ABOVE ALL ELSE
The door flew open with a kick.
“Stop right there!”
Flashlights fanned into the room.
“Let me see your hands! Hands, now!”
A knife clattered at his heels.
Others followed in close succession.
The skin around the hostage’s lips was cracking dry from being stretched by a handkerchief.
His chair scraped the ground with metallic screeches.
Voices filled the room.
“Get the hostage secured.”
“It smells like gas in here.”
Someone tripped a wire.
It whipped away as the other end caught something heavy.
Fuming ethanol drenched everyone from the ceiling.
Sparks flew from the floor.
The explosion engulfed everything.
