Page 76 of Protecting the Flame

She watched as the men pulled out brick and brick, wad after wad. She didn’t have much time. Scott would be back any second and, knowing Scott, he’d make sure he got his cut no matter what.

So I have to do this. The avgas bladders were to her left, and she edged that way now. But hadn’t Will also said she’d helped to make a life? She was responsible for two lives now. Somebody, tell me what to do. She eyed the men, but they had their backs to her, so it really was now or never. Sliding another slow inch to her left and then another, she felt her left hand brush the siphon hose. Carefully, she nudged the hose until the open bore rested over the half-empty bladder and then released the clamp. She felt cold liquid on her fingers but heard nothing as the avgas sheeted over fabric. Good.

“Say,” she said, already backing up, “do you guys mind if I go get my pack? I left it on the other side next to the signal fire.”

“Sure.” This time, Talbot’s smile didn’t make it to his eyes, which were, she saw now, the lifeless gray of a shark’s skin. “But don’t run off.”

“Are you kidding?” She was the edge of the fuselage. Maybe twenty feet, thirty max. It will have to do. Still facing them, she reached for her right hip pocket. “You guys are my heroes—”

“Hey!”

They all wheeled. Scott stood at the verge, black duffels in his hand. “Hey, she’s got something in her pocket, she’s got something, she’s got—”

Damn him. In one swift moment, she pulled the flare from her pocket and jerked the string. There was an audible crack and then a shower of sparks as the flare caught and bloomed a red-hot flame that sounded like a blowtorch.

Talbot and the younger guy rounded, setting up ripples in the puddles at their feet. “The hell?” Talbot cried. “What are you—”

“Yehi ’or, you fuck!” Tossing the flare, she whirled around and thought, Run, Emma, run, run, run as fast as you—

She discovered that the MythBusters guys had been right. Sparks were the necessary ingredient.

In the next second, the last of that day erupted in a sheet of heat and flame, and with a roar.

And she knew nothing more.

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