Page 6 of Night Hawk
Sam stood at the landing, a mask over her mouth. “You okay?”
He nodded but raced past her to charge outside and gulp the clean night air into his burning lungs. Riley stood guard at the door, but Clay kept going, moving across the crumbling driveway. He kept his head on a swivel as he ran, searching the area for danger. Spotted only grass blowing in the gentle breeze.
His body wanted to collapse under his strained lungs. No, he couldn’t. Not yet. Not until he reached a soft grassy area and gently set Toni down. Racking coughs caught both of them. She got to her knees and nearly heaved trying to clear her lungs. His already protesting lungs argued even more and a misty rain wet his face.
She dragged in deep breaths. Coughing. Gagging. So did he. Until his lungs seemed like only a hundred razor blades occupied them instead of a thousand.
She looked at him. He searched her face. She seemed to be semi-alert. Maybe she’d broken free of her paralysis and was trying to process what was happening.
Griff stopped to talk to Riley, who after a brief conversation, started around the building perimeter. Still gasping for air, Clay was grateful Sam thought to bring Riley along for extra security.
Griff and Sam joined them. She pulled the mask off and brushed long blond hair from her face. She was tall and trim, but not as tall as Griff, who was built like a linebacker and had reddish-blond hair in a fashionable cut.
“Toni, this is Sam with Blackwell Tactical and her husband, Griff, who’s a firefighter in this county.”
Toni looked confused. He thought she’d heard of Blackwell, but maybe not. He explained and she nodded.
“Nice to meet you,” Griff said. “I’ll call medics.”
“I’m good,” Clay said and looked at Toni.
She waved a hand. “Not for me. I’ll be fine.”
“I still think it would be a good idea if—”
“We’re fine,” Clay interrupted. “If that changes, I’ll let you know.” Clay would keep an eye on Toni to be sure she didn’t seem to be suffering any ill-effects from the smoke.
Griff clamped his hands on his hips. “I’m going on record as saying being checked out would be the wise thing to do.”
“And when he goes on record…” Sam wiggled her eyebrows.
“I’m serious.”
“I know,” Sam said, “but you can keep an eye on them. If they look like they’re in distress, you can call.”
“Fair enough.” He smiled at his wife. “Fire was contained in the barrel. Built to distribute maximum smoke with minimum damage. I assume your suspect has taken off, but once the smoke dissipates, we can clear the building to be sure.”
Clay took in that information. “So whoever set the fire wanted us to suffocate, not burn.”
“Looks like it.”
“They must’ve known we couldn’t get a phone signal in the basement,” Toni got out between coughs.
Clay nodded. “Good thing I brought a SAT phone.”
“Odd that they just didn’t take you out with a bullet,” Sam said.
“I was thinking the same thing.” Toni frowned. “It’s like whoever set this up wanted us to suffer before dying. Maybe as payback.”
“Or they’re just fond of fire,” Griff said. “Some people are like that and will take any reason to start one.”
Clay thought about the snake but wouldn’t mention it unless he had to.
Sam ran a hand over her hair. “I should call Trent Winfield. He’s our county sheriff. He replaced Blake.”
“Blake?” Toni asked between breaths.
“He was the sheriff here,” Clay said, “but now he works at the Veritas Center where my sister Sierra is the forensic expert.” He didn’t bother telling her about Nighthawk’s office at Veritas. That could come later. He cleared his lungs with a deep cough and turned his attention back to Sam. “I don’t want to call Trent before we have a chance to scope this place out.”
