Chapter 6 - A Mother’s Scent
Inside the sub-zero darkness of the walk-in freezer, the cold bit instantly through Thomas's thin cotton polo shirt. His breath bloomed in thick white clouds, but he pulled his jacket around Leo, sheltering the boy with his own body heat. Leo trembled violently against his chest, clutching the wrapped donut in his small hands as if it were a talisman keeping the monsters away.
Through the thick, frosted glass of the heavy door, Thomas saw Julian rising from his crouch. The enforcer didn't rush. He moved with the sickening patience of a hunter who knew his quarry had backed itself into a dead end. Julian took two slow strides down the hallway, the suppressor of his pistol gleaming beneath the dull ceiling light.
Thomas’s mind raced. The freezer locked from the outside with an emergency release latch inside, but the latch was plastic—one heavy pry with a crowbar from Julian could jam the mechanism entirely, turning this box into a metal tomb.
Beside the door frame hung the emergency alarm switch, but wiring an alarm to the local sheriff would take ten minutes to yield a response. Julian would empty his magazine through the insulated wall long before help arrived.
Then Thomas looked down at the industrial racks lining the freezer walls. Stored on the bottom shelf were five-gallon jugs of food-grade carbon dioxide, used for the soda carbonation system. Next to them lay the heavy brass wrench used to switch the regulators.
Julian’s silhouette darkened the viewing port. The enforcer raised his pistol, aiming squarely at the lock handle.
Thomas didn't wait for the handle to turn. He kicked the internal emergency release bar with all his weight while simultaneously ripping the brass valve off the nearest CO2 tank.
The door flew outward with explosive force, propelled by Thomas's kick and a high-pressure jet of freezing, white gas. Julian was caught entirely off guard. The heavy steel door smashed into his outstretched arm, sending the suppressed pistol clattering across the concrete floor, while an opaque cloud of blinding, choking carbon dioxide engulfed the hallway.
Julian roared in agony, coughing violently and clutching his shattered wrist.
Thomas burst through the white mist with Leo clutched tightly in his left arm and the brass wrench swinging in his right. He brought the heavy tool down hard, striking Julian across the shoulder, driving the bigger man to his knees. Without looking back, Thomas snatched the dropped pistol from the floor, bolted down the hallway, and kicked open the basement door.
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As they tumbled down the wooden steps into the damp dark of the cellar, Leo’s trembling hand reached out, grabbing a piece of fabric snagged on the cellar banister.
It was a torn silk scarf, carrying the unmistakable, sweet scent of Elena's lavender perfume.
