Jamison took a whiff. “Smoke?”
“Fire,” said Decker.
They ran to the front door. Decker grabbed the knob and turned it. But the door didn’t budge.
They looked at each other.
“The noise I heard?” said Jamison.
Decker ran to theback door and tried to open it.
“Both doors are jammed,” he called out.
There was a whoosh and one end of the trailer erupted in flames. They burst from the floor and quickly ignited the walls and ceiling.
“Oh my God!” screamed Jamison. “Decker!”
Decker was looking around as the flames crept closer.
Books and magazines were bursting into flames.The air was thick with smoke. Jamison started coughing violently. They backed away from the approaching fire but there was no way out.
Before they’d come inside, Decker had glimpsed a propane tank attached to the back side of the trailer about halfway along the frame. Once the flames hit that, the whole thing was going to go up.
The smoke was so heavy now he could barely seeJamison. The windows were far too small to crawl through, but he used a chair to smash one open anyway, leaned his head out, and gulped in some fresh air.
He pulled his gun and shot out the front door lock. He tried the door. It still wouldn’t budge.
“Alex, get on my back.”
“What?” gasped Jamison.
“Piggyback. Now!”
She jumped onto his back andlocked her legs around his waist.
“Keep your head down,” he bellowed.
He backed up, got a running start, and smashed right into the door.
It buckled and partially gave way. He put his shoulder down, set his legs into a squat and erupted forward again. The door came off its hinges and fell into the yard.
The next moment Decker was stumbling to their Yukonwith Jamison still clinging to his back.
Decker looked behind him. The flames had reached the front door—or where the door had been. That was about the midpoint of the trailer.
That meant they had maybe a few seconds.
Breathing heavily now, he carried Jamison behind the SUV. Then he dropped to his knees, and Jamison hopped off him.
“Get under the truck,Alex, now!” he gasped.
He helped push her under the Yukon until just her feet were exposed. Decker was too big to fit under the vehicle. He covered her feet with his body.
The next instant, the flames reached the propane tank.
The resulting explosion lifted the trailer entirely off its cinderblock foundation, pieces of it flying in all directions. Objects came downand hit the big Yukon, which had been buffeted by the concussive force of the detonation. Decker heard the windshield crack. Something punched into the vehicle’s roof.
Jamison screamed.
Decker could not seem to catch his breath. His chest was tightening. It felt like a huge weight dead center of his broad chest.
Shit! Am I having a heart attack? Now?
Thenext instant something dropped from the sky and struck him in the head.
Everything went black for Amos Decker.