Page 76 of Instinct & New Identity

“Wade.Thereare several dozen drums in here filled with highly flammable materials.Also,Catreports the presence of a compromised package.Irepeat a compromised package.GoingFRAGO.Switchingto my friendCharlie.”

I’d given them the insight about the drums so that they could keep the cops from blowing the place up.ThenI’dadded in theFRAGOterm at the end to let them knowIwas course correcting our initial mission plan, and going withPlanC, orCharlie.

The only problem was,PlanChad a lot higher odds of complications.Notwanting the bad guys to hear anything else we said,Iripped out my comms and crushed it with my foot.Ijust hoped the good guys knew what to do before the bad guys caught on.

“Alright, sweetheart, change of plans.It’sjust you and me now,”ItoldCat. “Areyou injured?Canyou walk?”

“I can walk,” she said, her voice strong and determined. “Whatare we going to do?”

“Since we don’t know who the mole is, or who is friend and who is enemy at this point, we’re going with a backup plan,”Iinstructed. “Ineed you to follow me and stick close since you don’t have a weapon, okay?”

She nodded, andIhelped her up and looked around the space.Shequietly rattled off the two men she had seen and descriptions of them whileIlooked at possible escape routes.

“They all kept coming and going from that door on the left,” she said, pointing to the doorIcame in from. “Thechemicals in these barrels are flammable, and the one guy,Spadesaid they would get you in here then somehow light a fire and lock the doors.”

“Spade?”Ihadn’t heard that name before.

“Yes, the other guy was calledT,” she replied. “Inever got the boss’s name because they just called him ‘boss’.Thishas to do with something that happened to you inOklahoma.”

Oklahoma?I’dnever been to that state before. “Yousure?”

“Yeah, he said this was revenge forOklahoma.”

Oklahoma.Ohshit.Oklahoma—the jackass bounty thatDiegoandIhad to chase down and we turned in to the police.Mydad was right.

“Vince, we don’t have much time.Wehave to find another way out of here.Thedoor you came in will be a trap, and the other door is locked with that chain.”

Just as she finished that sentence, a loud whoosh sound came from behind me.

The doorIhad just come in a few moments ago from the vestibule area now had flames shooting out from underneath it, along with a growing line of fire on the ground spreading straight toward the drums.

“To the windows.Now!”Iurged her forward quickly.Therewere tons of windows along the left side of the building.Theonly problem was the bottom frame of the windows was at least eight feet up.

“How do we get up there?”Catasked, her voice strong and determined.

“We’re going to have toMacGyverour way out of this,”Itold her, scanning the room. “Helpme push this drum, quick.”

There was a single drum roughly six feet from the wall that we needed to push as close to that wall as possible so that we could climb up and hopefully reach the window.Butwe also needed to do it fast before the fire spread to the barrel and engulfed it in flames.

The drum was heavy, several hundred pounds by my guess.Weboth pushed hard and managed to get the drum within a foot of the window, which was close enough.Ihopped up and again pulled out the multi-tool that my dad had given me.

“We’re going out through here.It’snot ideal, but it’s our best shot.”

“What about the guys outside?Whatif they see us?”Catcoughed, the smoke around us getting thicker as the fire spread through the warehouse.

I expected to see worry on her face, but instead there was determination and fortitude.

“IfWadeandArcherunderstood my message, they should be in position to cover us.They’llhandle it.Juststick close and be ready to run once we jump out.”

Cat nodded back to me.Iput my gun back in its holster at the small of my back and reached for the glass break feature on the multi-tool and swung hard at the window.Theloud, sharp shattering of glass reverberated through the room.

I liftedCatup on the drum with me and helped her climb through the window.

“Be careful,”Iwarned her so she didn’t cut herself on the sharp glass.

Once she jumped from the sill,Ifollowed.

Just as we made it out, loud shouts could be heard from nearby, whichIimagined were the cops scrambling toward the building which was now engulfed in flames.Then, a small burst of fireworks appeared by the gate entrance to the warehouse.

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