Chapter Thirty-Four

Voices cut through Tori’s misery. She rolled off the cot and went to the gate. Wil still lay motionless next to the open hole in the dirt floor. His chest rose and fell. Most likely, he had a concussion, possibly a fractured skull.

T-Lo and another man were talking outside the lab. The other guy headed around a corner, slinging a backpack over his shoulder before disappearing from her view. They were packing up.

She pressed her forehead against the bars and shut her eyes. Soon, they’d leave, but not before setting fire to the place.

“Deck, please,” she whispered. Find me. But how could he?

Still gripping the wrought-iron bars, she sank to her knees, staring at the dirt floor. A whisper of sound caught her attention.

Wil’s leg twitched.

Tori straightened, flicking her eyes to the lab to see T-Lo and the other man go back through the plastic curtain.

“Wil,” she whispered, reaching through the bars to grab the tip of his boot, shaking it. “Wil, wake up!” Given that T-Lo planned to let Wil die down here with her, maybe if he woke up, he’d change his mind and help them both escape. She doubted it, but it was her only shot of getting out of this alive.

She shook him again. He didn’t budge, but her efforts had shifted his leg to reveal something half buried in the dirt beside his left hip.

The key.

It must have slipped from his pocket.

Keeping one eye on the lab, she stretched her arm through the bars, straining to reach it, but it was too far away. Taking a deep breath, she all but rammed her shoulder through the bars, shimmying to extend her reach enough to grab the key.

When the other man came from the lab, she yanked back her arm, hoping he hadn’t seen what she was trying to do. After he’d disappeared in the direction of the first guy, she took an even deeper breath and closed her eyes as she shoved her arm even farther through the bars.

“Nice try.” T-Lo slammed his boot on top of her hand.

She winced, trying to yank her hand back, but he ground his boot down harder on her fingers. She gritted her teeth, refusing to give him the satisfaction of crying out.

T-Lo picked up the key then lifted his boot from her hand. As she sat there, cradling her crushed fingers, he smiled, revealing uneven, yellowing teeth. “Enjoy your stay in Hotel Gray Death.” He held his arm over the opening in the floor.

“No!” she cried then watched helplessly as he dropped the key into the hole.

Another man came over and grabbed T-Lo’s shoulder. “We gotta go. Now. Once we light the fuse and it hits the gas tanks, we need to be somewhere else. Know what I’m saying?”

They were going to blow the place up. With me in it. “Wait!” She rushed to the cell door, grabbing the bars.

“Sorry, sweetheart. But don’t worry. As soon as the tanks blow, you won’t feel a thing.” He winked, then he and the other man disappeared around the corner.

“No, wait!” Tori shouted. “Take me with you!” Anything was preferable to being blown to bits. “Wil!” She grabbed a handful of dirt and threw it at his face. “Wake up! You got me into this, you asshole, so you damn well better get me out of it!”

Wil didn’t move. Flames flickered behind the plastic curtain then began spreading across the tables, slowly at first, then shooting with more speed toward a small gas tank, the kind used for barbeque grills.

She watched helplessly as the entire tabletop quickly became engulfed in flames. Smoke billowed behind the curtain. It wouldn’t take long before the lab was fully engulfed. Tori had no idea how much time she had left before the flames hit the gas tank.

One side of the plastic melted away, allowing smoke to billow out into the tunnel. She slipped off her coat, using it to cover her mouth and nose. At this rate, the smoke would probably kill her before the fire burned her alive. Or the explosion would, as T-Lo said, suck out all the oxygen, asphyxiating her within seconds.

“Nooo, please.” She sank to her knees in front of the gate. It can’t end this way. Deck…

Tori let her head fall back, opened her mouth…and screamed.

…

When Evan cuffed the guy and rolled him onto his back, Deck got in the guy’s face. “How many others are down there? Is there a woman down there?”

The guy didn’t answer, just stared up at him in a stupidly defiant gesture. Yeah, we’ll see about that. Deck shouldered his shotgun then grabbed the man’s hair in one hand and his Glock in the other. He yanked the guy’s head back and shoved the gun’s muzzle in his face. Even in the dim moonlight, the man’s eyes went wider than silver dollars. “Again,” Deck growled, “is there a woman down there?” He nodded. “How many others?”

“Three.”

“Is T-Lo one of them?”

“Yeah.”

“And the doc?” Another nod. Deck released the man’s hair, holstering his weapon and unslinging his shotgun. “I’m heading in. Brett, you’re with me. Evan, call it in.”

“You got it.” Brett handed Blaze’s leash to Evan. “Watch him for me, will ya?”

Evan took the leash then pulled out his cell phone.

Deck put on Thor’s mask then donned his own. In a perfect world, they’d all have on head-to-toe protective gear, but there was no time to go back to the vehicles and get suited up. “Let’s go.”

As a unit, he and Thor went through the door first. Smoke billowed up the stairs, obscuring whatever was below. Thor bounded past Deck just as a woman screamed. Tori. For a split second, he froze.

“What the fuck?” a man shouted. “Get it off! Get it off!”

Thor had found his mark.

