Chapter 5 - Blinding Steam and the Run for Freedom
"One..." Patricia whispered, shifting her grip on her heavy flashlight.
"Patricia," Sterling’s voice was now less than fifteen feet away. A tactical flashlight beam cut through the dark, reflecting off the damp floor just inches from their shoes. "Last chance. The ledger."
"Two..."
Patricia suddenly threw her heavy flashlight across the room. It smashed violently against a glass instrument panel, shattering the bulb and sending a loud shower of sparks into the dark.
"There! Shoot!" Thomas’s voice screamed from behind Sterling.
BANG!
A gunshot blew a hole through a nearby plastic water barrel, spraying cold water across the concrete floor.
"THREE!" Patricia roared.
Melissa grabbed the iron red lever on the wall with both hands, throwing her entire body weight downward.
The heavy brass mechanical valve snapped open with a deafening screech. Thousands of pounds of superheated, pressurized steam burst violently from the pressure release pipes above the boilers. White, suffocating fog engulfed the sub-basement in a split second, rising to the ceiling and reducing visibility to absolute zero.
"My eyes! I can't see!" one of the guards screamed, coughing violently as the hot steam filled the room.
"Find them! Shoot them!" Thomas panicked, firing two wild shots into the blinding white mist, the bullets ricocheting harmlessly off the thick copper pipes overhead.
Taking advantage of the total chaos, Patricia grabbed Melissa by the hand, pulled her past the blinding steam wall, and sprinted down the narrow corridor toward the delivery bay exit.
They slammed their weight against the heavy push-bar of the double steel doors. The doors burst open, throwing them out into the cool, rain-slicked night air of the rear alleyway.
"My car!" Patricia pointed to a beat-up blue 2012 Toyota Camry parked beneath an alley streetlight fifty feet away.
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They scrambled across the wet asphalt, Patricia unlocking the doors with her key fob. They threw themselves inside, slamming the doors shut just as the basement emergency doors flew open behind them and two armed men emerged into the rain.
Patricia jammed the key into the ignition, slammed the gear shift into reverse, and stomped on the gas pedal. The tires screeched against the wet pavement, sending the Camry shooting backward out of the alley onto the main avenue, leaving Thomas, Sterling, and their thugs shouting in the rain.
