Chapter 14 - The Rupture
The heavy steel wrench smashed directly into the exposed brass manifold with a deafening ring.
High-pressure refrigerant gas screamed out in a violent, expanding plume of super-chilled white fog. The pressure wave knocked Mrs. Harris off her feet, sending her gun skittering across the frosted concrete floor.
The cloud expanded instantly, blinding the entire center aisle in dense, stinging white vapor.
Mrs. Harris screamed as the minus-forty-degree gas bit into her exposed face.
I didn't look for her gun. I pulled my wet jacket up over my nose and mouth, ducked low under the expanding cloud, and lunged toward the blast freezer entrance.
Inside the observation room, Luke saw the cloud and panicked. He yanked the valve wheel hard to the right.
Just like I said, the backpressure slammed into the overloaded compressor casing. The electric motor gave a horrific, metal-shearing screech, followed by a sharp explosion as the internal piston rod blew through the cast-iron housing, spraying hot oil and shrapnel into the ceiling rafters.
The master latch on the blast freezer door was secured with an exterior emergency safety bar.
I grabbed the frozen steel lever with both hands, bracing my boot against the frame, and threw my entire body weight backward.
The ice seal popped with the sound of a pistol shot.
The heavy insulated door swung open.
Emily was sobbing, her hands tied to the chair with yellow packaging tape. Sarah was awake now, her face battered and purple, fighting against the duct tape wrapped around her mouth.
"Daddy!" Emily shrieked.
"I got you, Em! I got you!"
I ripped the tape from Emily's hands with my bare fingers, lifting her out of the chair in one motion.
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Before I could turn to cut Sarah loose, a heavy boot slammed into the center of my back, driving me and Emily to the floor.
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