The Misadventures of the Laundry Hag 00 - Swept Under the Rug

anticipated, but I had adrenalin driven panic on my side.
    “Sierra, I’m going to get you free. As soon as I do, I want you to run for that door as fast as you can, all right?”
    Even in the gloom, I saw the whites of her eyes as she focused on the ax. “What about you?”
    “I’ll be right behind you. Move your wrists as far apart as you can.”
    She did and shut her eyes. Aim and concentration. It’s just like darts. I focused on the metal links on her handcuffs, holding the ax in a firm grip and swung. Unlike in the movies, the ax didn’t cut clean through the chain, but it did manage to break a few links and not lop either hand off. Setting the ax down, I worked it, pulling her away from the pipe until the weakened metal gave way.
    “Go!” I commanded. Sierra stumbled once, but jackrabbit-ed to the door. I gauged the distance between the tank and the door as maybe fifty feet. Time to see if my running skills were up to par. I stood ten feet back, ax poised over my head, waiting until she was safe. The door banged against the wall, my cue. You could have been a great marksman. Neil’s praise funneled my concentration to the point I intended to hit. Just a really big dart.
    “Here goes everything.” I flung the ax at the tank.

Twenty Four

    N ot waiting to see if the ax hit its mark, I bolted toward the door. Great clouds of steam erupted with and angry whistle, scalding my bare hands and face, but I pushed on.
    It was the longest sprint of my life, but I made it through the door, slamming it closed in my wake. Giant blisters bubbled up on my hands and the bright florescent lights blinded me after the gloom of the basement. Someone had sounded a fire alarm, and as I took the stairs two at a time. Breathing through my broken nose was out of the question, as I tasted blood with every swallow. Gasping for breath, I reached the landing for the lobby and flung the door open, revealing the security desk.
    “Get everyone out of the building, now!” I shouted at the stunned guard and, having preformed enough heroics for one day, bolted for the glass doors.
    “Hey, wait a minute, what the hell’s going on? Did you set the fire alarm off? That’s illegal, you know.” The guard moved like a striking snake and grabbed my jacket. I slipped my arms out of it and kept going, not willing to play twenty questions right now.
    “Maggie!” Neil, along with detective Capri and the feds were on the sidewalk, heading into the building. “Good God almighty, what happened to you?”
    I shoved at him, attempting to move us both to a safer distance. “Garner,” I wheezed. “Alan Garner, did it all, he’s going to blow up the building.”
    My words were like a brand to a herd of oxen, Capri got on the radio, screaming out orders and the feds circled me like vultures, their questions pecking at what was left of my damaged carcass.
    “Where is it? What kind of explosive?”
    “Basement, hot water tank. I threw an ax at it, but it might still go off.”
    “Get her to the car.” Salazar ordered Feist. “Take her to the hospital, and have those burns treated.”
    “I’m going too.” Neil looked more panicked than I’d ever seen him, almost like his was holding all of his vibrating energy together. He scooped me up, careful to avoid touching my skin.
    “No hospital,” I begged but was soundly ignored. Feist ushered us into the back of an unmarked black car and shut the door. I closed my eyes, my muscles still twitching. “Sylvia?” I asked Neil.
    “She’s fine. She took your car back home.”
    I took a deep breath, the first it seemed I’d taken in eons and doubled over from the pain. “Christ, what’s happening?”
    “Get us the fuck out of here!” Neil’s hands hovered over me, his energy touching where skin could not. “You’ve been badly burned, Uncle Scrooge. We’re getting you to the hospital.
    “He wanted to kill everyone, everyone in the building, just because they worked for Valentino. He killed Candie, cut her up.” Something drove me to get it all out, in case I didn’t make it.”
    “We know. We found his DNA in Sloan’s house. Valentino had all of his staffs’s on file. Being the paranoid sort, he did it without their knowledge.”
    “Isn’t that illegal?” I really didn’t care, but anything was better than focusing on the gut-churning pain.
    Feist smiled. “Yes, it is.”
    “‘You’re gonna get burned,’” I murmured, sick at the irony. “Garner got his wish,