As he turned the final corner on the approach to the lab, he reached up to wipe some rain water from his forehead, just as a blinding flash filled the frosted glass panels on the door in front of him and a blast of burning hot air rushed past his cheeks, followed by the sound of screaming. It was the sort of screaming that made his blood run cold, and it was Mary Hollis.
Gavin recovered from his initial shock and blinked his eyes several times to make sure they had not been affected, before pushing open the lab doors to find half the lab on fire. Mary was writhing on the floor, holding her hands to her face. No one else appeared to be there. His first instinct was to fall to his knees to see what he could do to help — but common sense took over and he grabbed at the phone on the wall to call the university emergency number, requesting an ambulance and the fire brigade. He gave details of location and slammed down the phone before hitting the fire alarm and filling the air with electronic whooping.
A chemical bottle exploded as the flames licked up towards the gantries above the work benches, sending glass and its contents flying across the room and making Gavin duck before squatting down to slip his hands under Mary’s arms, dragging her across the floor to the door. She had stopped screaming, but he found the animal-like whimper she was now making even more disturbing. Her lower limbs were jerking as if controlled by some deranged puppet master as successive waves of pain seemed to engulf her.
Gavin hadn’t had time to assess the extent of Mary’s injuries: he had been so intent on getting her out of the lab and shielding them both from fire and possible explosion. Now, safe for the moment behind the fire doors out in the corridor, he felt ill when he saw the state of her face and hands. ‘Easy, Mary,’ he murmured, cradling her as best he could, but the unevenness of his voice made it sound less than convincing. ‘Everything is going to be okay. You’re safe now. An ambulance is on its way. You’ll be fine, Mary... you’ll be fine...’
The horrified looks on the faces of the people hurrying towards the fire exits couldn’t have disagreed more.
The senior technician from the Maclean lab and the first-aider for the floor appeared beside Gavin to see if she could help — an offer that froze on her lips when she saw Mary’s face. She was carrying a small plastic box with a green cross on it, which Gavin saw as being ridiculously inadequate in the circumstances: an operating theatre and a team of plastic surgeons were what was needed.
Jack Martin was next to appear: he took in the situation quickly. ‘We’ll have to get her out of here fast. What’s the story with the fire?’
Gavin said, ‘I think it’s containable if we get to it soon. It seems to be confined to one bench, although the chemicals are causing a problem. On the other hand, there hasn’t been an explosion for the past few minutes. I’d like to have a go with the fire extinguishers. Maybe you and Ann can evacuate Mary while I try?’
‘Regulations say we should all get out,’ insisted Martin.
‘I’ve got too much to lose,’ said Gavin.
‘One of them could be your life,’ snapped Martin.
‘Look, if it seems like it’s getting any worse, I’ll get my arse out of there. I just need to try.’
Martin acquiesced. ‘All right, I’ll join you when the other fire marshal appears. He’s just making sure the floor’s clear. He can give Ann a hand to get Mary downstairs.’
Gavin went back into the lab and grabbed a CO2 extinguisher from the wall just inside the door. He wrenched out the retaining pin and squeezed the trigger to attack the flames in successive three-to four-second bursts. Luckily the fire still appeared to be largely confined to the one bench in the lab — his own. Jack Martin joined him a few moments later, and between them they brought the fire under control just as the sound of sirens bringing professional help reached them.
‘Cavalry no longer required,’ murmured Martin, wiping grime and sweat from his brow. ‘Whose bench is this anyway?’ He was looking at the charred, smouldering surface that had been the seat of the fire.
‘Mine.’
‘What happened?’
Gavin shook his head. ‘I wasn’t here. Mary seems to have been the only person in the lab at the time.’ He told Martin about seeing the flash from out in the corridor as he returned.
‘She was working at your bench?’
‘Looks like it,’ said Gavin.
‘Any idea why?’
Gavin made a face. ‘I can guess. I met her coming out the lift when I was leaving — I’d just had a phone call from my girlfriend: she was upset. I told Mary that I’d left some cell cultures lying on the bench and asked her if she’d put them back in the incubator for me. I wasn’t sure when I was going to be back. It’s my guess she decided to set up the experiment for me. It’s the sort of thing she’d do.’
‘What kind of experiment?
Gavin told Martin, adding, ‘I’d left everything ready.’
‘How could doing something like that start a fire...?’ murmured Martin as he continued to examine the blackened surface of Gavin’s bench. ‘You say you saw a flash. Was there an explosion?’
Gavin shook his head. ‘Maybe a popping sound, but no big bang, just the flash I saw through the glass and then a sudden rush of hot air.’
They were interrupted when three firemen came into the lab in full fire-fighting gear. The senior man raised his visor and asked what had happened. Gavin had just started telling him what little he could when Frank Simmons joined them. ‘I’ve just seen Mary off in the ambulance,’ he said. ‘I was down in the library. What in God’s name happened?’
‘As far as we can make out, Mary was alone in the lab when whatever it was happened,’ said Jack Martin.
‘But there must be some clue...’
‘We’ve had a look around: there’s nothing obvious,’ said Martin. ‘We may have to wait until she can tell us herself.’
Simmons shot him a glance. ‘That could be some time. Did you see the state of her?’
Martin nodded. ‘Poor lass.’
Simmons shook his head in frustration. ‘There must be some clue. Her face and hands clearly took the brunt of it. But brunt of what? What was she doing?’ He gave up the search for words as he examined the damage. ‘But this is your bench, Gavin...’ he said, looking at the blackened seat of the fire.
‘We were just talking about that,’ said Gavin. ‘I think Mary may have been doing me a favour, setting up an experiment for me. I had a problem this morning: I had to go out for a while.’
The firemen finished checking the lab over and were making sure that there was no possibility of a further flare-up. ‘Can I take it you guys know what happened here?’ asked the senior man.
‘We won’t know for sure until we can speak to the injured girl,’ said Simmons. ‘But we know where it started.’
‘Maybe we can have a copy of your internal report when it becomes available?’
‘Of course, and thanks for coming so quickly.’
‘That’s what they pay us for,’ said the fireman.
‘Maybe, but thanks all the same.’
Simmons, Martin and Gavin were left alone in the lab, the atmosphere heavy with the smell of burnt wood and plastic. ‘So, Mary would be sitting here,’ said Simmons, attempting to reconstruct the scene. He picked up a stool, which was lying on its side, and placed it at the middle of the burnt bench, at the same time looking to either side of him. ‘And the cell cultures would be where?’
‘Just here,’ said Gavin, indicating to a point on the bench to the right of the stool.
‘So, she’d light the Bunsen, unless you’d left it on the pilot flame?’
‘No, I hadn’t lit it.’
Simmons nodded. ‘She’d light the Bunsen... take a pair of forceps from the ethanol beaker... and flame them.’