Chapter 8 - The Fire and the Light
“Stop her!” Montgomery screamed, his voice lose all of its aristocratic poise as he recognized me in the dim light. “That’s the girl! Don’t let her get out of here!”
I scrambled down the narrow corridors between the server racks, the sound of my heavy breathing and the heavy thuds of the tall man’s boots close behind me.
“Caleb!” I screamed as I ran past the glass office. “Go! Out the back!”
Caleb burst out of the office, the blue USB drive clutched tightly in his fist. He saw the tall man coming around the corner, his gun raised, and without a second thought, Caleb threw himself into the man’s legs, tackling him to the concrete floor.
The gun flew from the man’s hand, sliding across the floor and disappearing beneath one of the active server racks.
“Avery, run!” Caleb yelled as he struggled on the floor with the massive guard.
I didn't run. I looked around, my eyes landing on a heavy metal fire extinguisher mounted on the wall. I grabbed it, pulled the pin, and ran back toward the struggle.
The tall man had managed to pin Caleb to the floor, his hands wrapping around my brother’s throat.
I raised the fire extinguisher and slammed it down with all my strength onto the man’s shoulder.
He let out a guttural scream of pain, his grip on Caleb loosening as he rolled onto his side, clutching his broken collarbone.
“Get up!” I yelled, pulling Caleb to his feet.
Suddenly, a loud, whooshing sound echoed from the front of the warehouse.
Montgomery had dropped a lighter.
The gasoline-soaked floor ignited in a terrifying, roaring wall of yellow and orange flames that climbed up the server racks with incredible speed. The thick, black plastic smoke began to fill the room, stinging my eyes and throat, making it impossible to breathe.
“This way!” Caleb coughed, guiding me toward the emergency exit at the back of the warehouse.
We threw our shoulders against the heavy metal bar of the exit door. It was locked from the outside with a heavy chain.
“It’s chained!” I choked out, the black smoke settling over us like a heavy blanket. We were trapped.
Behind us, through the wall of fire, I could see the silhouette of Charles Montgomery, holding his gun, his face distorted with a mad, desperate fury as he stepped through the smoke.
“You’re not leaving here alive!” Montgomery screamed over the roar of the fire. “You’re going to burn with this place!”
He raised his gun, pointing it directly at my chest.
Crash!
The glass windows of the emergency door shattered inward as the heavy bumper of a black SUV smashed through the metal frame, tearing the door and the chains from the wall in a shower of sparks and concrete dust.
The headlights of the SUV blinded Montgomery, forcing him to shield his eyes as the vehicle came to a halt right inside the burning warehouse.
The driver’s door opened, and Grandpa stepped out.
He was holding a double-barreled shotgun, his face set in an expression of absolute, lethal authority.
“Get away from my grandchildren, Charles,” Grandpa said, his voice louder than the roar of the flames.
Montgomery stared at the shotgun, then at Grandpa, his jaw slack with shock. “Theodore? You... you’re supposed to be in a wheelchair!”
“I was never in a wheelchair, Charles,” Grandpa said, adjusting his grip on the gun. “But you’re about to be in a coffin if you don’t drop that weapon.”
Montgomery looked at the fire climbing the walls, then at the shotgun pointed at his chest. He realized the game was over. He dropped his handgun onto the concrete floor and raised his hands.
“Get in!” Grandpa yelled to Caleb and me, gesturing toward the back seat of the SUV.
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We scrambled inside, the cold air from the shattered back door rushing over our skin, saving us from the suffocating smoke. Grandpa threw the vehicle into reverse, slamming on the gas pedal as the SUV sped backward out of the burning warehouse, leaving Montgomery and his guard to be greeted by the flashing blue lights of five police cruisers that had just pulled into the driveway.
Sarah Jenkins and the District Attorney’s team had arrived, led by the video file I had automatically uploaded to the cloud just seconds before the fire started.
