Page 58 of Final Approach

Okay then. The basement? He looked back over his shoulder. And where was Tim? He walked to Hank’s room and pushed the door open. If the man felt good enough to go grocery shopping, he could help him out. “Pssst!”

Hank’s eyes opened and his hand slid to his weapon on the end table. “What is it?”

“Not sure, but we’re going to investigate. I smell gas, so no flipping light switches. You good?”

“Right behind you.” His phone light added to Andrew’s helped brighten the area. “Where’s Tim?” he asked.

“I was hoping you’d know that.”

“I was catching up on years of lost sleep. Sorry.”

Andrew didn’t blame him. They walked back through the great room, then into the kitchen. “Basement?”

Hank nodded and opened the door. Gas hit them in the face and Andrew gasped and shut the door. “We’ve got to get out.”

“He’s waiting to pick me off,” Hank said, “but yeah, this place could definitely blow. We’re going to have to take our chances.”

“Grab your wallet and anything else you can fit in your pockets, and we’ll go out the master bedroom window.”

“Dude, that’s a two-story drop.”

“If we go out any normal exit, someone could be waiting. We’d be sitting ducks. We have to do the unexpected. There’s a fire escape ladder in the master closet.”

“Then let’s go.”

Hank took off toward his room, and Andrew headed toward the master bedroom and grabbed his wallet, badge, and weapon too. Then the ladder. He was worried about Tim, but he wasn’t in the house, so getting out was priority number one. Then they’d look for the agent.

Hank had come in and opened the window. A cool breeze blew in and they both breathed deep of the refreshing air. Then Andrewconnected the ladder to the window frame and threw the rest of it out.

He looked at Hank. “I’ll go first. This is going to hurt your rib going down. And whatever you do, don’t look down. Your head isn’t exactly steady.” He’d text Kristine as soon as they were free of the house and the gas. She didn’t need to walk into this situation.

“I got this, Ross, just go. I’m sure it’s not going to feel great on your arm either.”

He had a point. Andrew climbed out and down as fast as he could, ignoring the fire shooting through his shoulder. He got to the bottom and tripped over something.

A body.

He knelt next to the man and shone his phone light in his face. “Tim.” With a gash on his forehead. “Tim’s down here. Be careful.”

The ladder rattled and Hank was halfway down. “What happened?”

“Don’t know.” He held the ladder still for Hank, who stepped off the bottom rung with a grunt. “Tim’s out cold, but he’s still breathing.” And he still needed to text Kristine not to come. He grabbed his phone and sent her the text.

Stay away from the house. In the middle of a situation.

“Well, we can’t leave him here. If the house blows, it’ll fry him.”

“Yeah.” And Hank couldn’t help carry the man. Andrew wasn’t sure he could either, but he was going to have to try. Tim groaned and Andrew helped him to his feet. “Good timing.”

“My head is going to explode,” Tim muttered.

“What happened to you?”

“I’ll tell you when I figure it out.”

“No time to talk about it now anyway. Head down the hill away from the house. It’s full of gas and we don’t want to be anywhere near it if something sparks.” He held on to Tim on one side andHank did the same on the other, even though the action had to be torture for his broken rib. They headed toward the hill not nearly as fast as he would have liked. The sound of a car pulling into the drive froze him for a brief second. “Oh no.”

Kristine.