Chapter 16 - The Flashpoint
The gunshot didn't sound like a movie. It sounded like an industrial hammer striking an anvil.
The flare exploded in a blinding arc of white and phosphorus heat.
Vincent didn't dodge. He threw his entire body weight forward, tackling Sophia to the concrete floor just as the chemical fire ignited the trail of kerosene.
A wall of flame shot ten feet into the air, cutting the warehouse in half.
“Leo!” I screamed, tearing myself from Daniel’s grip.
Daniel fired two rapid shots. The masked accomplice who emerged from behind the train car dropped instantly, clutching his leg, while Daniel sprinted forward to clear a path through the burning timber.
I didn't feel the heat. I didn't care about the smoke stinging my lungs.
Three years of trauma, three years of nightmares of burning cabins and twisted metal vanished under the singular, feral instinct of a mother fighting for her child.
I reached the chair. My fingers tore at the coarse hemp ropes, the rough fibers slicing into my skin until blood smeared the knots.
“Maman!” Leo sobbed, throwing his small arms around my neck the second the ropes fell away.
“I have you, my love! I have you!” I hoisted him against my chest, shielding his head beneath my coat just as a wooden beam above us groaned and collapsed in a shower of sparks.
Behind us, in the center of the ring of fire, the struggle was brutal.
Sophia was screaming, thrashing like a wild animal, her clothes catching fire from the flare’s backblast. Vincent had pinned her arms, but the burning kerosene had pooled around them.
His sleeve was on fire. His shoulder was blackened. Yet, he wasn't looking at Sophia.
He was looking across the flames, directly at me and Leo.
“Get him out!” Vincent roared through the smoke, his face twisted in agony as the flames licked at his skin. “Anna! Take him and run! Don't look back!”
The exact words from three years ago.
Except this time, he wasn't the one walking away into safety. He was the one holding the monster down in the heart of the furnace.
“Daniel!” I yelled, passing Leo into Daniel’s arms as he breached the fire line. “Take Leo outside! Now!”
“Anna, what are you doing?!” Daniel shouted over the roaring flames.
“Take my son to safety!” I commanded.
I turned back to the fire.
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I grabbed a heavy, rusted steel fire extinguisher mounted on the iron pillar beside me. I ripped the pin with my teeth, leveled the nozzle, and charged directly into the wall of flame.
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