Free The Hit by David Baldacci

nudged it open with his foot while his pistol was trained directly on it.
    The pantry was empty.
    The trip had been a waste of time.
    And while he’d been down here, Reel had likely killed the number two man in the agency. She was scoring touchdowns and he didn’t even have a first down yet.
    He shined his light inside the space for a better look, although it was obviously empty. That’s when he saw the word written on the rear wall:
    SORRY.
    Robie kicked open the back door, figuring this was the easiest way out and would allow him to exit without retracing his path through the cottage.
    Seemed like a good idea. Safer.
    But then he heard the click and the whoosh, and the good safe idea instantly became a nightmare.

CHAPTER

13
    T HE DARK, calm night over the Eastern Shore was disrupted by a flame ball.
    The little cottage disintegrated in the fire, the dry wood providing a perfect fuel for the inferno. Robie leapt from the back porch, rolled, and came up running.
    In disbelief he watched as a wall of flames rose on either side of him, forming a straight corridor that he had to run down.
    This was all by design, of course. The fuel for the fire had to have been carefully piped under the dirt, and the trigger for it must have been tied to the same one that had erupted in the cottage.
    Robie sprinted ahead.
    He had no choice.
    He was heading right toward the small pond that he had seen before. The walls of fire ended there.
    An instant later the remains of the cottage exploded. He ducked and rolled again from the concussive force, almost pitching into the right side of the wall of fire.
    He rose and redoubled his efforts, thinking that he would reach the water.
    Water was a great antidote to fire.
    But as he neared the edge of the pond, something struck him.
    No scum. No algae on the surface although the ground around was full of it.
    What could kill green scum?
    And why was he being forced to run right toward the one thing that could possibly save him?
    Robie tossed his gun over the top of the wall of flames, pulled off his jacket, covered his head and hands with it, and threw himself through the wall of flames on the left side. He could feel the fire eating at him like acid.
    He cleared the flames, and kept rolling, over and over, to beat out any fire that might have attached itself to him. He stopped and looked up in time to see the flames reach the pond.
    The resulting explosion threw Robie through the air, and he landed on his back, thankfully in about an inch of water that softened the impact.
    He rose on shaky legs, his shirt shredded, his jacket gone. He had no idea where his gun had landed. Thankfully, he still had his pants and shoes.
    He looked in his pocket and snagged his car keys. Immediately he dropped them, because the plastic top was searing to the touch.
    He gingerly picked the keys up and stood there mutely watching the pond burn.
    No algae—although it was growing everywhere else—because of the fuel or accelerant that had been placed in the pond. He wondered why he hadn’t smelled it when he’d made his recon around the small body of water. But then there were many ways to mask such odors. And the smell of the nearby ocean was pungent.
    He looked back at where Reel’s cottage had once stood.
    Sorry.
    Are you sorry, Jessica?
Somehow Robie didn’t think so.
    The lady was definitely playing for keeps. Robie would have expected nothing less.
    He found his jacket and his gun. The gun was okay. It had missed a puddle of water and landed on a pebble path. His jacket was burned up. He felt the lump of metal and plastic inside.
    His phone. He doubted the manufacturer’s warranty would cover this sort of mishap.
    His wallet was luckily in his pants and not damaged.
    He limped back to the car. His right arm and left leg felt so hot they seemed frozen. He got into the car and closed the door, locking it, though he was probably the only human being for miles. Hestarted the car and turned on the interior light.