Chapter 12 - Fire at the Door
Daniel unscrewed the gasoline cap.
Mara stared at the monitor.
“No.”
Daniel poured fuel across the library floor.
It spread beneath the shelving.
Across the carpet.
Around the panic-room entrance.
Emily backed away from the screen.
“He’ll burn the house.”
“He doesn’t care anymore.”
Daniel splashed gasoline across the wooden shelves.
Emily pressed the intercom.
“You’ll die too.”
He smiled.
“No.”
“The exits are locked.”
“I have the master code.”
Emily suddenly understood.
Of course.
Daniel had planned this.
The fire would destroy evidence.
Emily and Mara would die inside.
Daniel would escape.
Perhaps investigators would conclude that the storm caused an electrical fire.
Another accident.
Another grieving husband.
Daniel removed a silver lighter.
Mara began searching the emergency cabinets.
“What are you doing?”
“Ventilation.”
Emily looked upward.
A small vent fed outside air into the room.
Smoke could enter.
Mara found duct tape.
They sealed the edges around the vent.
Then the door.
Daniel’s voice came through the intercom.
“You can’t stay in there forever.”
Emily ignored him.
“Emily.”
She tore another strip of tape.
“Do you remember our honeymoon?”
Her hands paused.
Daniel smiled at the camera.
“You were happy.”
Emily resumed sealing the door.
“You almost had me believing you.”
“I did love you.”
“No.”
“In my way.”
Emily looked at him.
“People like you don’t know what love is.”
Daniel’s face changed.
“Open the door.”
“No.”
“Open it.”
“No.”
He flicked the lighter.
A small flame appeared.
Mara pulled Emily toward the rear wall.
Daniel crouched.
The flame moved toward the gasoline.
Then something faint sounded beyond the storm.
Daniel froze.
Emily listened.
Sirens.
At first distant.
Then louder.
Several vehicles.
Daniel stood.
“No.”
Red and blue lights flashed through narrow openings around the steel shutters.
Daniel dropped the lighter.
For the first time since the nightmare began, Emily saw true fear on his face.
Not fear for her.
Fear for himself.
Police loudspeakers echoed outside.
“Daniel Blackwood!”
“Come outside with your hands visible!”
Daniel stared toward the library doors.
Then toward the panic-room camera.
“You did this.”
Emily almost smiled.
“No, Daniel.”
She placed one hand protectively over her unborn daughter.
“You did.”
Daniel ran.
Mara watched the cameras.
“He’s going downstairs.”
Emily switched views.
Daniel reached the foyer.
He tried the electronic controls.
The system did not respond.
Lightning had disrupted part of the security network.
He entered a code again.
Nothing.
He slammed his fist into the panel.
The fortress he created to imprison his wife had become his own cage.
Police repeated the command outside.
Daniel looked toward the front door.
Then toward the rear corridor.
He ran.
Emily watched him disappear toward the basement.
Mara whispered.
“He’s trying to escape.”
Emily looked at the camera grid.
Then she saw something Daniel had forgotten.
May you like
The basement exit was connected to the same lockdown system.
He had trapped himself.
