Chapter 14 - Echoes of the Fire
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Elena fired the flare gun directly at the heavy velvet curtains draping the penthouse windows. The incendiary charge ignited instantly. The dry, expensive fabric burst into a towering wall of bright, roaring flames.
The heat was immediate. The smoke rapidly filled the ceiling.
Vincent’s calm, tactical demeanor shattered the second the flames illuminated the room. I watched in horror on the monitor as his worst nightmare was resurrected. His breath hitched. His hands began to shake violently. The glass of scotch slipped from his fingers, shattering on the hardwood floor.
He staggered backward, his eyes wide and unseeing, completely paralyzed by the sight of the fire. The tactical genius, the ruthless mafia boss, was gone. He was back in the locked room eleven years ago, choking on smoke, waiting to die.
“Look at him,” Elena laughed, a cruel, piercing sound over the crackle of the flames. “The great Vincent Mercer, reduced to a shivering coward by a little heat. He’s pathetic, Marco. Put him out of his misery.”
Marco chuckled, aiming his pistol at Vincent’s head. Vincent didn't even try to reach for his weapon. He was completely locked in a trauma freeze, his hands covering his ears to block out the roaring sound of the fire.
The hidden door of the panic room burst open.
I didn't have a gun. I didn't have armor. But I had a heavy, industrial-grade fire extinguisher I had grabbed from the emergency wall mount.
“Vincent!” I screamed, sprinting into the living room.
I didn't aim the extinguisher at the curtains. I aimed it directly at Marco’s face. I pulled the pin and squeezed the trigger, blasting a massive, blinding cloud of thick white chemical foam directly into the eyes of the traitor and his mercenaries.
Marco screamed, dropping his weapon and clawing at his burning eyes. The mercenaries stumbled blindly in the thick, suffocating cloud of retardant.
I threw the empty canister at one of the blind gunmen, dropping him to the floor, and sprinted through the smoke toward Vincent.
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He was curled against the wall, hyperventilating. I dropped to my knees, grabbing his face with both hands, forcing him to look away from the burning curtains and into my eyes.
“Vincent! Look at me!” I yelled over the chaos. “It’s Nora! You are not in the past! You are with me!”
