Chapter 8 - The Signal
The headlights didn't belong to the local fire department. Two modified black utility trucks tore across the overgrown front lawn, their high-intensity searchlights sweeping upward, illuminating the smoke pouring from the attic eaves.
Mara pulled a red flare from her vest, struck the striker against the cap, and thrust the sputtering, blinding crimson torch out through the cracked dormer pane. The chemical smoke pushed against the draft, signaling their exact location.
Below, the driver’s side door of the lead truck flew open. A man in tactical armor stepped out, carrying an industrial Halligan bar and a thermal imaging device.
""David!"" Mara yelled through the gap, her voice raw. ""Third floor! West gable! Cut the secondary power line on the exterior meter—she’s got the magnetic fire doors engaged!""
A single click echoed over Mara’s hip radio, the interference breaking as the vehicle’s high-output repeater overpowered Victoria’s jammer. ""We copy, Mara. Exterior ladder deploying. But you've got three minutes before the structural floor gives out. The basement is fully involved.""
Lena let out a piercing scream from the floor. She had collapsed onto her side, her fingers clawing at the pine boards, her body trembling with involuntary pushing.
Mara dropped the flare onto the exterior sill, rushing back to Lena’s side. She kicked aside the bloody crowbar and knelt between Lena’s knees. ""Lena, look at me. Look at my eyes!""
Lena’s vision was blurring, the heat from below warming the wood beneath her hip until it was almost painful to touch. ""I can't... I can't do it...""
""You can, and you will,"" Mara commanded, stripping off her leather gloves. ""The fire is burning through the joists. We aren't waiting for the ladder. The baby is coming right now, Lena. Push!""
May you like
Lena clenched her eyes shut, screamed through the soot-stained rag, and bore down with every ounce of life left in her battered frame.
Simultaneously, from the shadows behind the water heater across the room, Julian’s eyes fluttered open. His gaze locked onto the discarded iron crowbar resting three inches from his hand.
