Chapter 9 - The trial by fire
The intense, blistering heat instantly made the air in the warehouse almost impossible to breathe.
I quickly covered Lily's face with my wet jacket to protect her fragile lungs from the toxic, thick black smoke.
The massive wooden support beams above us began to crack and collapse under the ferocious, roaring fire.
I desperately searched the perimeter for a secondary exit, my eyes burning terribly from the ash.
I finally spotted a small, reinforced glass window near the ceiling of the old loading bay.
I climbed onto a rusted forklift, balancing precariously as the furious flames licked at my heavy boots.
Using every single ounce of strength I had left in my body, I smashed a heavy fire extinguisher against the glass.
The window shattered outwards, letting in a sudden, beautiful rush of freezing rain and cold night air.
I lifted Lily up through the narrow opening, begging her to jump safely into the deep, dark water far below.
She hesitated on the ledge, screaming loudly that she did not want to lose her father again.
I pushed her gently through the frame just as a massive, fiery beam collapsed exactly where we had been standing.
I dove blindly through the broken window headfirst, plummeting rapidly into the icy, unforgiving harbor.
We broke the surface gasping aggressively for air, instantly surrounded by the flashing red and blue lights of responding police boats.
May you like
I pulled Lily safely onto the deck of a rescue vessel, immediately wrapping her in a thick thermal blanket.
But my heart dropped into my stomach as a police radio crackled, announcing that a heavily armed hit squad had just breached Seattle General Hospital.
