Chapter 7 - The Inferno
Gerald Hatch had not fled to Gary. It had been a decoy.
He was still in Chicago, and he had returned to the place where it all began: the Meridian.
At 11:30 p.m., the fire alarms at the glass tower in the Loop blared. The high-end club, empty of patrons but still staffed by a skeleton crew, began to fill with thick, black smoke.
Gerald had bypassed the security system using his cloned credentials, entering the basement maintenance levels where the building’s gas mains were located. He had rigged an explosive device to the primary gas line, intending to level the entire forty-three-story tower.
"He’s insane," Reed reported over the comms as Silas’s SUV sped through the snowy streets of the Loop. "The fire department is on the scene, but the building is too high, and the gas leak is active. If that bomb goes off, it’ll take out three city blocks."
Silas slammed his hand against the steering wheel. "Where is Ren?"
"She's safe at the estate, Silas. I left six men with her."
But Silas knew Ren. She wasn't a woman who stayed put when she knew she could help.
As his SUV skidded to a halt in front of the burning tower, Silas saw a familiar figure standing near the police barricades, wrapped in a heavy winter coat, speaking urgently to the fire chief.
"Ren!" Silas roared, sprinting through the snow and grabbing her by the shoulders. "What the hell are you doing here?"
"I know the building layout, Silas!" she yelled over the sirens. "The emergency shut-off valve for the gas isn't in the basement. It’s on the thirty-second floor utility room. Gerald doesn't know that because the blueprints were updated last year when we did the kitchen renovations. I have the digital override on my phone!"
"It's too dangerous," Silas protested, the smoke billowing from the upper floors. "You are not going in there."
"If we don't shut it off, the whole place blows, Silas! Everything you built, everything your people rely on, gone! Let me help you!"
May you like
Silas looked at the burning building, then at the fierce, beautiful determination in her eyes. He knew he couldn't stop her.
"Together," Silas said, grabbing a pair of oxygen masks from an emergency vehicle. "We go in together."
