The transmission cut off.
Then came the sound that made Lena's world tilt sideways—a muffled explosion from inside the building, followed by the roar of flames suddenly given life.
"All units, we have ignition!" someone shouted over the radio. "Structure is compromised!"
Thick black smoke began pouring from the windows, darker and more aggressive than the gray wisps they'd observed before. Whatever Ashford had triggered, it wasn't just evidence destruction anymore.
"Fire Marshal, respond!" Hallie’s voice cracked with urgency. "Vance, do you copy?"
Silence.
Lena was moving before conscious thought took over, her body responding to pure instinct. She sprinted toward thebuilding, ignoring the shouts behind her, ignoring protocol, ignoring everything except the fact that Erin was trapped inside that inferno.
"Detective Soto, stand down!" Julia's voice pursued her. "We need to establish?—"
"She's in there!" Lena shouted back, not slowing, not stopping.
The heat hit her twenty yards from the building, a wall of scorching air that made her skin prickle and her lungs rebel. Through the smoke, she could see flames dancing behind the windows, growing stronger by the second.
Captain Hallie materialized beside her, grabbing her arm. "Lena, you can't go in there! The structure's compromised!"
"Let go of me!" Lena twisted away, screaming and trying to break free, but Hallie's grip was firm.
"Look at it!" Hallie pointed to the building, where flames were now visible through multiple windows. "The whole building is on fire, and she’s been in there since it ignited. Nobody survives that."
Air left her lungs and her knees buckled. Nobody survives that. She watched helplessly as the fire consumed everything in its path, knowing that somewhere inside that hell, Erin was fighting for her life.
Or was already dead.
"We need foam suppression," Hallie was saying into her radio, her voice level despite the chaos. "Full hazmat response. Treat this as a chemical fire. Standard water won't work."
Lena barely heard her. All she could see were those flames, growing higher and more violent with each passing second. All she could think about was Erin's voice cutting off mid-transmission, the silence that followed, the explosion that had turned a controlled assessment into a death trap.
The building's roof began to sag inward.
"Everyone back!" Hallie shouted. "Structure collapse is imminent!"
Tactical teams retreated to safe distances while fire crews moved into position with specialized equipment. Lena found herself being pulled back by firm hands, her feet stumbling over uneven ground as she fought to keep the building in sight.
"We have to wait." Julia appeared at her side, her face grim.
"How long?" Lena's voice sounded foreign to her own ears.
"Five minutes for setup. Maybe another five before we can attempt to enter."
Ten minutes. Lena stared at the flames engulfing the structure, calculating survival odds, air quality, and heat exposure. In a fire this intense, ten minutes might as well be ten hours.
"Captain" One of the tactical team members approached Julia. "Thermal imaging shows no movement inside. The heat signature is too intense to distinguish individual bodies."
Bodies. Not people. Bodies.
Lena's legs gave out, and the ground rushed up to her.
She found herself sitting on the rough gravel, watching the building burn while chaos swirled around her. Radio chatter filled the air—foam trucks arriving, perimeter expansion, structural engineers being called in. Professional voices dealing with a professional crisis.
But all Lena could hear was the roar of flames eating everything in their path.
All she could think about was Erin's last transmission: "He's barricaded in the back office with what appears to be a significant accelerant setup."
