Isolation by CJ Lyons

Author:CJ Lyons [Lyons, CJ]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: EdgyReads

22

Gina laid the oxygen tank on the exam table and connected the plastic tubing Ken had found to its nozzle. “Thanksgiving, we had this lady come into the ER,” she said as she checked the gauge. Nearly full; good. “Her cigarette had burned through the plastic tubing of her home oxygen tank and started a fire.”

“Too dangerous—if you use an open flame to light it, it could flash over you.”

“Ah, but I have a time-delayed fuse.” She took her cigarettes and matches from her sweater pocket. “Saw it in a movie once.”

Ken frowned. “That’s the movies. It might not work in real life.”

“You got a better idea?”

“Yeah. I’ll do it. That way even if it fails, you can still get LaRose out of here.”

He tried to grab the cigarettes from her, but she yanked them out of his reach. “No way. It’s my plan and if anything goes wrong, you can protect LaRose better than I can.”

Gina wished she felt half as brave as she sounded. One look at Ken’s face and she knew he knew she was full of shit. She hefted the oxygen tank and held it under her arm like a football. Tried to ignore the fluttering in her stomach. She’d spent most of her life faking being smart, being confident, being brave. Time to see if she had what it really took.

To her relief Ken said nothing, just gave her a nod. If he had said something, she might have surrendered to her fear, so she was glad for once that he was living up to his taciturn man-of-mystery reputation.

She carried the oxygen and tubing out to the main doors and glanced through the windows. The guard was pacing a pattern at the far end of the lobby, the side that faced the auditorium and elevator banks. The wall with the elevators blocked his view of the radiology entrance for a few seconds on each leg of his journey. That would be her window of opportunity.

“You’ll need something to catch fire to make a big enough flame to pull him away,” Ken whispered as he wheeled LaRose into position beside her.

“The gift shop?”

“It’s closed today.”

Gina craned her neck, trying to spot a likely spot to hide her IED. “The rack of pamphlets between the gift shop and the main doors. I can hide the tank under it and once the fire starts they should go fast—they’re just bus schedules and Pennysavers and stuff.”

“Should work.” Ken pressed his face beside hers, their breath steaming the glass. “Once you cross the lobby, you’ll be out of his sight.”

“I think we’ll have around three minutes from the time I light the cigarette until the fire starts. That should give me time to get back here and, once the guard moves out of the way, we’ll go to the rear elevator bank, out of sight from the lobby.” She hoisted the tank, watching the guard, waiting for the right moment to make her move. “If I’m not back in time—”

“Don’t worry.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.