Page 57 of Fighting His Fate
Mac went over the plan for their approach. They’d go through the woods like last time, but without the dark of night to hide them.
Brett took the exit ramp and said a silent prayer for their safety. He’d already lost Joni and Luke to this madman, and he’d be damned if he was going to lose anyone else.
32
Grace could barely breathe.Fleming had strapped six bricks of C4 to her chest with thick tape, the wires that must be detonators poking out of them like springs on a robot. Somewhere in the distance, a baby cried.
Fleming grabbed a black backpack he’d loaded with the remaining explosives and opened the door, pushing her into the hallway. The crying was louder here, and she instinctively turned her head toward it, desperate for the boys.
Fleming picked up speed and she closed her eyes, nausea rolling through her stomach before he stopped abruptly and pushed open a door to a dark room. He flicked on the lights, revealing a wide laboratory with long black counters lined with equipment.
“This is where the magic happened,” he said with a wistful tone to his voice. “Seems only right this is where it should end.” He pushed her toward the center of the room and a large open area flanked by two machines that looked like monstrous photocopiers. She could only guess what they were.
He centered her chair between them, a set of double doors now directly in front of her some twenty feet away. “Perfect,” he said. He was lining her up for prime visual effect and she knew it, the sick feeling returning to her stomach. She imagined he would detonate the bombs right when Brett arrived, ensuring he had the best seat in the house yet was too far away to stop it.
“It’s not too late to let the boys go. They could live happy, healthy lives.”
He ignored her, removing the pack from his back and taking out the explosives once more. He moved around the room, setting up the charges one by one until he again moved to the center of the room. Taking the last brick of C4, he duct taped it to himself and stuck in the detonator, then took a handgun out of the pack and rested it on his thigh.
He looked almost serene, which alarmed her nearly as much as the room he’d just wired to explode. He was crazy, and she couldn’t reason with crazy, couldn’t beg for her life and expect a response. But still, she had to try. “Is this what Joni would want you to do?”
He laughed at that, an odd, hollow chuckle that did nothing to calm her nerves. He pulled out his cell phone as he answered. “Joni is dead. I know because I killed her.” He stared at the screen. “They’re here.” He walked to the heavily tinted window and looked out.
“They’ll shoot you,” she said, pulling against her restraints, desperate to free a hand or arm so she could remove the charges and save herself, but the tape was too strong and it twisted her elbow. She tried again, the stress on the joint almost too much to bear.
“Of course they will, then I’ll let go of this detonator. It’s a deadman’s switch. When I die, the bombs go off. I added a time delay on yours. Three minutes to watch you squirm while the room burns up around you, three minutes to try to save you or the boys before you blow up—right before his very eyes. I’ll be halfway to hell by then, but I’ll die with a smile on my face knowing what those three minutes will be like for him.”
Grace could see it in her mind’s eye, could feel the fear as if she were already experiencing it. She stared at the clock on the wall. Three minutes could be an awfully long time.
She thought of her life, of her biological parents and her love for them. She remembered the raw edges of her soul that had been left when they died. They’d be waiting for her on the other side. She thought of the Bryants and how they’d loved her, given her a home. How good it felt to have a family after so much time alone.
She thought of John with a twinge of regret, not for having cared for him, but for not caring enough. She hoped he’d find a wonderful woman to love, that he’d get the life he deserved and be truly happy. She thought of loving Brett, of being in his arms and made love to so tenderly she thought she might burst with feeling.
They’d only had a few days together, but as she faced the end of her life she was more grateful for that time than any other, especially the hours spent with his boys. Toby and Theo needed to be safe. She said a prayer that they would somehow escape the impending inferno and live through this day. Maybe Brett would find his way to them and rescue the boys. Maybe they would be a family.
Goodbye. I’m so glad I got to have you for a while.
The door to the lab burst open, Brett appearing in the doorway. The rest happened in an instant. Fleming pointed his gun at the men, flashes of gunpowder searing Grace’s retinas as the men’s weapons discharged with deafening blasts. Fleming hit the floor just as the explosion shook the air. All the C4 he’d placed around the room detonated at once. Only Grace’s explosives remained.
Brett rushed toward her. She was screaming, covered in blood and debris she knew were bits of Fleming. She could barely hear her own voice, her hearing muted by the C4 detonating. “Three minutes! You only have three minutes and mine are going to go off!”
Fire had erupted all around them, heat from the flames raising the temperature exponentially as Brett attempted to free her from the duct tape with a knife. But try as he might, the material wouldn’t cut. “It’s fucking Kevlar tape!” he yelled, though it sounded like he was calling from the next room over.
Razorback entered with a fire extinguisher and sprayed the flames closest to them. Across the room, a glass container exploded, throwing shards of glass like shrapnel from a pipe bomb.
“Razorback, help me!” Brett shouted above the din, and the other man joined him. “It’s Kevlar tape. I can’t cut it.”
Razorback took a quick look, then began opening cupboards and drawers.
“We only have three minutes.” she repeated. “These are going to go off in three minutes!” She knew it was closer to two and a half, though time was distorted so greatly in that moment it could be even less. The fire was spreading quickly. Who knew how far it had traveled already? “You have to find the boys,” she yelled.
“Not until I get you out of here.”
“Now, Brett! You have to save them now.”
“I’m not leaving you here.” He continued to work at the tape with his knife, making so little progress she knew it was hopeless.
The smoke burned her lungs, every breath becoming a labor she knew she couldn’t sustain. “You have to go,” she said again. “Find them, quickly.” He looked at her intensely, those gray eyes putting his struggle on display. “Go!” she screamed, desperate for him to save Toby and Theo from the flames, but he didn’t move, returning to his fight with the Kevlar tape.
