Excerpt
Frank spun round at the sound of the voice. Seeing James standing at the top of the stairs, he started to head towards him, his gun raised and pointing towards his enemy. The vapour from all of the petrol was starting to seriously sting his eyes but he continued forward anyway.
‘NOT SO FAST,’ James shouted, holding the lighter up where Frank could see it. Frank stopped, fully aware that the house was a rigged firetrap.
James smiled. ‘Well done,’ he said, his voice taking on a remarkable calm sound. In his hand he flicked the roller and the spark ignited the wick on the lighter. Frank almost called out in protest at the madness of this action. Half expecting the house to go sky high, but nothing happened, despite the vapour level in the house.
James himself had felt a moments nerve as he had lit up the lighter. He had done his homework though. He knew that petrol vapour was heavier than air and as such the highest quantities of the vapour would be on the ground level of the house and thus it was Frank that was in the most danger – or he would be in a few seconds.
Frank stood at the bottom of the stairs, glaring up at James. He put his foot on the bottom stair to start climbing up them, to reach his goal. The killer’s response to this was to throw the lit lighter over Frank’s head towards the front door.
‘NO,’ Frank called out, but it was too late. The lighter hit the door, the flame catching an area that James had rigged earlier. The vapour went up and a small inferno began, following the path of the petrol that had been splashed over the place. Quickly the fire spread, eating the furniture as it went. Flames encircled the doorway and smoke began to rise to the ceiling.
‘COME ON DETECTIVE,’ James called out. ‘COME UP AND FACE ME. LETS FINISH THIS OFF ONCE AND FOR ALL.’ With that James stepped back from the top of the stairs, disappearing into the rising smoke.
Frank was torn. He wanted to follow but he knew that he might not be able to get back out of the house if he put off escaping whilst he still could. A few seconds later, Frank made his decision, despite the flames and the smoke, Frank had to give pursuit, if for no other reason than, more innocent people would die if this madman wasn’t caught. He started to climb the stairs two at a time.