Chapter 6 - Fire and Truth
"Ava! Help! Somebody help!" my mother screamed, beating her fists against the thick steel door.
The smoke grew thicker, black and choking. The heat intensified by the second.
"Mom! The door is reinforced steel! We can't break it!" I coughed, wiping the stinging tears from my eyes. "Look for another way out!"
"There are no windows in a basement!" she panicked, gasping for fresh air near the floor.
My eyes swept the burning room. Flames were rapidly climbing the walls, consuming the files. The air was running out fast.
Think, Ava! Think!
I looked up at the ceiling. Running along the concrete slab were thick industrial pipes. One was painted red—the sprinkler system. But because Hale had cheaped out on construction, the emergency heat sensors hadn't triggered!
"Mom! Hand me that metal stool!" I yelled.
My mother grabbed a heavy steel stool and dragged it over. I climbed onto it, holding the metal frame of the heavy blue file binder in my hand.
I jammed the metal binder directly into the glass bulb of the fire sprinkler head directly above us.
CRACK!
The glass bulb shattered. Instantly, high-pressure water erupted from the ceiling, showering the entire room.
The fire hissed violently, thick white steam billowed everywhere, and the flames began to die down.
At the exact same moment, the automatic fire alarm system triggered a emergency hardwired override—unlocking every electronic security door in the building to allow firefighter access!
CLICK-CLACK! The heavy deadbolt on the steel door disengaged!
My mother shoved the door open. We burst into the hallway, coughing and gasping for air, clutching the blue folder tightly against my chest.
As we stumbled out of the burning building into the pouring rain outside, the roaring sirens of fire engines and police cars filled the night sky.
Headmaster Hale was standing near his luxury sedan, watching the smoke rise from the building with a satisfaction that vanished the moment he saw us walk out of the smoke alive.
"How... how are you alive?!" Hale stammered, backing away in terror.
I wiped the soot from my face and raised the waterlogged, but still readable blue folder.
"Because cheap construction cuts both ways, Mr. Hale," I said, my voice echoing over the sound of approaching sirens. "Your security system failed. But our evidence survived."
Police officers swarmed the courtyard, guns drawn. But they weren't here for us.
Standing right behind the police chief was Judge Harrison himself, wearing a heavy raincoat, accompanied by state federal investigators.
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"Victor Hale," Judge Harrison declared, pointing at the headmaster. "By order of the State Attorney General, you are under arrest for attempted arson, reckless endangerment, structural fraud, and attempted murder!"
Hale’s face turned ghastly pale as heavy steel handcuffs clicked around his wrists.
