Night Watch (Kendra Michaels #4)(103)

Waldridge whirled around. “Now, Kendra! Those screams are going to bring them running.”

She was already at the smaller door, working the bump key as she’d practiced with Jessie. She positioned the key and tapped it with the mallet she had taken from the lab equipment.

Strike, twist, repeat …

Strike, twist, repeat …

It wasn’t working!

The men’s screams had become lower-pitched wails, and she realized that the horrible scene behind her was pulling her focus.

Detach. Concentrate.

Strike, twist …

The lock turned! She pushed open the door, and bright sunlight flooded into the lab. Beyond the door there was sand, only sand for as far as the eye could see.

She turned back at a crash from the other side of the lab. Biers, Jaden, and the other guard had burst through the primary door with fire extinguishers. Biers pointed toward Kendra. “Stop her!”

Waldridge picked up two larger flasks he had ready, and yelled to her, “Run!”

Kendra bolted out the open door and a heartbeat later Waldridge was there. He whirled around and tossed the flasks toward the second, wider strip of potassium permanganate and glycerin he’d laid down.

Foom!

Flames roared over the entire lab.

Waldridge leaped through the open door and bolted across the rough sand after Kendra as a series of small explosions rocked the lab behind them.

“What’s that?” Kendra shouted.

“Ammonium nitrate,” Waldridge replied. “And perhaps a few vials of zinc powder. I used everything I could find.”

Kendra glanced over her shoulder at the complex that had been their prison. It was smaller than she had imagined, with beige coloring that would make it invisible from the sky. The lab was joined by a walkway to smaller structures, which must be the quarters section Waldridge mentioned.

Another explosion shook the lab.

Kendra’s gaze was flying over the trucks and vehicles parked in the area.

No time to hot-wire anything.

Kendra pointed to a three-wheel all-terrain vehicle parked several yards away. “There!”

Waldridge gave it a doubtful look. “Will your bump key work on that?”

“No.” She was running toward the ATV. “But it’s a sport model, so we may not need a key.” She practically flew onto the seat and checked the console. Relief. “We’re good to go. Hop on!”

Blue flames shot from the open door.

Waldridge jumped behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist.

Kendra had already started the ATV and was gunning the engine. She pulled back on the throttle. The back wheels kicked up sand as the ATV bounded over a small dune and headed out into the open desert.

*

DYLE SHIELDED HIS FACE from the white-hot chemical fire that had completely enveloped the lab. The strong desert wind had sent the flames leaping totally out of control. His hands clenched in fury as he turned back to the two badly burned men who had been dragged out just before the entire building went up in flames.

One of the men, Aaron French, was clearly dead. His crispy face was a bloody scab only barely recognizable as a human being. Incredibly, the remnants of his handlebar mustache were still visible.

The other man, Dan Brill, wasn’t faring much better. He screamed in pain as Jaden and Nathan, the other security man, tried to peel off his black fatigues. He quieted only after he was injected with a heavy sedative.

Biers grimaced at the sight of the two charred men. “That could have been us, Dyle. For God’s sake, you know Waldridge is a chemical genius. Why wasn’t he more closely watched?”

“Are you criticizing me?” Dyle asked coldly. “Taken alone, none of those chemicals could have caused this chaos.”

Biers immediately backed down. “No, you’re right, of course. I’m just concerned.”

“And so you should be. We’ll get them back. All of my men are damn good in the desert. Jaden ran my security detail for me in Egypt.” He turned to the remaining security men, Jaden and Eric Nathan, who were approaching them. “Why aren’t you on the road? What do I pay you for?”

“We have two men down,” Jaden said. “French is gone, but Brill stands a chance. We need to get him to a hospital.”

“Later,” Dyle said. “Right now we have to catch Waldridge and the woman.”

“Brill is going to die if we don’t get him to a hospital now,” Nathan said.

Dyle looked down at the burned man, who was struggling to breathe. “He’s going to die anyway. You and I both know that. The nearest hospital is a hundred miles from here.”

“We have to try,” Nathan said. “I’m not leaving him. We’ve been through a lot of shit together.”

“You can try when you get back if he’s still alive.”

“That’s not the way we do things, sir.”

Dyle smothered his rage. He wanted to shoot the son of a bitch. But he had to work with these idiots. He had no one else at the moment. “Honorable. But two people have escaped on your watch, and they have to be retrieved.” Hell, let Jaden handle it. They were his men. He turned to Jaden. “What do you think?”

“I think Nathan is right. Nathan and Brill were buddies.” He looked down at the moaning man with no expression. “And compensation should be made for violating his feelings in the matter.” His gaze shifted to Dyle. “Considerable compensation.”