That’s wonderful.
Instead, she said, “You should take the call as personal time.”
It came out stiff.
Corporate.
Liam only nodded.
“Thank you.”
The gas line warning came at 2:15 p.m.
It started as a sound.
A high, thin whistle beneath the machinery.
Most people missed it.
Liam did not.
He turned toward Sector 7.
The digital sensor panel showed green.
All clear.
But the analog gauge near the C7 safety valve trembled above safe range.
Liam moved fast.
“Otis!”
Otis looked up.
Then heard it too.
His face changed.
“Shut it down!”
Liam hit the emergency stop and pulled the manual alarm.
The casting line went dead.
A red light flashed.
The plant floor erupted in confusion.
Clinton’s voice came over the radio.
“Who authorized shutdown?”
Liam grabbed the radio.
“Pressure spike, Sector 7. C7 valve critical.”
“Digital reads clear,” Clinton snapped.
“Analog says otherwise.”
“Restart the line.”
“No.”
The word was flat.
Immediate.
Audrey, standing in the observation corridor above the floor with two executives, heard everything through the radio.
Clinton turned to her.
“This is exactly the kind of unauthorized—”
The valve blew.
Not a catastrophic explosion, but close enough to show everyone what catastrophe might have looked like.
A burst of flame shot along the lower panel. White smoke filled the sector. Metal screamed. A pressure pipe split near the bracket, spraying vapor across the empty zone where twelve workers had been standing less than ninety seconds earlier.
Audrey froze.
For one impossible second, all the numbers in her head vanished.
Only the empty floor remained.
The empty floor Liam had created by stopping the line.
Then smoke rolled into the observation corridor.
A small secondary flare caught near the stairwell.
Someone shouted.
Liam was already moving.
He grabbed a fire blanket from the safety station, ran up the access stairs through smoke thick enough to sting his eyes, and found Audrey coughing near the railing.
“This way!”
She stumbled.
He wrapped the blanket around her shoulders and pulled her toward the emergency exit.
A spark caught his sleeve.
He slapped it out against the wall, winced, kept moving.
They burst into clear air near the loading dock.
Audrey doubled over coughing.
Liam stayed beside her until she could breathe.
Then he turned to run back inside.
She grabbed his arm.