Chapter 7 - The Escape
The intense heat sucked the oxygen right out of my lungs in a matter of seconds.
The flames raced across the gasoline-soaked floor, creating a deadly ring of fire around us.
"Get back!" I shouted to Maria over the deafening roar of the blaze.
I grabbed the heavy metal folding table and hoisted it over my head with all my strength.
I charged forward and hurled the table violently against the thick, frosted glass window of the office.
The reinforced glass spider-webbed but stubbornly refused to break completely.
The flames were creeping up the wooden walls, causing the ceiling to groan and crack above us.
I grabbed the heavy steel crowbar I had brought from the garage and swung it like a baseball bat.
The iron tip smashed through the center of the window, shattering the glass into a thousand jagged pieces.
I practically threw Maria out the window onto the wet concrete of the alleyway.
I dove out headfirst just as the wooden support beams inside the office collapsed in a shower of sparks.
We laid on the cold ground, coughing violently and gasping for the crisp night air.
I checked my pocket and felt the hard plastic outline of the burner phone safely secured inside.
I pulled it out and opened the final text message Vanessa had sent to the smugglers.
The message read: "Meet me at the private airstrip on Route 9 in exactly thirty minutes."
We scrambled to our feet and ran to my car parked a few blocks away in the shadows.
I pushed the engine to its absolute limit, racing down the empty highway toward the private airfield.
Suddenly, a massive pair of blinding headlights appeared in my rearview mirror, approaching at terrifying speed.
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A heavy, armored black SUV slammed violently into the back bumper of my sedan.
The impact sent my car spinning wildly out of control toward the steep, rocky ditch on the side of the highway.