Leading with the shotgun, Deck pounded down the stairs. Brett’s boots echoed closely behind him. At the bottom of the stairs were two tunnels. Following Thor’s growls, he turned left into the first tunnel where the smoke was thicker. With his mask on, Thor was unable to bite but had T-Lo pinned to a wall. The other man hammered at Thor’s head with a backpack.

“Fucking dog.” T-Lo raised his arm, about to plunge a knife in Thor’s neck.

Aiming high so he didn’t hit his dog, Deck pulled the trigger. The side of T-Lo’s face exploded in a mass of bloody tissue.

Ignoring the painful kick from the shotgun blast against his bad shoulder, Deck swung the muzzle to the other man, who dropped the backpack and threw up his hands.

“I give up, don’t shoot! Don’t shoot!”

“Brett!” Deck yelled over his shoulder, his voice muffled by the mask. “Get him out of here. I’m going after Tori.”

“Make it quick,” Brett shouted as he cuffed the guy. “This place is filling up fast.”

“Take Thor with you.” He didn’t want his dog breathing in smoke or whatever else might be down here.

“Thor, come!” Brett called out, waving his arm at Thor, but the dog wouldn’t leave Deck’s side.

“Thor, go!” Deck pointed to the stairs. Thor sat, freezing like a canine statue as he looked up at Deck. His partner was taking a stand, refusing to leave his side.

So be it.

Deck raced farther into the tunnel, past the burning lab, with Thor on his heels. Ahead of them was a heavy iron gate, at the base of which was—Tori. Lying on his back near a hole in the floor was that asshole, Barnett, dead or unconscious. Deck didn’t care which.

Keeping a wary eye on Barnett, he rushed to the gate, trying to open it, but it didn’t move, didn’t even jiggle. He dropped to his knees. “Tori!” Her body was slumped against the bars, unmoving, and she hadn’t responded to his call. Was she dead? Jesus, no. “Tori!”

He set the shotgun on the ground. Through the bars, he cradled her head, tilting up her face. Tears streaked her cheeks. He didn’t see any blood but couldn’t tell if she was breathing. He touched two fingers to her neck, desperately feeling for a pulse at her carotid.

Thor stuck his muzzle through the bars, trying to lick her face even though his mask was still firmly strapped on.

Her eyelids fluttered then opened. “Deck?”

Though they were underground in a smoke-filled tunnel, his heart swelled with so much emotion he thought it would burst. “Yeah, honey. It’s me. I need to get you out of here.” She coughed, and he tugged the edge of her once-white doctor’s coat up to cover her mouth. “Where’s the key to this gate?” He looked around, searching the surrounding walls for a hook with a key on it.

“In the hole,” he could swear she murmured.

Deck looked behind him at the hole with the ladder sticking out through the top. He clicked on his flashlight, shining the beam into the hole. It was at least twenty feet down.

Something popped in the lab, bursting from the flames. He had to try and put the fire out before more smoke filled the tunnels. Assuming it was a typical drug lab, there’d be gas tanks. If the fire got to the tanks, he didn’t know which would kill them first, the smoke or the explosion.

Damn, but he didn’t want to do this.

Working quickly, he unstrapped Thor’s mask then pointed to the ladder. “Thor, get the key.”

Without hesitation, Thor angled his body and began shimmying down the ladder backward.

Deck jumped to his feet, about to rush back to the lab for a fire extinguisher, water, or anything else he could use to put out the fire.

“Deck!” Tori shrieked, pointing behind him.

He turned but not in time. A hand locked on to his ankle. Barnett. Deck tried taking a step but started to fall face first. He reached out to cushion the fall. When his right hand hit the ground, splintering pain shot to his injured shoulder.

He gritted his teeth, pushing through it. Barnett landed on Deck’s chest, straddling him. Before he could stop him, Barnett tore off Deck’s respirator and began pounding on Deck’s face with his fists.

He blocked the next blow with his forearms, his shoulder taking the brunt. More pain speared directly to the injury. He took a deep, smoke-filled breath, coughing as he shoved at Barnett’s chest with his left arm. All those workouts in the gym paid off.

Barnett flew back, landing on his ass in the dirt. A look of undiluted rage contorted the man’s features. Deck reached for the Glock in his holster and—

And nothing. He couldn’t move his arm. It had gone completely numb.

While Deck scrambled to his feet, so did Barnett. Deck reached across his body with his left hand, trying to unholster his Glock. Before he could reach it, Barnett lunged, pinning Deck’s arm to the bars of the gate.

“No!” Tori reached through the bars and grabbed one of Barnett’s hands.

The three of them stood there struggling, Tori clinging to Barnett and Barnett pressing Deck back against the gate with his body.

As Barnett tugged something from one of his pockets, Tori jabbed a piece of metal into his neck, drawing blood.

“Dammit!” Using his thumb, Barnett popped the cap off a small bottle.

“Deck, watch out!” Before he could toss the contents in Deck’s face, Tori grabbed it from Barnett’s hand.

With what little strength he had left, Deck broke free of the grip Barnett had on his good arm and shoved him to the ground. He reached for his Glock, this time managing to get it unholstered.

