Page 83 of Hot Zone

Behind him, I saw Keith give a nod to Andy. They were in position, waiting for an opening. I needed to keep him focused on me.

“Don,” I said, softening my tone. “I know you’re angry. But this? This isn’t going to fix anything. It’s just going to make things worse.”

“You don’t understand!” he shouted, his eyes glistening with unshed tears. “I wanted this more than anything. I wanted to be one of you.” He waved the detonator around, frantically pointing it at each of the firefighters. “I wanted to be like my dad. I wanted to save people. And you stole that from me!”

“It’s not too late, Don,” I said, even though we all knew that wasn’t true. “You walk out of here with me, and we figure this out. Together.”

His hand trembled on the detonator, and for a moment, I thought I was getting through to him. But then he shook his head violently. “No. No more talking. You’re going to—”

A loud clatter came from behind him, interrupting what he was saying. Andy had knocked over a bucket near the door, drawing Don’s attention for a split second. That was all Hawk needed. He lunged forward, grabbing Don’s wrist and twisting it upward. The detonator flew from Don’s hand and skittered across the floor.

From there, chaos erupted. Hawk took Don down, pinning him to the ground with his knee in the middle of his back. I kicked the detonator across the floor, far out of reach, and Keith secured it.

Hawk looked up. “Anyone have any zip ties?”

“We do,” Kevin said. He headed over to the supply cabinet, returned with a few, and handed them over to Hawk. He took them and secured Don’s hands before looking up at us. “Everyone, back up.”

My crew didn’t know Hawk well enough to follow his orders, so they all looked to me, and when I nodded, they all moved back.

I assumed Hawk was trained for this, but still, it was a bomb. “You know what you’re doing over there, Hawk?”

He looked up at me and scoffed. “This ain’t my first rodeo, Samuel. I got this. Besides, this is barely even a bomb.”

I motioned for everyone to move further back just to be safe, and then we stood there and watched while he rolled Don onto his back and went to work on the mess of wires and shit that were strapped to his chest.

We all held our breath while we waited until he finally looked up at us. “Bomb’s neutralized!” he called out, and relief swept through the room like a wave.

Don was sobbing on the floor, his chest heaving as snot and tears ran down his cheeks. He didn’t resist as Hawk pulled him to his feet. It was like his anger had burned out and had been replaced by exhaustion and despair.

I felt sorry for him in a way, but I’d obviously made the right choice back then. Being a firefighter was a tough job, and it couldwear on you mentally. He obviously wasn’t capable of handling the stress this job could cause.

A few minutes later, sirens blared from out front, and a hoard of police officers swarmed the building. We explained what had happened, and they took him into custody. I could only hope that, over time, he would get the help he needed, but at least he was off the streets, and this nightmare was over.

Chapter 25

Mars

I was at the shop without Samuel today, and I missed having him around. Three of my regular customers had stopped in just to talk to him. Something I was sure he would enjoy when I told him.

It hadn’t helped that I’d had a bad feeling all morning. It reminded me of the day my house had caught fire. Kismet seemed fine, though, so I tried to view that as a positive sign.Everyone was on pins and needles because of the arsonist, so I tried my best to ignore it, but it was hard.

I could feel that something was off in the energy, and I’d learned over time to trust that feeling. So, after a couple of hours of trying to convince myself it was nothing, I gave in and pulled out a tarot deck and dealt myself six cards.

I took a breath and flipped over the first card. Five of Wands. Chaos and conflict. Okay, that could mean anything. Second card. Ace of Wands reversed. Chaos again, and what was with all the wands? Third card. The Tower card because, of course, it was the Tower card. Chaos, chaos, destruction. I wasn’t feeling good about this at all. I flipped over the fourth card. The Devil. Jealousy, envy, or being trapped. Okay. The sense of foreboding was growing stronger with each card. This was not reassuring at all. I flipped over the fifth card. The Eight of Swords. Trapped.Shit. Obviously, I’m not trapped, so these cards can’t be pertaining to me, unless it’s something coming later. But with the arsonist targeting Samuel, I couldn’t help but wonder if the cards were telling me he was in danger.

I pulled out my phone and called Samuel. I sat there, tapping the sixth card while it rang and rang until it went to voicemail. I was terrified to turn over the last card, and Samuel wasn’t answering his phone. I pushed away from the table and went to the front door. Samuel told me he would be with Hawk today, and Gator worked for Hawk, so he would know if something was wrong, right?

I pushed open the front door. Gator was standing there on the phone looking serious even for him, and that said something.

“What is it?” I asked.

“Hawk, I have Mars here. I’m going to go update him. Call me if you need me.”

My heart pounded in my chest, and I could barely breathe. Gator took a step towards me, holding out one hand. “Before I tell you anything, you need to know Samuelisokay. That was Hawk on the phone. He’s with him, and he’s fine.”

“What happened?”

“The guy everyone was looking for showed up at the station with a bomb strapped to his chest. Hawk, Samuel, and the people on shift managed to disarm him, and he’s been arrested. That’s all I know.”

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