Chapter 18

"We're gonna die!" Kirk shouted. "We are so gonna die!"

"We're not going to die, Kirk! Now just shut up and let me think!"

Breaking one of the windows wouldn't work, because they were all interior windows and besides that, they were made of plexiglass.

Smoke filled the room to the point where it was difficult to see or breathe. Kirk was coughing so hard that he was on his knees.

Was this the end for them? Detective Reynolds had been right, she should have stopped snooping when she'd had the chance to do so.

Then, what sounded to her like a voice from an angel that had been sent from heaven above called out.

"Miss Owens!"

"Oh thank God."

It was Detective Reynolds.

"We're in here, Detective! Someone locked us in!"

"Get away from the door!"

Felicia helped Kirk up to his feet, and they both moved to the back of the room. Reynolds kicked repeatedly at the door, but when that proved to be ineffective, he shot at the door. He ran into the room, his hair and face covered with ash. "We have to go! This whole place is about to go down!"

"Help me with Kirk! He's breathed in too much of the smoke!"

He grabbed Kirk, slinging him over his shoulder in a fireman's carry. "The fire's covered the front entrance!"

"Follow me, I know another way out!"

Fire licked up the walls around them as they fled down the corridor, Felicia could feel the hairs on her skin singeing from how hot the blaze was. "This way!"

They burst through the service entrance doors, and Felicia started to cough harshly as the fresh air filled her lungs.

"Fire department's on its way!" Reynolds set Kirk down, leaning the semi-conscious man up against a dumpster.

Suddenly, Felicia let out a gasp. "The blood sample!" She started to run back towards the door, but Reynolds grabbed her, his arms wrapping tightly around her torso. "Are you insane?! You go back in there and you're as good as dead! Whatever it is that you left in there, it isn't worth your life!"

"You don't understand!" Felicia cried out, struggling against his grip. "I need that sample, I know what's going on with the animals!"

But Reynold's grip was firm, and Felicia relaxed in his arms when the fire department arrived, knowing that her attempts would be futile.

Kirk was loaded up in an ambulance and taken to the hospital for smoke inhalation.

"What the hell were you thinking?!" Reynolds demanded of Felicia as a paramedic looked her over. "I explicitly told you to stop digging into things, and you go ahead and you do it anyway! Do you not realize that both you and your friend would have died if I hadn't shown up! You're damn lucky that guy's boyfriend called me and told me where you were at!"

Felicia was quiet all through his tirade, knowing it was something that she deserved. She had been so hell-bent on getting to the bottom of what was going on, that she hadn't thought of the danger that it would pose to her friends.

"Are you going to say something? Or is that smartass mouth of yours finally going to stay shut?"

"What is there for me to say?" Felicia spoke quietly. "Everything that you've just said is the truth. I didn't think about how this whole situation would put my friends in danger, and two of them almost died because of my selfishness."

Reynolds blinked. "Well, I thought that you would be more stubborn about it."

"I'm stubborn, but not to the point where I can't see sense."

The paramedic finished with Felicia, telling her that her injuries were minor and that there was no need for her to go to the hospital to get treated.

"If you don't have anything else that you need to tell me, Detective, then I'm going to head back to the hospital, and make sure that Kirk is going to be alright."

"I can trust that you're done snooping around then?" Reynolds asked, and Felicia nodded her head. "Yeah."

Although that wasn't exactly the truth. She was still going to investigate, but she was going to be leaving her friends out of it. They'd had too many close calls, and she wasn't going to be having any of their deaths on her conscience.

Reynolds looked at her like he didn't quite believe her little white lie. "You're giving up, just like that?"

"Detective, I was almost burned alive, I think that's all the warning a person needs. Just do me a favor and solve this before I completely zombify."

Reynolds was clearly trying to hold back, but his curiosity got the better of him. "What are you talking about?"

"Oh, I'm sure that you don't want me talking about it, you do want me to give up, after all." Felicia bit back a smirk as she started to walk back to her car, and it was only a few seconds before she felt Reynolds' hand wrapping around her arm. "What is it that you're not telling me?"

"I thought that you didn't want me investigating anymore. If I recall correctly, you threatened me at the station with obstruction of justice if I kept at it."

Reynolds released a groan of exasperation. "Has anyone told you that you're an asshole?"

"I've been called much worse than that. But tell you what, I'm willing to make a deal with you."

"Are you trying to bribe an officer?"

"Of course not!" Felicia placed a hand on her chest. "It truly hurts me that you think I would try and do something like that. I'm merely trying to find a way to give you the information that you're so desperately craving."

"You're going to be the death of me." He rubbed the back of his neck. "So what does this 'deal' of yours entail then?"

"That you let me continue investigating-"

"No way in hell."

"Will you shut up and let me finish? You let me continue investigating, and I'll keep you looped in on everything that I know, and vice versa."

"You're not going to let me say no, are you?"

"You're starting to know me so well. So have we got a deal?"

Reynolds sent her a death glare. "You're not leaving me with much of a choice, so I suppose that we do."

"Perfect. I'll meet you tomorrow around nine at the Starbucks on Olympic Boulevarde."

"You're impossible. How the hell have you managed to keep a boyfriend for so long?"

Felicia laughed at that. "I haven't been able to, but you can blame my mother's poor choice in blind dates for that. I'll see you tomorrow, Detective."