Chapter 19 - The Fire in the Desert
The night sky over North Las Vegas was illuminated by a fierce orange inferno.
The sirens of incoming fire engines wailed in the distance, but the dry desert wind was carrying the flames faster than emergency crews could respond.
The steel scaffolding of the children's medical center groaned under the intense heat.
Luca’s armored SUV screeched to a halt outside the perimeter gate, crashing through the chain-link barrier that had been chained shut from the inside.
We spilled out of the vehicle into air thick with the acrid stench of burning diesel and molten plastic.
Two construction trailers were engulfed in roaring fireballs.
Through the swirling smoke, near the central concrete foundation, I saw the sleek silhouette of a private Mercedes Maybach.
Standing beside the open passenger door was Eleanor Bennett.
She was holding a flare gun, her gray hair whipping wildly in the desert wind, her expensive coat speckled with soot.
Two armed private contractors stood beside her, their weapons drawn, watching the flames devour months of our labor.
"Eleanor!" I shouted, stepping forward despite the suffocating heat.
Luca moved instantly to my side, his hand resting on the weapon concealed beneath his jacket.
Gabriel and our security team fanned out behind us, weapons drawn, creating an immediate standoff.
Eleanor turned slowly, her face twisted into a mask of deranged spite.
"Look at it, Claire!" she yelled over the roar of the flames.
"Look at your monument to redemption!"
"You thought you could build your little paradise on top of my family’s ruins?"
"Everything Ryan had was mine, and if I cannot have it, the desert will swallow it whole!"
"Drop the weapon, Eleanor!" Luca roared, stepping forward with lethal authority.
"Federal marshals have surrounded the access roads."
"There is no helicopter coming."
"There is no escape to Switzerland."
"Your empire is finished."
Eleanor laughed, a high-pitched, manic sound that was swallowed by the crackle of burning timber.
"My empire was built on blood, boy!"
"You think a few federal warrants frighten me?"
"I survived the crash of '87, I survived the mob cleansings of the nineties, and I survived the cancer that was supposed to kill me twelve years ago!"
She raised the flare gun, aiming it directly at a massive propane tank situated less than thirty feet from the main structural support beam.
If that tank ignited, the resulting blast would level the entire complex and kill everyone within a hundred yards.
"If I burn, Claire," Eleanor sneered, her finger tightening on the trigger, "you burn with me."
Before she could fire, a gunshot cracked through the night air.
Eleanor’s shoulder jerked backward, the flare gun flying from her grip and landing harmlessly in the dirt.
May you like
Gabriel lowered his sidearm, smoke curling from the barrel.
Eleanor’s private contractors threw down their weapons immediately, raising their hands in surrender as sirens finally flooded the perimeter, red and blue lights painting the desert in frantic motion.
