Chapter 2 - The Fire by the Tracks
David didn't waste another second. He scooped Toby into his left arm and took Maya’s small, freezing hand in his right.
"Harrison! Drive to the old laundry building on 4th Street now!" David ordered as his driver pulled the black sedan to the curb, throwing the rear door open.
"Sir, that neighborhood is dangerous at night," Harrison warned, looking through the rearview mirror as David wrapped both children in thick wool blankets on the leather back seat.
"Just drive, Harrison!" David snapped, his voice tight with an urgency his driver had never heard before.
Five minutes later, the luxury sedan screeched to a halt outside the sagging, rusted gates of the abandoned industrial laundry facility. The brick building stood dark and looming against the rainy night sky, its windows boarded up with plywood.
Suddenly, a bright orange glare burst through the ground-floor windows.
"Fire!" Maya screamed, pointing her small finger at the building. "Mommy is inside! Mommy!"
"Harrison, call 911!" David yelled, springing out of the car into the pouring rain.
David ran toward the side entrance, kicking open a rotted wooden door. Thick black smoke billowed out into the cold night air, smelling of burning oil and old wood.
"Claire!" David shouted, ripping off his cashmere coat and wrapping it over his face as he pushed into the burning hallway. "Claire!"
A faint, rattling cough echoed from a small office at the end of the corridor.
David charged through the smoke, kicking open the office door.
A woman lay on a stained mattress in the corner, trapped beneath a fallen, burning wooden beam. Her face was pale, her clothes worn, but even through the soot and ash, David recognized his sister instantly.
"David...?" Claire rasped, her blue eyes wide with shock and delirium as she looked up through the smoke. "Am I... am I dreaming?"
"I'm here, Claire!" David roared, grabbing the burning wooden beam with his bare hands, ignores the blistering heat, and hoisting the heavy timber off her legs with a violent heave.
He scooped his unconscious sister into his arms, running through the collapsing hallway as ceiling tiles rained down in showers of red sparks.
He burst out into the alleyway just as the fire department sirens began echoing in the distance. He collapsed onto the wet pavement, gasping for air, holding his sister against his chest.
Maya and Toby ran over, weeping, throwing their small arms around their mother's neck.
Claire opened her eyes weakly, reaching up to touch David's face with a hand covered in soot. "He found us, David... Julian found us... he set the fire..."
David looked up into the dark alley, catching sight of a sleek black SUV parked under a broken streetlamp two blocks away. Standing beside the driver's door was Julian Roberts, holding a silver lighter, watching the building burn with a cold, triumphant smile.
Julian saw David, his smile instantly vanishing into shock.
"Harrison," David said, his voice dropping into a terrifyingly calm register as the paramedics arrived. "Take my family to Saint Vincent's Private Hospital under false names. Put six private armed guards on their door."
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"And you, Mr. Roberts?" Harrison asked nervously.
David wiped the blood and soot from his hands, his eyes locked onto Julian's retreating SUV. "I'm going to take back my family's company."
