Chapter 15 - The Final Spark
Nora pulled the heavy trigger.
The blast from the 12-gauge slug hit the spinning steel auger with a brilliant, blinding shower of orange sparks. The supercharged cloud of methane and vaporized oil ignited instantaneously, turning the creek gorge into a roaring wall of crimson flame that illuminated the entire south valley.
The shockwave knocked the two armed contractors off their feet, their weapons clattering down the shale slope into the brush. Vance was thrown backward onto the gravel railbed, holding his hands over his scorched face as the roar of the subterranean inferno drowned out all human sound.
Through the curtain of smoke and fire, Nora scrambled down the opposite side of the ridge, away from the blaze, into the pristine scrub of the state forest border. Behind her, the geyser of fire illuminated the silhouette of Goliath, charging through the flaming brush and scattering Vance’s fleeing convoy like dry autumn leaves.
Twenty minutes later, the distant, rhythmic chop of twin-rotor state emergency helicopters filled the sky from the north. The automated seismic sensors had done their job; the state environmental protection task force was arriving in full force, accompanied by marked state police interceptors cutting off the county roads.
Nora collapsed onto the needle-strewn floor of the pine forest, the heavy canvas bag safely pinned beneath her body. Her ribs throbbed with every shallow breath, her coveralls were soaked in soot and oil, and her face was stained with tears for the father she had lost.
Through the dense trees, she saw the flashing red and blue lights of the state authorities swarming the perimeter of the burning ridge. But as she closed her eyes, listening to the crackle of the distant flames, she heard a soft, deliberate footstep right beside her.
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She forced her heavy eyelids open. Standing less than ten feet away in the shadows of the tall pines was not a paramedic or an officer. It was Cal, his face black with soot, clutching a sealed legal document bearing the watermark of a private trust firm in the capital.
""Your dad didn't go to the clinic, Nora,"" Cal whispered, kneeling beside her. ""He bought the bank note six hours ago under a dummy corporation. And the man in that suit wasn't Matthew Vance."""
