got that right. Hours are crap, and you never know when you’re going to get called in. It’s often at night, and a lot of women can’t take that. Hell, I didn’t mean for that to sound sexist. Lotta men can’t take it with a female cop either.”
He found a parking space outside the lab and could not keep the grin off his face when he saw Harper standing just outside the front door, wearing her now-familiar wool coat paired with a bright pink knit cap She smiled widely and gave a wave as they alighted from his SUV.
Jonas chuckled. “I thought she was beautiful, and she is. But seeing her smile and wave like that... hell, she’s also cute as fuck.”
Sean agreed, his steps hurrying toward her. His gaze landed on her splinted wrist and he reached out, his fingers barely touching hers.
They greeted each other and she said, “I’m okay… really. Come on through. John said we can meet him in his lab.”
Once inside, he helped her remove her coat which she draped over her good arm. They followed her down the hall, and Sean’s eyes continued to drift down to her ass. Today she was in a tight skirt that extended almost to her knees but cupped her ass perfectly. Walking into the lab, he hoped that John was as geeky as she described but instead discovered him to be a decent looking guy who greeted Harper enthusiastically. Feeling unwarranted jealousy, he nonetheless shook John’s hand, introducing himself and Jonas.
John waved his hand toward the back. “I’ve got everything set up here.” They gathered around a lab table and John began. “Here I’ve got a small cylinder of solid phosphorus.”
Looking down, Sean saw what looked like a piece of yellow chalk sitting in a glass container of liquid, and he watched as John sliced off a small segment at the end.
“If phosphorus is left exposed to air for about fifteen minutes, then it will spontaneously ignite, producing a yellow-orange flame and a dense cloud of choking vapor.” John sounded almost giddy. “It only needs the air to be about 30°C… that’s close to 86°F.”
“Just about any time in the summer makes it to that temperature,” Sean said, eliciting a nod from John before he continued.
“White phosphorus has been used in munitions since the 1800s. Now, to make this more interesting… this clear liquid in the test tube is carbon disulfide. You’ll notice that I have a stopper in it because this is highly volatile, toxic, and can be flammable when exposed to air. Its flashpoint is -22°F. It, by itself, can be an accelerant in a fire. Mixing it with phosphorus makes that occur even quicker.”
Taking the rubber stopper out of the test tube, John dropped in the small lump of phosphorus and then immediately put the stopper back in place. He began to shake the test tube gently, allowing the phosphorus to dissolve, turning the liquid yellowish brown.
“Once the phosphorus has dissolved, which as you can see only takes a couple of minutes, then what we have is even more volatile.”
“What does someone need to create a fire with that?” Harper asked.
John’s eyes lit. “Follow me and I’ll show you!” With that, he turned and walked to an area in the back of the laboratory.
Harper looked at Sean and rolled her eyes at John’s dramatics. The three of them followed John to another table, this one entirely encased in metal with a metal hood surrounding it. A built-in sprinkler system was just above.
John placed some newspapers, paper towels, and a few rags in a row on the metal table. Pouring some of the phosphorus and carbon disulfide onto each of the items, he wiggled his eyebrows. “Watch and be amazed.”
Within a few seconds, the paper towel began to smoke and then burst into flames. It only took a little bit longer for the newspaper to do the same, followed by the cloth rag.
“Whoa!” Harper stepped back in haste.
Sean moved quickly, putting his body between her and the flame. She moved to his side, and he turned his attention back to the experiment. He was amazed that someone could place the items near anything flammable and get away before the fire actually started. He surmised aloud, “If someone wanted to make a larger, quicker fire, they could simply do what you just did and throw a match onto the material.”
John grinned widely, his eyes sparkling with excitement. “Exactly! This, ladies and gentlemen, is a Fenian’s Fire.”