Page 31 of Texas Scandal

“This place is impressive,” Melody said as her gaze roamed over the big open space after he flipped on the lights. A hydraulic press took up what used to be a stall. “You’ll have to walk me through how you make one of those after you get caught up.” She nodded toward the desk on the left side of the room. “Is that where I should set down our plates?”

“Sure,” he said, closing the door behind them. Loki ran around the room with his usual excitement. He had a bed to one side of the room along with a few toys in a basket, not that they stayed there much. He couldn’t count the number of times he’d stepped on a squeaky toy. The tile flooring made for easy cleanup when Loki knocked over food or water bowls, which happened more than Tiernan wanted to admit.

As Melody set up at the desk, he grabbed an extra stool.

“I just keep thinking about Bebe,” Melody said as she sat down. Loki came rushing over, sat down next to her and looked up at her with the biggest pair of sad brown eyes.

“Don’t fall for it,” Tiernan warned. “Dogs have the ability to whip out their ‘puppy eyes’ when they want table scraps. Trust me, he goes back to being his normal self when the food is eaten or put away.”

“He is looking extra cute right now,” she said with a smile. “Is he allowed to have one bite or is the plate off limits?”

Tiernan would feel like a complete jerk for being the reason Loki lost out on a sliver of turkey and cheese.

Before he could respond, a clicking sound from the door area caught Loki’s interest. He hopped up and bolted toward the noise. Melody’s face twisted with concern as Tiernan held up a finger to indicate she should sit tight for a second while he checked it out.

A sound like a hammer splintering wood repeated several times as though someone was running around the building. Tiernan bolted toward the door and tried to slide it open. He bit back a string of curses that would make Granny blush when it wouldn’t budge.

Tiernan threw his shoulder into it as Loki started running around the perimeter of the former barn. A window broke and was immediately followed by the stench of smoke.

Bottle after bottle exploded through windows as fire broke out in the shop.

MELODYJUMPEDTOher feet. She’d seen a fire extinguisher attached to a support pole. “Is this thing up to code?”

“It came with the building,” he said, already running toward another one. “Considering these are our best hope, we can’t be too picky.”

“How flammable is the barn?” she asked, wondering just how much time she had left to live as she ran toward the wall. The bottles crashing reminded her of the Molotov cocktails she’d seen in old movies.

She pulled her shirt up over her mouth and nose. At this rate, smoke would fill the room and they’d die from inhalation before the fire ever got to them. Her brain snapped to Loki, and there was no way in hell she planned to let that happen to him. She jerked the red canister off the wooden pole. “What do I do?”

“Pull the pin, aim and squeeze the trigger,” he said as he did the same as he checked his gauge and cursed. He said the same word she was thinking. “Mine has no pressure.”

She checked hers.

“Mine’s low, but there’s something here,” she said. “Take it and I’ll call 911.”

They made the exchange but not before he tested his out. The pressure gauge was on the money. There was not enough.

She immediately grabbed his cell phone and made the call for help.

“The operator says it’ll take fifteen minutes for the closest volunteer firefighter to reach us,” she said, knowing full well an entire house could go up in a matter of minutes. She glanced around for anything she could use to slow the progression of the fire. There was a sink in one corner that might help if it worked. She grabbed a pair of buckets that were hanging on the wall, no doubt leftovers from the original barn.

Filling the buckets, she ran over to the left wall and threw the water in an attempt to douse the flames. Loki was going crazy at this point. The air was getting thicker by the minute.

“We can’t wait to get out of here,” Tiernan said. “We’re going to have to break out through the wall.” He ran over and grabbed the metal stool that he’d been sitting on a few minutes ago.

A few seconds later, he was using the stool like a battering ram against the wooden wall. She joined him, using a long, metal tool. She had no idea what it was and didn’t care at the moment. With all her might, she pounded the wood. Between the two of them, they started making progress.

When there was enough give in the wood, Tiernan threw his shoulder into it repeatedly as both began to cough. One last burst, and the wood exploded. Tiernan went flying onto the grass outside. Loki immediately followed, but he caught sight of something or someone and tore off in a different direction.

“Loki, no!” Melody shouted but the dog was locked on to something. Tiernan had already jumped to his feet, scanning the area no doubt for something he could use to put out the blaze. A water hose would be like bringing a straw to an ocean to drain it.

“Don’t let your guard down,” he said to her as he ran to the house. He retrieved a pair of working fire extinguishers and handed one over as he yelled for Loki. “We won’t have enough juice to put out the blaze with these but maybe we can slow the fire down enough until help arrives to be able to salvage something.”

She nodded before pulling the pin.Aim and squeeze.

Loki was still gone when the fire truck arrived. Half the building was standing. The contents had to be ruined either by fire, extinguisher, or water damage. Tiernan looked gutted at the damage to a business he deeply cared about.

Panic gripped her at what could have happened. That wasn’t just a close call. That could have been certain death. The person who set the fires knew they were inside. Had they been watching? Waiting?

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