Page 115 of The Accomplice
Yes, this was the way.
‘Down on the floor,’ said Bloch.
‘You should do the same,’ said Otto as he dropped to his knees and tossed the flare into the pit.
At first, he thought nothing happened. And then, he heard the scream. A wild sound that was followed by a hugewhomp!
The force from the gas fumes igniting threw the plate right off the pit. Otto stumbled, fell over onto his side.
He glanced up, saw Bloch and Flynn ducking and covering their heads.
He reached behind for his pistol as the fire screamed into life and flames erupted from the pit in a plume of oranges and reds and a solid wall of heat came with it, burning his lips and singeing his hair.
He drew his pistol.
CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE
KATE
Every breath was an effort of pure concentration.
She stood on the chair. Her eyes tightly shut. Her lips were clamped around the funnel she’d taken from the jerry can and forced through the gap between the plate and the pit. Breathing gasoline fumes would burn out her lungs or give her carbon monoxide poisoning. The funnel allowed her to take in clean air.
If she shut her eyes they didn’t sting so bad. Yet she had to half-crouch, standing on top of the chair in order to get her mouth close to the funnel, and the funnel through the gap. Her back and legs were aching. Muscles cramping and trembling.
But it was the only way to stay alive.
She didn’t know how long it had been since he’d left her like this. Hours. Many hours. And she wasn’t able to hang on much longer. She knew it. She would have to hold her breath, duck down and give her legs a break.
The sound of the door opening and shutting. It echoed throughout the building and her eyes popped open with the shock of it. She shut them again, soon as they started to sting. They were already swollen and the skin around her mouth was burning too.
Footsteps running toward her.
She took a deep breath. The most air she could hold, and ducked down, pulling the funnel with her.
She knelt in the dark, eyes shut. Lungs bursting.
Knowing this was it.
This was how it would end.
He’d come to burn her.
The footsteps were overhead now. Stomping around on the plate. She opened her eyes, just for a second, and saw sand dribbling down into the pit.
He was moving the bags.
The heavy trolley on wheels. That made a distinctive sound. The wheels squeaked and rumbled on the steel, and then banged down onto the concrete floor.
The steel bar dipped into the pit, then it was pulled back. Kate backed away as the plate was levered open.
Voices.
She couldn’t hear what they said. Her head was roaring and she felt dizzy with the fumes. A lurch from her stomach brought vomit into her mouth, and she had to let go of the air she’d been holding.
As the plate was ripped back, she glanced up into a light. It burned brighter than anything she’d ever seen, scorching her eyes.
Kate’s whole body began to shake, and she forced herself to look up. To look at him. If this man was going to kill her, she wanted him to look her in the eye before he set her alight.
