Page 87 of Mountain Security

Then she caught sight of the two pails in separate corners of the bathroom.

Two pails she’d never seen before.

Where do those come from?

It took her another instant to realize the problem.

Thick, dark smoke was coming out of both pails.

Water.

Throw water on it.

No.

You don’t know what’s causing it.

Water could make it worse.

That moment of indecision cost her dearly. Suddenly, the pails weren’t just smoking. There were flames coming out. Yvette coughed. Already the surrounding air was growing dark and thick.

There was no window in the bathroom, nothing she could open to let in some fresh air. She quickly revised her original plan.

Forget putting it out.

Get out.

Find Alex.

Come back together and put it out.

Flames rose higher out of one of the buckets.

Or, even better, call the fire department.

Decision made, Yvette ran to the door, almost slipping twice on the old-fashioned black-and-white tiles. She pulled the door open … and nothing happened.

She could hear the fire roaring behind her.

Yvette tightened her hand around the door handle and pulled as hard as she could.

Nothing.

The door didn’t even budge.

This makes no sense.

In all her years in this office, the heavy door had always been open.

It’s stuck.

It’s not stuck.

Somebody locked it.

Somebody locked you inside.

“Help! Please help!” Yvette yelled. She looked behind to see the wooden towel dispenser, located above one of the pails, was on fire as well.

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