Barnett pushed up from the dirt, his face twisted with rage. Deck hooked his left index finger around the trigger and squeezed off three rounds, triple-tapping Barnett dead center in the chest.

For two seconds, Barnett stood as if frozen in time before falling to his knees. He lowered his head as he looked down at his chest. The rage that had been on his face only moments ago was quickly replaced by shock. Then in slow motion, he face-planted in the dirt.

While they’d been fighting, the smoke had intensified. Deck shoved his gun into his belt, coughing more now. He turned to see Tori with the bottle still in her hand, her eyes wide. She dropped the bottle then stumbled back from the gate.

Deck couldn’t see any gray powder on her face, but oh God.

He yanked his shirt up and over his head. “Tori, wipe it off! Wipe it off!” He stretched his arm through the bars, but she’d staggered too far from the gate for him to reach her. If that powder was what he thought it was, she didn’t have much time.

Her eyes rolled back, and she fell to the ground.

“No!”

“Deck!” Brett rushed toward him, shotgun raised. “You okay? I got the fire under control, but those gas tanks are buckling and could still blow any second. We gotta— Oh, fuck.” He lowered the gun.

The ladder rattled, telling Deck that Thor was on the way back up. “Help me get him up.” He and Brett reached into the hole to help Thor up the rest of the way. Some feeling had returned to his right arm. Deck prayed the key was really down there and that Thor had found it.

His dog’s ears appeared first. When the top of his head cleared the rim, he and Brett reached beneath Thor’s front legs and pulled him up the rest of the way. “Thor?”

Thor coughed, opening his mouth and spitting out a large black key.

The relief at seeing the key was so great, it actually made his knees go weak. Deck grabbed the key and shoved it into the lock. He whipped open the gate and fell at Tori’s side. Using his shirt, he wiped her face, concentrating on her nose and mouth first then her neck and chest. She was still breathing. Barely.

The sound of metal bending under pressure was like a gunshot.

“Deck, we gotta go,” Brett warned again. “That tank’s about to blow us to Kingdom Come.”

Deck picked Tori up in his arms. “Get that medical bag from the trunk of her car,” he shouted. “It’s loaded with naloxone. And bring all the water you can find. I’ll meet you up there.” Again, he prayed. This was bad. Really bad. Dan Prince had nearly died from a minute exposure on his clothes. Tori may have gotten it directly in the face.

Brett took off running.

“Stay with me, Tori. Thor, let’s go!”

Thor bounded ahead, turning back to make sure Deck was following.

He carried Tori through the tunnel, coughing and barely able to see through the smoky haze. Thor barked, and he followed the sound, racing past what was left of the lab. The propane tank on the back table creaked as it began to buckle. If he didn’t get them out of there before that tank blew, Kingdom Come would have two new residents, three counting Thor.

Deck’s heart jackhammered as he raced up the stairs. Tori’s head lolled over the side of his arm. He couldn’t tell if she was still breathing. Getting naloxone into her was the only thing that could save her.

By the time he got to the top step, he was coughing and breathing hard. Evan had relocated the two cuffed men a hundred yards from the entry to the bunker.

Deck took off running. Thor bounded ahead of him, leading the way.

Sirens wailed. Red-and-blue lights flashed as a wagon train of emergency vehicles turned off Poudre Canyon Road.

An explosion rocked the ground, powerful enough to make him stagger. Gently, he laid Tori on the ground. It was too dark to verify if she was breathing, so he rested his hand between her breasts, waiting to feel the rise and fall of her chest. He didn’t.

Brett was there with Tori’s bag and two gallon jugs of water. He set them down then opened the bag and shined a light inside.

“She’s not breathing.” Deck checked for a pulse at her carotid, relieved when he felt one. He tore the cap of one of the jugs of water then sloshed some on Tori’s face, hands, and torso. After positioning her neck, he pinched her nose closed then began administering mouth-to-mouth. Beside him, Brett was already tearing the wrapper off an auto-injector. “Get more ready,” Deck gasped between breaths, knowing one dose would never be enough.

Brett removed the safety clip then stuck the auto-injector into Tori’s thigh.

Deck kept administering rescue breaths, praying she’d start breathing on her own. “Give her another,” he ordered.

“You got it.” Brett pushed the second dose into Tori’s thigh.

Headlights illuminated the field as patrol cars and an ambulance rolled up. Seconds later, paramedics rushed over and started opening up cases.

“We’ll take it from here.” One of them placed a bag-valve mask over Tori’s face and began squeezing the bag. “What was she exposed to?”

“Gray death.” Deck watched as Tori’s chest rose and fell, but not on her own.

The other medic nodded to the wrappers and Tori’s open bag. “Naloxone?”

“Yeah.” Deck watched helplessly as the medics began an IV.

“Bring it with us,” the first medic said. “We might need more than what we’ve got in the ambulance.”

“Let’s go,” Deck vaguely heard someone say. His brain had gone numb with fear.

Like Dan had been, Tori was dying in front of him, and there wasn’t a damned thing he could do about it.