Page 97 of Blood and Thorns

Langdon smirked before tugging at a large metal door, the air icing as he continued through the walk-in freezer. Making sure I was still following, he placed his palm on a strange looking panel hidden partially by a box of frozen meat. The wall clicked, opening up with a waft of smoke.

Noise assaulted me, male voices arguing followed by laughter. Hidden behind the freezer was a large warehouse storage room piled high with plastic-wrapped cubes. Two men with sweat-stained vests moved cubes of powder from the shelves to the table in the centre, a cigarette hanging from their mouths. Face masks hung from their necks, and the plastic overalls that clearly were supposed to be worn were tied around their waists, leaving their legs protected but their arms bare.

They didn’t acknowledge us, instead continuing to check over each cube before carefully breaking the powder into individual packets and placing them in takeout boxes.

A third man stepped into the room from the only other doorway, snapping something in Chinese. The two men replied with a panicked tone before quickly removing their cigarettes and pulling up their masks.

Langdon turned to the woman, who was angrily glaring at the men.

“Yes, yes, it won’t happen again,” she said before stepping inside.

“So, this is where you package it all?” I asked, wrapping my arms around my waist to protect myself from the cold.

Lang looked down at me with a raised brow. After a moment, he lifted a single finger.

“One of them?”

He nodded, seeming to wait for me to react at the knowledge. To be honest, I didn’t really know how to react. I knew Sebastian ran a business, and I knew it was to do with cocaine. I just wasn’t sure how in-depth the operation was, or whether I really wanted to know.

Wait here,Langdon typed, showing me his phone.

“Sure, don’t worry about me. I’ll just casually freeze to death,” I muttered to his back. One of the men eyed me cautiously but didn’t approach as Langdon disappeared into the side room.

I decided to step further into the space, the cold behind me biting at my skin.

The men continued to inspect each cube, chatting away while I waited for Langdon to return. The room was reasonably large, with exposed concrete walls and metal beams. Shelves lined both sides, mostly holding supplies for the takeaway restaurant, as well as wooden pallets and cooking equipment easily large enough to hide anything if need be.

I debated whether to wait in the front of the restaurant, but as I turned there was a loud bang, followed by an intense wave of heat. A shove to my side nearly knocked me off balance, the two men running past me hard enough that I was crushed against the wall.

With my ears ringing I shouted for Langdon, coughing as smoke erupted and got trapped against the concrete.

Moving quickly, I ran further inside, skidding to a halt at the flames eating up the far wall. “Lang!” I shouted, finding him on his knees on the floor, staring at the fire. Awake but unresponsive. “Langdon?”

A wail drew my attention to the elderly woman crying. The third man was trying and failing to lift a heavy desk that had been overturned, with her crushed beneath it. She sobbed, blood trickling from her lips as tears left a clean line down her dust-smeared cheeks. Rushing over I tried to lift the desk, but even with my help it wouldn’t budge.

“It’s pinned!” I said, realising part of the brick wall had collapsed on top. The entire room was a mess, my brain unable to understand the chunks of debris and warped metal. The holes in the walls and the strange whirring sounds.

Then there was the crackling of the flames, which continued to move closer, the heat stinging.

I pushed at some of the rubble, realising the woman’s foot was caught by the corner, her bone protruding from her ankle.

“Over here!” I called, realising each time the man tried to lift he was just crushing her further. I caught his attention above the roar, waving him over.

As he began to lift from this side I knelt, pulling the woman out from beneath the desk. As soon as she was free, the man scooped her up.

“Go get help!” I screamed, having to duck beneath the growing smoke.

My lungs burned with every breath, Langdon almost lost as he continued to stare.

“Lang!” I fell to my knees beside him, relieved to see he was unhurt but for a cut along his cheek. “I need you to get up!” But there was no response, not even as I shook him.

Gripping his chin, I forced him to face me. “Look atme!” His eyes stared blankly, as if I wasn’t even there. “You’re okay, but we need to get out of here right now.”

A slow blink, a little of his earlier light finally reaching his eyes. With a jerky nod, he gripped my hand and pulled us both to our feet. I tugged him towards the freezer, only for a fresh wall of heat to hit us, throwing us both back against something solid. It knocked the air from my lungs, the smoke forcing me to struggle to replenish the oxygen.

Langdon sat beside me, his eyes open but once again vacant as the flames ate away at the surrounding space.

“Please! You’re too heavy for me to drag!” I tried to shove him and pull his arm, but he wouldn’t budge. Cursing, I searched his pockets, my hands shaking when I found his phone. I almost cried at the single bar of signal, quickly scrolling through his contact until I found Sebastian.