Page 4 of Too Old for Love

Right, she thought. What else was she supposed to do? Fifteen minutes later the phone rang.

“John?”

“Hey, Everest, the elevator company can’t fix it remotely and don’t know when they can get here. We’ve got the fire department coming down here to get you out, hun. Just hold tight.”

“Okay. Okay, thanks John.”

It was another ten minutes before she heard voices outside the door.

“Miss? Everest? This is Captain Mike Bennett with the New Orleans Fire Department. Are you okay?” His voice was deep and thick with a New Orleans drawl.

“I’m fine,” she said. “Embarrassed but fine.”

“No need for you to be embarrassed. We’re going try to pry the door open and you’ll have to crawl through the opening. It’s not elegant but it works.”

“That’s fine,” she called back.

As they began to pry open the door, Everest felt a sudden shift in the car. She let out an involuntary squeal and then heard the men speaking rapidly, talking about going through the elevator shaft to tie off the car.

“Hey? Hey, is everything okay?”

“Little glitch, Everest. I’m coming down through the top. Hold tight, hun.” Normally Everest would tell a strange man she wasn’t his ‘hun’ but right now she didn’t give a damn.

When the elevator lurched again, the low murmurs got louder.

“Move it! Get this fucking thing tied off,” yelled the voice of the man she’d spoken to. “Carpenter? Make sure we’ve got EMS on the way.”

EMS? God, did they think she would be hurt?

Suddenly the panel above her opened and a handsome face with big blue eyes smiled down at her.

“Everest, I assume?” he grinned.

“Please tell me you’re Captain Bennett.”

“I am,” he said sliding into the elevator. He had a harness around his thighs and bottom, and an extra clip and harness ready for her.

“Wh-why are we doing this?” she asked.

“There’s a little problem,” he said holding the harness for her step into. “Don’t worry, we’re going to get you out of here.”

The elevator began to lurch one more time, the drop making her grab her stomach and gasp.

“Cap! Now!” yelled a man from above.

“Let’s go hun, we gotta move.”

He hooked her to his harness and yanked the cable as someone began pulling them upward. Just as they cleared the opening, there was a thunderous sound of gears and metal scraping as the elevator fell to the bottom floor.

“Oh, my God,” whispered Everest.

“All good,” smiled the handsome firefighter. “No problems at all.”

They continued to pull them up via the cable, finally reaching the doors to the floor above them. Everest didn’t even realize they were only on the seventh floor. With the three levels below for garage parking, she would have never survived had she been in that elevator.

When the team pulled them through the open doors, he gently settled her on her feet. Everest’s knees immediately gave way.

“Whoa, whoa,” he smiled. “Let’s take it slow. That was a lot even for me.”