Chapter 6 - Fire and Ice
The interior of the plane’s rear cargo hold was an inferno of black smoke, popping electrical wires, and blinding heat.
Erin pulled a compact emergency respirator mask over her face, kicking through the burning plastic debris. The heat was intense enough to melt her outer jacket sleeves, but she pressed forward, her eyes scanning the metal storage racks.
There it was.
A heavy silver titanium biohazard case, locked to a wall frame, glowing orange under the heat of the approaching flames. The digital temperature gauge on the outside of the case read: 38.2°F.
If the internal temperature hit 40 degrees, the automatic pressure valves would vent the pathogen into the atmosphere, allowing the mountain winds to sweep the biological agent toward the populated towns below.
"Come on... come on..." Erin grunted, slamming a tactical pry bar into the mounting bracket.
The flames roared closer, igniting a row of seat cushions three feet behind her. Smoke filled the small cabin, blinding her vision.
With a final, desperate heave, Erin put her entire body weight behind the pry bar.
SNAP!
The titanium bracket sheared off. Erin grabbed the heavy silver case by its handle. It burned through her gloves, but she refused to let go.
She turned to sprint toward the rear emergency exit, but a burning ceiling panel collapsed with a roar, blocking her path with a wall of fire.
Erin was trapped.
"Erin! Do you copy?!" Mercer's voice screamed through her headset. "The tail section is about to explode! Get out of there!"
Erin backed away from the flames, her chest heaving inside the respirator mask. She looked through the thick black smoke toward the side windows of the plane. They were reinforced acrylic, cracked but intact.
She raised her tactical pry bar and smashed the heavy steel tip against the window frame with all her strength.
CRACK!
The glass shattered outward.
Erin didn't hesitate. She threw the heavy silver biohazard case out into the deep snow bank below, and then threw her own body through the narrow, jagged window frame into the freezing air.
She hit the snowbank three seconds before the plane’s fuel tanks detonated.
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BOOM!
A massive fireball erupted into the stormy sky, blowing a wave of concussive heat across the ravine that threw Erin twenty feet through the air into a deep snowdrift.
