Chapter 28 - burning paper
Three armed men flooded into the stable hall, their tactical light beams cutting through the suspended dust like solid white blades.
"Nobody move!" a voice shouted from the doorway.
Julian didn't flinch. He didn't drop his silver lighter. With a swift, practiced motion, he brought the yellow flame directly against the small pile of paper ledgers sitting on the corner of the iron desk. The dry parchment ignited instantly, bright orange flames roaring upward toward the timber ceiling.
"Get Chloe!" Julian roared at me, lunging across the desk to tackle the lead gunman through the wooden office partition.
Splintering wood and heavy gunshots filled the air as the office stall collapsed into a chaos of flying dust and roaring fire. I turned and sprinted back into the main hall, grabbing Chloe into my arms and lifting her against my chest as bullets tore through the timber walls around us.
Nora appeared at my side, holding an iron crowbar she had grabbed from the stable wall. She swung it with wild, desperate force against the second gunman’s shoulder, knocking his weapon to the floorboards before he could clear his holster.
"To the storm drain!" Nora screamed over the roar of the spreading flames. "There's an exit near the river!"
I held Chloe tightly against my shoulder, covering her small head with my leather jacket as we scrambled through the rear stable window into the freezing rain outside. Smoke was already billowing from the carriage house roof, bright orange embers swirling up into the dark night sky like dying stars.
Behind us, the sound of a heavy struggle continued inside the burning building, followed by a sudden, violent explosion as the gasoline cans stored in the stable loft caught fire.
May you like
"Julian!" I screamed, turning back toward the wall of roaring flames.
Nora grabbed my belt from behind, pulling me back with all her weight. "You can't go back in there, Daniel! He knew what he was doing! If Vance's men get those ledgers, none of us survive!"
