She darted toward the distraught father. Gavin gave an exasperated grunt and stayed on her heels. Two others had also stopped to help.

“How old is he and what does he look like?” Sarah asked.

“Six. He’s got red hair, green eyes, and freckles. I was holding his hand and someone bumped me. I lost my grip and then he was just gone!” He swiped a hand down his face. “My wife is going to kill me. Jackson! Jackson! Where are you?” He swung back, eyes pleading. “Please help me.”

“Fine,” Gavin said. The smoke drifted lower and Gavin coughed. “What’s your name?”

“Jonathan.”

“We want to help too,” a young man said, pointing to himself and a girl who looked to be the same age.

“We need to notify the hospital,” Gavin said. “Do you have a picture?”

“Yes, yes. On my phone.” Jonathan snagged it from his back pocket and tapped the screen. A redheaded Opie look-alike popped up. His gap-toothed grin tugged at Sarah’s heart.

“Okay,” Gavin said, “show it to the security guy and let him know what’s going on.” He turned to the teens. “You guys start going room to room.”

They left and Jonathan beelined for the security officer who was at the exit, directing people down the stairs.

“Stay with me, please,” Gavin said. “I’m not feeling good about this whole thing.”

Gavin wasn’t kidding when he said he was antsy about the fire. It was too much of a coincidence that he and Sarah were in the hospital when it broke out, but he couldn’t just walk away from helping a father look for his child. He and Sarah followed the man to the security officer, who directed them to the stairs.

Jonathan flashed the phone at the man. “Did you see this kid come this way?”

The officer leaned in to take a look while the father looked straight at Sarah. All of Gavin’s alarms clanged warning signals. He’d had that happen way too often in Afghanistan to ignore. He gave Sarah’s hand a squeeze and motioned to her to back away. She frowned, but something in his eyes must have signaled her and she nodded.

Two steps back and the man named Jonathan stumbled, went to his knees.

With Sarah behind him, Gavin reached down and grabbed the guy’s bicep. The man jerked, throwing Gavin off-balance at the top of the stairs. He shot over the guy and the first step, his shoulder hitting the edge. Pain radiated. A kick to his ribs stole his breath. Someone screamed. Sarah? More cries from those around him. Hands reached to help, but he was rolling bowling-ball style down the stairs, crashing into those unfortunate enough to be in his path.