Chapter 23 #2
The deep roaring of a fire filtered through the freezer.
Bella screamed. “What is that?”
She wasn’t going to lie to them. “Dean has set the gasoline on fire.”
“No!” Sophia screamed.
Sam pulled the girls tighter. “You need to calm down. Okay? Conserve air. The freezer will buy us some time for Liam to find us.”
“What if he doesn’t?” Bella burrowed into her side.
“I’ll be honest. If help doesn’t come, we’re going to die.”
The girls sobbed.
She stroked their hair. “Ssshhh. This freezer is old and not airtight. We’ll pass out from the carbon monoxide before the flames reach us.”
“Oh, God help us.” Sophia pleaded.
Panic seized her chest. Liam had said God is with you in everything. If ever there was a time she had needed to believe that, it was now.
Please God.
Smoke filled the horizon as Liam neared the industrial area of Renegade. Dread filled him.
He knew Sam hadn’t waited. Had gone looking for the girls. Because that’s exactly what he would have done.
He could lose everyone he loved in Renegade. Why would God bring him here, give him so much, only to take it away? But faith wasn’t just for when things made sense. He’d trusted God this far. He’d trust Him now. Even if he lost everything. God was still in control.
He pushed the telephone button on the steering wheel and waited for the beep. “Call 911.”
“911, where’s your emergency?”
“This is Deputy Marshal Liam Roberts. I’m en route to the slaughterhouse off Millrace, looking for three kidnapping victims. There’s smoke. Please send fire and rescue and officers. It’s possible there are other people trapped in the fires.”
The dispatcher asked a few additional questions.
The massive buildings came into view, glowing orange in the dark night sky. Smoke billowed out of the building to the right. “The slaughterhouse is on fire. I’m on scene.”
He pulled the SUV into the parking lot and jumped out. Flames weren’t visible from the outside, but it was only a matter of time.
Movement out of the corner of his eye caught his attention. A figure slinked in the shadows, away from the building that shared a parking lot with the slaughterhouse.
“US Marshals! Stop!” Liam took off running in the same direction.
The acrid smell of gasoline filled his nostrils. He looked to the slaughterhouse and then to this storage building. A faint glow flickered from the windows. The girls had to be in one of these buildings, but which one?
The slaughterhouse had obviously been burning the longest. Would the arsonist have hidden them there, assuming Liam would search the storage building first, or had he thought Liam would try the slaughterhouse first and therefore hidden them in the other?
Which building was he supposed to search?
Lord, lead me. Show me where to go and let me get there before it’s too late.
Left.
God had never audibly spoken to Liam, but there had been times in his life that he’d known God was directing him. Like when he’d picked up and moved to Renegade with Sophia. This was one of those times.
He raced to the building.
Flames lined the hallway.
How long until the fire department arrived?
Liam looked over his shoulder. However long it was, it would be too long. Liam pulled his shirt over his nose and followed the trail of flames.
Where were they?
He could follow the trail and hope it led him to where Sam and the girls were being held. But the building was huge, and they could be anywhere. What if the trail had been deliberately set to take him away from the girls?
His gut told him to follow the trail—that and the still, small voice of God. He continued on until it opened up to an expansive room. The wall was lined with walk-in freezers that were all wedged closed with two-by-fours.
Fire separated him from the wall. The flames burned hot, but there were empty spots. He could follow a path to the freezers. Thank You, Lord.
He raced through the flames and made it to the other side. But now he had to figure out which freezer they were in.
“Sophia!” he screamed.
If they were still alive, hopefully they could hear him.
He heard something to his right and jogged down the row. “Sophia! Samantha!”
“We’re here.” Muffled cries could be heard just ahead.
“Sophia!”
“We’re here!” The screams were right next to him now. He kicked the two-by-four from where it was wedged under the handle and yanked the door open.
Sophia launched herself into his arms while cradling Blossom. “Uncle Liam.”
He wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her as tight as he could. He looked past her to see Samantha and Isabella making their way to the door, holding on to each other. They all looked terrified.
Samantha said, “It was Dean.”
Liam inhaled sharply. Dean? A firefighter? Someone who was supposed to be a good guy had tried to kill everyone he cared about? Liam couldn’t process that right now. “Let’s get out of here. There’s fire everywhere.” He reached out to take Sophia’s hand. “Follow me.”
He pulled his niece behind him and led the way to safety. Every so often, he double-checked to make certain that Sam and Bella were following, but he didn’t slow his pace.
They emerged from the building to red and blue lights flickering everywhere. Firefighters and police were busy with the slaughterhouse. Paying no attention to the cold-storage facility.
“Over here!” Liam started waving his arms, trying to get the attention of anyone nearby.
Sam and the girls had collapsed into coughing fits on the ground of the parking lot.
“Liam,” Sam wheezed.
He looked to her. “I’m getting help.” He yelled again. This time a firefighter saw him and made his way to them.
