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51
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A bit of time had passed. Mort, slumped over the table, came to. He groaned and slowly straightened up. He felt his head and winced. He'd never been hurt so many times on assignment before.
A strange sound filled the room. Like a sort of squeaking and thudding. Mort looked around vaguely for its source. Then he discovered it: Baroness Kessler's wheelchair had been left in forward gear colliding again and again with the wall on the other side of the room. Mort regarded from behind as the old lady slammed repeatedly into the wall.
He struggled to his feet. "Baroness?" He asked, drowsily. But the Baroness did not reply. "Baroness?" He asked again, stumbling forward in the direction of the wheelchair.
Unsteadily, he made his way over to the wheelchair and swiveled it around. He jumped back upon seeing the horrible scene; Baroness Kessler had been strangled and her cheeks were blue, her eyes and tongue were protruding.
Unobstructed, the wheelchair took off past Mort across the room and headed toward the double doors that lead to the library. The wheelchair ran into them, they burst open, and the wheelchair continued on its way into the library.
Instantly, smoke came billowing into the room, accompanied by a crackle of flames. The wheelchair disappeared into the fire.
Mort's eyes went wide. He quickly scanned the desk for Baroness Kessler's 'Nine Gates', but unsurprisingly, it was gone. He quickly gathered all of his notes, papers and books and shoved them into his book bag. Then he made his way into the library.
The room was thick with smoke and illuminated by a fiery glow. Mort paused in the doorway, shielding his face from the heat with one hand, and looked around the ablaze room. He spotted a bonfire of books and papers in the center of the room. He could just make out her copy of 'The Nine Gates' on top. The flames were already engulfing it.
Mort took a last look, then dashed to the bonfire. He attempted to reach his hand through the fire to salvage the book. But it was so hot! He advanced further into the fire and began reaching again. But the fire was just too out of control.
He quickly walked out of the room, his arm hot from the fire, and began to run out of the building. With smoke billowing after him, Mort dashed out of the office. Running like hell down the stairs, he bumped into the secretary, who had just been returning from her lunch break with a paper bag filled with oranges in her hands.
As he hit her, she let out a little shriek and fell to the floor, her bag falling from her grip. Half a dozen oranges went bouncing ahead of Mort as he raced down the stairs.
In the hallway he almost ran right into the concierge, who was mopping the floor. She leaped aside, startled at Mort's behavior as he ran out of the door and to the safety of a nearby park.
Mort took off his glasses and gathered some water from a fountain in his hands. He splashed the water on his face, replaced his glasses then looked ahead to see a Great Dane watching
him from the mouth of an alleyway. Mort and the Great Dane stared at each other.
The sound of a fire engine's siren was faint at first but then grew louder.
Mort reached an intersection and looked around the corner. The Kessler building was ablaze. Flames and clouds of smoke were coming from the windows of the upper stories. Fire engines and squad cars blocked off the street as firemen attempted to put it out with fire hoses. Spectators lined the streets, trying to see what the commotion was all about.
Mort looked up at the sight sadly and sighed.