Chapter 17 - The Door That Closed
Smoke burned Marcus's eyes the moment he entered the hangar. Brooks caught up with him, one hand on Viper's leash. Ortiz followed with an emergency flashlight, shouting that the fire crews were seconds away.
They found the first worker beside an overturned cart. The second had twisted his ankle trying to drag him free. Brooks and Ortiz got both men toward the side door. Marcus stayed behind long enough to see Viper alert beside the black archive case on the floor.
"He found it!" Marcus yelled.
Doran was crouched at a workbench nearby, trying to destroy the case's contents. He looked up, startled, and backed away when Marcus stepped toward him.
"Don't be stupid," Doran said. "It's just equipment."
"Then why are you burning the building down?"
Doran fled through a rear exit as the fire alarm finally screamed. Holt's MPs caught him outside. Marcus lifted the rugged recorder from its damaged case. The device was scorched but intact.
A loud crash came from the far end of the hangar. Colonel Rusk stood under a fallen storage frame, one leg trapped beneath it. He had come through the rear door looking for the archive. Now flames crept along the damaged wall between him and the exit.
"Vance!" he shouted. "Help me!"
Marcus didn't move. He saw Danny turning back toward the burning convoy. He heard Rusk's voice over the radio ordering them into danger. Every nightmare he'd had for four years stood inside that room wearing a colonel's uniform.
"Marcus!" Brooks yelled from the side door. "We have to go!"
Viper stood beside Marcus, coughing, his eyes fixed on Rusk.
Rusk stretched a shaking hand toward them. "Please."
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The nearest exit door slammed in a gust of hot air, and smoke swallowed the route out.
Marcus had the evidence in one hand, his crutch in the other, and the man who had ruined his life trapped ten feet away.