Liam turned his attention to Sam. “Someone is on their way.”
Sam shook her head as a cough overcame her. “No.” She grabbed him, gasping for breath. “Dean.”
He knelt in front of her. “I know, he’s the one who did this.”
“It’s Dean.” She coughed, shaking her head. “He’s still here. Blending in.”
Liam’s pulse skyrocketed, and he turned around, every instinct in him on alert. But it was too late.
Something hard connected with his face. Isabella screamed as the pain sent him to his knees.
“Why won’t you people die?” Dean bent over Liam and reached for Liam’s gun.
Liam responded with a punch of his own, knocking Dean off-balance.
“Get out of here!” He yelled the order at Sam and the girls while he worked to overpower Dean and pin him to the ground.
Dean delivered a well-placed blow to Liam’s chest, where the butterfly stitches held his wound closed.
Liam’s breath caught, and pain reverberated through his chest.
“Not today.” Sam’s leg came out of nowhere and connected with Dean’s face, sending him sprawling onto the concrete. Knocking him unconscious. He didn’t move again.
Sam collapsed in a coughing heap next to Liam.
He scrambled over to Dean and secured the man’s hands behind his back. Two officers raced over.
“Deputy US Marshal Liam Roberts.” Liam sat back on his heels, panting for breath. “This man is under arrest. Could I borrow some handcuffs? He needs to sit in one of your units until my coworkers get here to take him into custody.”
“We’ve got him.” One of the officers shifted into place, and Liam moved out of the way.
He let the officers take care of Dean. In this moment, he wasn’t a marshal but a man whose family had been in danger.
But he hadn’t been too late.
Thank You, Lord.
Sam lay on the ground. Her coughing spasms had subsided, but she was so pale. He stood up and scooped her into his arms.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Getting you help.” He carried her over to where Sophia and Isabella were seated in the back of an ambulance, oxygen masks covering their faces while EMTs checked their vitals.
“Here’s another one.” He set Sam on the rear bumper of the ambulance, stepped back, and let them do their work. He took some deep breaths to try and steady his heart rate, pulled his phone from his pocket, and dialed Glover.
She picked up on the first ring. “Where are you? I just pulled into the slaughterhouse parking lot. It’s chaos.”
“Over by the ambulance.” Liam hung up, and she jogged to them.
“That’s a lot of blood.” She stared at his chest. “You need to get checked out.”
He looked down at his chest. The cut had bled through the gauze the paramedics had applied earlier. Getting punched in the chest hadn’t helped. “On my list of things to do.”
“It needs to be at the top.” She narrowed her eyes at him. “Fill me in on everything else.” She quickly glanced at Sam and the girls.
“Caleb Dean, Sam’s coworker, is our guy. He kidnapped the girls and lured Sam here, set the buildings on fire with them inside one. I managed to free them, but he attacked us once we were outside. He’s in a police cruiser somewhere.”
Glover motioned to his front. “Get that taken care of first. I’ll take custody of Dean and get him down to the office. You can come in when you’re stitched up and help me with the paperwork.”
As much as he wanted to argue, he couldn’t. She was right. He was already risking infection with the cut being open as long as it had been. He also needed to make sure Sam and the girls were okay.
His cut was deep enough to require internal stitches as well as external. Twenty-six stitches and four hours later, he and Sophia were released from the ER. Sophia had only suffered minor smoke inhalation, and all of her vitals and oxygen levels were normal.
They’d been able to find an emergency vet who’d agreed to pick up Blossom and keep her under observation.
Sophia wrapped her arms around his waist. “I was so scared, but you saved me.”
He hugged her tightly. “You think I would ever let you go? I’d do anything for you, Soph.”
“I know—” She hiccupped. “But he wanted us to die. We shouldn’t have gone with him. But he was Sam’s friend.”
“You had no way of knowing.” He pulled back and looked his niece in the eyes. “This is not your fault. Do you understand me?”
She nodded as tears streamed down her cheeks. “I love you, Uncle Liam.”
“I love you too. We’re okay. Sam is going to be okay. God protected everyone.” He pulled her in tight.
Sam would be admitted since she already had a concussion and wasn’t supposed to have left in the first place. Bella was cleared for release.
Liam was glad that he and Sophia had been put in a room next door to Sam and Bella. He spent his time going back and forth between the rooms.
Supervisor Howard showed up with Stanton in tow. They took everyone’s statements and headed back to the office to question Dean.
Liam hadn’t had a chance to talk to Sam about everything that had occurred.
This had to be extremely rough for her. Dean was a friend and a respected firefighter.
The frantic search for Sam and the girls tonight had made Liam realize that Sam and Bella meant so much more to him than he had ever thought they would.
He didn’t know what the future held as far as a relationship with Sam went, but his heart had crossed the line, and there was no way he would be able to reel it back.
He had some very important decisions to make.
His life and his career were on the line.