Page 102 of Tough Justice

Wil didn’t move. Flames flickered behind the plastic curtain then began spreading across the tables, slowly at first, then shooting with more speed toward a small gas tank, the kind used for barbeque grills.

She watched helplessly as the entire tabletop quickly became engulfed in flames. Smoke billowed behind the curtain. It wouldn’t take long before the lab was fully engulfed. Tori had no idea how much time she had left before the flames hit the gas tank.

One side of the plastic melted away, allowing smoke to billow out into the tunnel. She slipped off her coat, using it to cover her mouth and nose. At this rate, the smoke would probably kill her before the fire burned her alive. Or the explosion would, as T-Lo said, suck out all the oxygen, asphyxiating her within seconds.

“Nooo, please.” She sank to her knees in front of the gate. It can’t end this way. Deck…

Tori let her head fall back, opened her mouth…and screamed.

…

When Evan cuffed the guy and rolled him onto his back, Deck got in the guy’s face. “How many others are down there? Is there a woman down there?”

The guy didn’t answer, just stared up at him in a stupidly defiant gesture. Yeah, we’ll see about that. Deck shouldered his shotgun then grabbed the man’s hair in one hand and his Glock in the other. He yanked the guy’s head back and shoved the gun’s muzzle in his face. Even in the dim moonlight, the man’s eyes went wider than silver dollars. “Again,” Deck growled, “is there a woman down there?” He nodded. “How many others?”

“Three.”

“Is T-Lo one of them?”

“Yeah.”

“And the doc?” Another nod. Deck released the man’s hair, holstering his weapon and unslinging his shotgun. “I’m heading in. Brett, you’re with me. Evan, call it in.”

“You got it.” Brett handed Blaze’s leash to Evan. “Watch him for me, will ya?”

Evan took the leash then pulled out his cell phone.

Deck put on Thor’s mask then donned his own. In a perfect world, they’d all have on head-to-toe protective gear, but there was no time to go back to the vehicles and get suited up. “Let’s go.”

As a unit, he and Thor went through the door first. Smoke billowed up the stairs, obscuring whatever was below. Thor bounded past Deck just as a woman screamed. Tori. For a split second, he froze.

“What the fuck?” a man shouted. “Get it off! Get it off!”

Thor had found his mark.

Leading with the shotgun, Deck pounded down the stairs. Brett’s boots echoed closely behind him. At the bottom of the stairs were two tunnels. Following Thor’s growls, he turned left into the first tunnel where the smoke was thicker. With his mask on, Thor was unable to bite but had T-Lo pinned to a wall. The other man hammered at Thor’s head with a backpack.

“Fucking dog.” T-Lo raised his arm, about to plunge a knife in Thor’s neck.

Aiming high so he didn’t hit his dog, Deck pulled the trigger. The side of T-Lo’s face exploded in a mass of bloody tissue.

Ignoring the painful kick from the shotgun blast against his bad shoulder, Deck swung the muzzle to the other man, who dropped the backpack and threw up his hands.

“I give up, don’t shoot! Don’t shoot!”

“Brett!” Deck yelled over his shoulder, his voice muffled by the mask. “Get him out of here. I’m going after Tori.”

“Make it quick,” Brett shouted as he cuffed the guy. “This place is filling up fast.”

“Take Thor with you.” He didn’t want his dog breathing in smoke or whatever else might be down here.

“Thor, come!” Brett called out, waving his arm at Thor, but the dog wouldn’t leave Deck’s side.

“Thor, go!” Deck pointed to the stairs. Thor sat, freezing like a canine statue as he looked up at Deck. His partner was taking a stand, refusing to leave his side.

So be it.

Deck raced farther into the tunnel, past the burning lab, with Thor on his heels. Ahead of them was a heavy iron gate, at the base of which was—Tori. Lying on his back near a hole in the floor was that asshole, Barnett, dead or unconscious. Deck didn’t care which.