The 6:20 Man

CHAPTER

79

IT WAS NEARLY FOUR A.M. when Devine rolled over in his bed and coughed. Then he coughed again, harder. The next moment he couldn’t catch his breath.

In his murky mind he thought, Am I having a heart attack?

He sat up in bed and his head felt like it was underwater. What the hell was going on? He’d had two beers, not ten.

Then he inhaled and the smell answered all his questions.

Shit!

He jumped out of bed and almost crashed against the wall. He ripped open the door and gagged. He pulled his T-shirt up over his nose and mouth, went down to his knees, and scuttled across the hall to Speers’s room. He tried the knob. It was locked. He rose and put his shoulder to it. It flew open and he saw Speers in the bed. She didn’t react to his crashing into her room, which was not a good sign.

He stumbled over and tried to wake her. He checked her pulse. Still there. Barely.

He lifted her up and carried her down the stairs and out the front door. He set her down in the grass and ran back in. He checked Tapshaw’s room next. Her door was not locked. She was unconscious on the floor. He confirmed that she was still breathing and carried her outside and set her next to Speers.

He ran back inside and knocked open Valentine’s locked door. He wasn’t in there. Devine looked wildly around and even checked under the bed, in the closet, and also the bathroom. The man wasn’t there.

After grabbing his phone, he ran back outside and called 911 and then the gas company’s emergency number. There was a garden hose next to the front door. He turned it on and sprinkled water over the women. Then he patted their faces, turned them on their sides, and applied pressure to their backs to help their lungs expand. Their breaths started getting deeper, and their color finally started returning; Speers even managed to sit up. She looked at Devine.

“Wh-what is . . . what is . . . ?”

“Gas in the house. You’re okay now. I called the ambulance. But I can’t find Will.”

She plopped back down in the grass and threw up.

Tapshaw briefly came to, and Devine told her the same thing.

Then he turned and ran back into the house. He threw open windows everywhere and also the back door. He searched every inch of the space for Valentine, but the Russian was not there.

A minute later two ambulances pulled up. The EMTs jumped out and administered oxygen to both the women and Devine, too. They ran fluids into the women as well, but Devine declined, telling them that he was fine.

“What about the town houses on either side of you?” said one of the EMTs. “The gas might have seeped into them, too, or originated from there.”

“They’re both empty,” said Devine.

After triaging the ladies, the EMTs decided to take them both to the hospital. The ambulances pulled out about the time the gas company showed up. Two men quickly climbed out of the truck, and Devine told them what had happened.

Thirty minutes later they came back out of the house.

“Somebody did it on purpose,” said one of the men. “Fiddled with the line going into your town house and then opened up the pilot on the fireplace in the living room. We got safety features for that now, but this is an old house and nobody upgraded it.”

“I told the EMTs the homes next door were empty. But they’re being renovated and guys might be showing up to work there today. Some of the gas might have gone in there.”

“We’ll put up signs for them to stay out. Then we’ll contact the owner and get the places checked and cleared out if need be.”

“Okay, thanks.”

“Lucky escape for you,” said the other man. “You sure you’re okay?”

“I’m fine. Is it safe to go in now?”

“Yeah, it’s all aired out, but don’t turn on any electrical switches for a while, just to be sure. I’ll have a crew out here in an hour to check everything seven ways from Sunday.”

“Thanks.”