pinkerton's trying to protect their children? Should she tell him how…alone…she'd felt? How desperate she'd been for it all to end so she could see if her children were safe? Closing her eyes, she settled back into the chair. She had stiffened at the alternative. Sniffling, she wiped her nose with a handkerchief…one he'd rubbed on his neck after he had applied the Caswell-Massey cologne she given him for his last birthday.

Most men around Virginia City wore sweat for cologne. The more questionably refined men tried to cover their sweat with Bay Rum. Adam had always had a scent all his own, but when she gave him several from Caswell-Massey, he had chosen one and stuck with it. She supposed his time in New England as a young man made him care about what other people observed about him before he'd uttered a word.

Dropping her chin to her chest, she closed her eyes and shook her head. She wouldn't tell him. She was sure he'd find out from the newspapers. The reporters had seemed anxious to talk to her in North Platte, but Agent Allen had kept them away. Still, they knew who she was. It didn't matter they might not know who she really was. Adam knew both. He'd be angry she didn't speak of the attack in her telegrams or letters, but he'd wait to have that discussion when he arrived rather than in a letter. By that time, his anger will have mellowed…hopefully.

She'd written that Aaron was as sweet as ever, and that Anna had either grown a little in the absence of her father…or had decided things were as good as they were going to get for some unmeasured amount of time, and she would mostly behave for her mother. She still had her moments. And she still cried in the evenings for her father. After some reassurances, she would quiet and fall asleep, but the next day was the same.

She told him she was tired and was anxious for the trip east to be over, that she wanted to be busy again rather than waiting for one day to end and another to begin.

I long to see you…to feel the strength of your arms around me again.

All my love…