Naked Frame by Robert Burton Robinson Read Free Book Online

back. They'll shoot you."
    "They can't see me in the dark."
    Gabby joined her at the window. "They're
inside. See. They turned the lights on." The glow from the shop lit
up the sidewalk and street, and began to flicker. "Wait—is that
fire?"
    "I'm afraid so."
    "My beautiful dresses." He bolted for the
stairs.
    "Gabby, stop. They may be waiting for us
down there."
    He ran down the stairs anyway. Rebecca ran
after him.
    By the time he reached the bottom of the
stairwell it was filled with smoke.
    "It's too late." Rebecca grabbed his arm.
"I'm sorry. We've got to go back up."
    When they were back on the third floor,
Gabby took out his phone and called 911 to report the fire. When he
had ended the call, he said, "Becca, we can't stay here. By the
time the fire trucks come we'll be dead from the smoke. We've got
to go up to the roof. We can go over to the next building and climb
down the fire escape."
    "No. We can't go up there, Gabby. The
shooter may be trying to smoke us out. He'll pick us off as soon as
we step out the door."
    Gabby thought for a moment. "I have an
idea." He felt his way over to the wall.
    Rebecca followed him.
    "There's a door here. The guy who used to
own these buildings wanted to be able to go back and forth easily,
so he cut a passageway."
    "Can you still get through?"
    "I think it's just nailed."
    "What about the door on the other side?"
    "I don't know."
    "If can get through, we'll hide out in the
other building. The shooter will think we died in the fire. You got
any tools?"
    "A few." Gabby fumbled around in the
darkness until he found his toolbox. He located the flashlight. It
was small but the batteries were still good. He picked up the
toolbox and carried it over to the door. "We've got two hammers and
a big screwdriver."
    "Great." Rebecca took the flashlight and
shined it at the door. "Look at this. They didn't nail the side
with the hinges. We'll pop the pins and pry it open."
    Gabby held the flashlight while Rebecca
removed the pins with the screwdriver and hammer. Then she drove
the screwdriver in between the door and the frame and began to pry
with it. Once it opened slightly, she jammed the claw of her hammer
into the crack. "While I hold this, see if you can get the claw of
the other hammer in here, so you can help me pry the door
open."
    Gabby put the end of the flashlight into his
mouth. He picked up the other hammer and forced its claw into the
narrow opening.
    They worked their hammers from the top to
the bottom of the door. One by one, the nails began to give way.
Finally, they were able to swing the door to one side.
    Gabby shined the light into what he expected
to be a short hallway. Instead he saw a white wall. "What is
that?"
    "Foam insulation. They must have sprayed it
into the gap between the doors to absorb the sound."
    Gabby turned around and shined the light
toward the stairwell. The smoke was flowing up the staircase into
the room. "We've got to get out of here fast."
    Rebecca swung her hammer into the foam, claw
first. She yanked it backwards, ripping out a small chunk of the
foam.
    Gabby joined in. They chomped away at the
foam like a couple of beavers.
    By the time they hit the other door, they
were soaking wet with sweat, and beginning to cough.
    "How are going to get this door off? The
hinges are on the other side."
    Rebecca thought for a moment. "Do you have
anything we can ram it with? Some heavy piece of equipment or
furniture?"
    "No, I don't have—wait. Yes, I do. Come with
me."
    Rebecca followed Gabby into his office. He
opened his closet door.
    "I bought this weight set a while back."
    "Perfect."
    They tore into the boxes, put the weights on
the ends of the bar and locked them in place.
    "That's 130 pounds," said Gabby.
    "I hope it's enough."
    They picked up the bar at the ends, and
Rebecca led them through the work room, into the passageway between
the doors. "Okay," she said. "We'll swing back on three and forward
on four."
    "Got it."
    After three rams, the door had