Set Up in the City
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B.J. Daniels
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HarlequinPrologue
Vernon “Spark” Murphy couldn’t wait to get out of Lonesome, Montana. If the money hadn’t been so good... Maybe too good. He tamped down his misgivings about coming back here. Too late now anyway. The job was almost over.
Never do two jobs in the same town. He called it his code. And now he’d broken it. No wonder it made him uneasy. That and the amount he’d been paid. But he also never asked questions, priding himself on always getting the job done.
Now he hurried across the street in the cover of darkness to wait out of harm’s way against an abandoned building much like the one he’d just left. It was an odd neighborhood. An old industrial area near what had once been a railyard. The tracks had been removed and the weeds had taken over, giving the whole place an eerie feel that he didn’t particularly like on this very dark night.
Counting under his breath, Spark didn’t turn around until he reached a safe enough distance out of the way to watch the conclusion of the job. He focused on the three-story brick shell of a building he’d exited only minutes ago. This job was unusual in his line of work because the building was in such bad shape. It made him wonder. He was still counting, reminding himself he wasn’t getting paid to wonder or question why.
The first explosion lit the ground floor in a flash of bright orange, streaking across the entire lower level. He looked up to the next floor, still counting. Another flash, this one filling the second floor with a burst of light as it blew out what few windows were still intact on that level.
Even with his reservations, he couldn’t help but smile. He did love his line of work. He had always loved explosions and flames. He’d been hypnotized by campfires as a child, so much so that he’d tried to hold the flames. He still had the scars.
Spark felt the growing heat as he looked to the third floor and waited. The entire deserted area was aglow now. He could feel the heat on his face, hear the crackle, smell the fire eating away at anything combustible inside of the structure as it raced across the dry wood floors to rush up the stairs. A faint glow shone even now through the windows of the top floor.
A movement caught his eye. The image of a woman with long dark hair suddenly filled one of the windows. Her features were twisted in raw terror, her scream silent from this distance, her mouth only a gaping, dark hole. Yet he recognized her. He knew this woman. She fell against the glass, her wrists bound, her hands frantically beating against the window as if she saw him standing across the street and thought he could—
The flash of bright light rippled across the third floor, engulfing everything in heat and blinding light. The other two floors were already burning. He stared at the window where only moments ago the woman had been standing. She was gone.
Spark heard the too-soon sound of sirens, but he couldn’t move. He could hardly draw his next breath. The building had been empty when he’d set his charges, hadn’t it? Otherwise, he would have seen her. Unless someone had hidden her, but then she’d somehow gotten free enough to make it to the window? He leaned back against the warm, worn brick of the building, fighting to keep down the meal he’d consumed earlier.
The sound of sirens was growing closer, clearly headed this way. He knew there were no alarms in the building because he always checked. With this abandoned industrial area a good distance from the town of Lonesome, he should have had plenty of time to get away.
His already frantic heart dropped like an anvil. Someone had to have called in the fire even before the first explosion. The same person who’d hidden that woman somewhere in the building so he wouldn’t see her, wouldn’t even know he’d killed her until the cops pounded on his door?
This was supposed to be a quickie job. In and out. Piece of cake. And the money... He’d been right. The money had been too good on such an old building on the outskirts of this tiny Western town.
Move! He quickly turned away from the flashing lights coming up the street and ducked behind the building. His rig was parked close by. He wasn’t worried about getting away since he always planned for just such an unforeseen complication. It was why he was so good at his job.
Until now.
He felt the weight of the woman’s death on him, making it hard to think since he had no idea what was going on. But as he drove, one thing became abundantly clear. He’d been set up and he had no idea why. Had it simply been about getting rid of the woman? Or was Spark himself also the target?
Not that it mattered. He’d been in this business long enough to know that even if he avoided capture by the cops, someone more dangerous would be coming for him.
Either way, his life wasn’t worth a plugged nickel right now.
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