“We can’t just let them leave,” said Jason as the van sped out of the car park.
“Never mind them,” said Caleb. “We need to get Faith and Vance out of there.”
Vance frowned when light suddenly engulfed a large wardrobe at the opposite side of the room. “What’s that?” he said, pointing to it.
They both ran to the wardrobe and shoved it aside.
“It’s a window,” exclaimed Faith.
The light died away and over the crackling of the fire they heard the roar of an engine outside. The room was now black with smoke and they were both coughing, their eyes stinging.
The window was six and a half feet above the floor and was quite wide but only a foot and a half tall. Faith was too short to see out but Vance could just see by going up on his tiptoes and found himself eye level with the car park. The light had come from the headlights of a transit van, which was pulling out of the car park, no doubt containing Ben and his friends. He writhed at the handle, almost laughing with relief when it opened outwards and he breathed in the fresh air.
“I’ll boost you up,” he told Faith.
“How will you get out?”
He indicated an ornate wooden chair.
Vance pulled her to him, shielding her as there was another crack from above and more of the ceiling caved in behind them. The fire had eaten away all of the floor above and was now climbing down the walls of the basement towards them.
“Go,” Vance told her.
He formed a cradle with his hands. She stepped into it and he pushed her up to the window. She grabbed the sides and managed to drag herself through, grimacing as her back scraped the top of the window.
“There she is,” yelled a voice.
For one awful moment Faith thought the voice belonged to one of the firefighters, so she was relieved to see Caleb and the others running towards her.
Caleb and Jason grabbed her arms and hauled her through the gap and she breathed in the fresh air before launching into a coughing fit.
“Vance, come on,” yelled Caleb, taking one of his arms while Jason took the other.
“I can’t fit,” he grimaced as his back jammed against the top of the window.
“Pull harder,” Caleb told Jason.
“Jesus, stop,” yelled Vance as pain erupted in his back and chest. “I can’t fit. Let me go.”
“Not a fucking chance,” retorted Caleb, refusing to relinquish his brother’s arm. He looked up at the building, every part of which was now ablaze.
“Get yourselves back,” Vance yelled at them.
“Where are the car keys?” Faith said between coughs.
“I’ve got them,” replied Vance.
“Give them to me. I’ve got an idea.”
Caleb and Jason released him and he dropped back into the cellar, glancing back over his shoulder at the flames licking across the walls and floor. He pulled the keys out of his pocket and tossed them out of the window.
“Stand well back all of you,” Faith told her siblings before sprinting towards the people carrier.
She jumped inside, pulled on the seatbelt, started the engine and switched on the lights before steering the car to the far end of the car park. Once she reached the far wall, she turned the vehicle around and stomped on the accelerator.
“Christ,” yelled Vance when he saw the people carrier bearing down on him.
He ducked down into the corner of the room, crouching down behind the wardrobe he’d shifted, coughing uncontrollably, barely able to see because the smoke was so thick.
There was a deafening crash and the front end of the vehicle burst through the window.
Faith slammed the car into reverse and it rolled backwards with an agonised groan. The window had gone, leaving a considerably wider gap. Caleb and Jason ducked back through, extending their arms out to Vance.
“Get out before the whole lot collapses,” yelled Caleb.
Vance grabbed their hands and they dragged him out onto the tarmac.
“Keep moving,” said Caleb.
He and Jason hauled Vance to his feet and together they staggered away from the building as it finally collapsed in on itself, the rumble deafening, the heat from the fire scorching their backs.
Faith slid into the passenger seat. “Kev, you drive,” she told him. “My eyes are stinging too badly from the smoke.”
He nodded and leapt in while the others got in the back. Abi followed in her own car, which she’d driven to the warehouse, using the tracking device they’d put on the people carrier as a guide.
“Go left,” Faith told Kevin when they heard the wail of sirens from the right.
“Let’s hope the car makes it,” he said as it shuddered its way down the road.
“Just as long as it gets us away from the scene it’ll be all right,” she said before coughing again. She turned to look at Vance, who was sprawled in the back, the others regarding him with worried frowns. “Is he okay?”
“He’s wheezing pretty badly,” said Caleb.
“Kev, get us to the hospital.”
“No, can’t,” rasped Vance before coughing. “They might find out we were here.”
“If they do we’ll handle it. Your health is more important, you were stuck in that building longer than any of us,” she told him before coughing violently.
“You could use a doctor too,” Kevin told her.
“Here’s some water,” said Caleb, pulling a bottle out from under a seat, unscrewing the lid and holding it to Vance’s lips, who drank greedily.
The bottle was then passed to Faith, who glugged it down but the ache in her lungs and throat didn’t ease. She worried about the effects of the smoke cannisters and the chloroform followed by the fire. She glanced at Vance, whose wheezing filled the van. She had bigger concerns than her own
