A light blazed in the darkness. Came sailing through the air. Fell short of the trench Baltes was aiming for. And Risa recognized with sick fear that he meant to trap them both in the circle by surrounding them in fire.
“Shoot him! Shoot the little fucker now! Give me the gun. I’ll put a bullet between his eyes!” Eggers was screaming in fury and panic.
Risa tuned him out. Waited with bated breath for Baltes to try again. He’d have to get closer with the next try. And when he did, she was going to put a bullet in him. She chanted the mental vow over and over in her mind. Visualize it. Overcome the hesitation and the ghosts from the past. Make it happen.
Her heart was thundering inside her chest. Sounding in her ears. She didn’t have long to wait. The light was the first visual cue. The blaze cut through the darkness. Risa took a deep calming breath. Squeezed the trigger. Baltes’s cry brought no sense of triumph. Instead, she scrambled backward to reholster her weapon. Grabbed the back of the chair and start pulling again. She needed to get Eggers beyond the trench.
“Wait, wait!”
But Risa had already seen it. Baltes’s last torch had found its mark, landing in the trench. The wood inside had to have been treated with something. The fire leapt wildly, licking around the circle with a harrowing speed.
“I can’t cross that!” Eggers was screaming. “He sprayed me with that shit. My clothing is flammable.”
Risa wished that were the only danger here. But plumes of smoke were already rising from the fire. Clouding their vision. Breathing it in for too long would kill them before the flames had a chance to.
Swiftly she shrugged out of her jacket and used the sleeves to tie it around her nose and mouth like a mask. The fire was only halfway around the circle. They still had time to cross the unaffected area if she headed in a different direction.
Sound filled the air. A noise she couldn’t place. She started for the chair again, and saw coming through the smoke and haze a sight that filled her chest with ice. Baltes.
He was staggering crazily toward them, another lit torch in his hand. Her weapon was drawn before she had the conscious thought to do so. And shook only slightly when she brought it up. Fired.
He swayed like a piñata in a windstorm. Toppled in slow motion. His gun dropped to the ground.
And so did the torch.
He fell inside the trench, the lighted torch landing beside him. And even as she raced back to Eggers, the speeding flames cut off their escape route. The ring of fire was complete.
Baltes’s screams were hideous. They drowned out the deafening noise overhead. The shouts in the distance. Frantically, Risa raced to where she’d tripped over the shovel. The haze of smoke in the air made it difficult to see. It burned her eyes, and despite the makeshift mask, her lungs were raw. Scrambling on her hands and knees now, she searched wildly, relief sparking inside her when she found it.
The cries of the damned filled her ears. Baltes’s screeches had reached a high-pitched, animal-like sound. Eggers was shouting and cursing by turn, coughing spasmodically. Risa staggered to a pile of dirt. Used the shovel to throw it back on the fire. Smother it. Without fuel, it’d cease to burn. At least in theory. Logic receded, instinct took over. Dig and throw. Dig and throw.
She blinked. Squinted. Her efforts were paying off slowly. Much too slowly. But a small portion of the flames were suffocated. She dropped the shovel. Staggered. If she could get to Eggers. Drag him across that flame-free expanse . . .
An alien-looking creature loomed in front of her, spit from the fire. Followed by a second one. Another dream, she thought foggily. Nothing made sense.
And then thought ceased as her knees buckled. Her senses receded rapidly as the ground came up to meet her.
Chapter 22
“You look like hell.”
Risa’s hand went to her hair self-consciously. Trust Raiker to offer the plain, unvarnished truth. She hadn’t caught a glimpse of herself in a mirror, but she’d seen the towels after the nurse had cleaned her face and hands. The ends of her hair felt crispy, as if it’d break off at her touch.
“She looks,” Nate said grimly, with a dark glance in her direction, “like someone who needs to be in a hospital bed.”