Chapter 9 - Fire in the Dark
Valerie climbed the ladder quietly, her heart pounding a steady, rhythmic drum against her ribs.
She raised her hand, pushing the wooden trapdoor open just a quarter of an inch. Through the crack, she saw the dark interior of her back closet. Beyond the doorway, in the main studio room, three men in heavy black tactical armor were smashing her furniture with iron crowbars, tearing plaster off the walls.
Standing in the center of the room was a tall, silver-haired man in a tailored leather trench coat, holding a heavy silenced pistol.
Don Marco.
"Nothing in the main room, Boss!" one of the armored guards shouted, throwing a broken chair across the floor. "Just old clothes and trash!"
"Check the closet again!" Marco barked, his voice sharp and ruthless. "The floor looks uneven! Break the boards!"
Two guards turned toward the closet door, raising their tactical shotguns.
Valerie didn't wait.
She pushed the trapdoor fully open, scrambled up into the closet, and instantly hurled the first glass bottle of rubbing alcohol straight through the doorway into the main room. The glass shattered against the concrete wall, spraying flammable liquid across the floor and the guards' boots.
"What the—?!" a guard yelled, turning.
Valerie struck a long fireplace match against the doorframe and tossed it onto the wet floor.
WHOOSH!
A wall of bright orange flame ignited instantly, roaring across the liquid, engulfing the two front guards in a sheet of fire. They screamed, stumbling backward into the main room, thrashing wildly to put out the flames.
"In the closet!" Marco screamed, firing three shots through the smoke.
The bullets tore through the drywall inches above Valerie's head. She dropped to her knees, pulled the heavy brass canister of industrial solvent from her coat, unscrewed the cap, and kicked it violently into the center of the flames.
BOOM!
A secondary shockwave of blue flame erupted through the studio, filling the apartment with dense, blinding smoke and burning heat.
Through the roaring smoke, a massive shadow surged out from behind Valerie.
Brennan had dragged himself up the ladder. Despite his severe internal injuries, he moved with the terrifying speed of a apex predator. He lunged out of the closet, his silenced pistol coming up in a smooth, lethal arc.
THWIP! THWIP!
Two precise shots echoed through the smoke. The remaining two guards fell instantly to the floor.
Marco smashed through the burning rear window, falling onto the fire escape outside, coughing blood and smoke as he scrambled down the metal ladder toward the alley below.
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"He's fleeing!" Valerie shouted, stepping out of the smoke, her gun raised.
"Let him go," Brennan said, catching his breath as he leaned heavily against the burning doorframe, his dark eyes fixed on the alley below. "He has nowhere left to run. The entire city knows where he is now."
