Chapter 9 - Through the Fire
Raymond ignored Cynthia’s taunts. He struck her nerve cluster, knocking her unconscious, and immediately spun toward Clara.
The heat was suffocating. Rafters were collapsing in sheets of fire, and the wooden flooring was already catching ablaze. Raymond reached Clara, drawing his pocket tactical blade to slice through the heavy hemp ropes binding her limbs.
""Can you walk?"" he demanded, pulling her to her feet.
Clara winced, her ankle giving out as she cried in pain. Raymond swept her up into his arms—just as he had done hours earlier beneath the chandelier—and turned toward the ocean side of the pier. The fire had completely blocked the land route.
""What about Cynthia?"" Clara coughed, burying her face into his chest as smoke filled the air.
Raymond glanced back. Cynthia’s body was nowhere to be seen; she had crawled into the burning labyrinth of shipping crates.
May you like
""She made her choice,"" Raymond said grimly.
With a roaring crash, the roof above them began to cave in. Raymond kicked open a rusted emergency door leading out to the exterior loading dock, fifty feet above the icy, turbulent waters of the harbor.
