Chapter Two #2
A knock on the open doors drew their gazes to a man with curly chestnut hair.
Olivia recognized him from when they first arrived.
One of the valets. He was dressed the same in a white shirt, black slacks, and a red vest, but he was holding the strap of a large rucksack that was slung over his shoulder.
Maybe he was getting off his shift.
“Is it time?” the valet asked, looking at Audrey.
The assistant’s face changed, growing solemn. “Yes, Henry. It is.” Audrey put a hand on Mr. Dempsey’s back and walked him to the door. “You should go now, sir. There’s so much to do and so little time before the reception.”
The young man stayed in the hall, hovering near the door.
“Attention,” a female voice said over the intercom system. “Would Olivia Lane please come to the front desk. Olivia Lane, your party of one, um, Pioneer, needs you at the front desk.”
Eli used her full first name and referred to himself as Pioneer. That was akin to shouting, Danger, Will Robinson, without anyone else being the wiser.
But why didn’t he simply call her with the specifics of the problem?
“You’ll have to excuse me a minute.” Olivia kept her expression neutral, her tone soft and calm. “I need to see what that’s about.” She let go of the chair and started toward the door.
Chewing her lip, Audrey squeezed her eyes shut for the beat of a breath and then she tugged down the zipper of the portfolio case and pulled out a gun.
Dempsey gasped, rocking back on his heels. “What are you doing?”
“I’m sorry.” Audrey pointed the pistol at Olivia.
It was small. A .22, maybe a Ruger. Sufficient for self-defense with serious stopping power at close range. Noticeably quieter than a larger-caliber firearm.
Would anyone in the main part of the hotel hear a shot fired from it in this far-removed wing, with the soundproofing in the ballroom?
Olivia slid her hand to her purse.
“Stop!” Audrey said. “Toss your handbag to me.”
Raising one palm, Olivia met the woman’s eyes while she put her other hand on top of her purse. “You don’t want to do this.”
“Have you lost your senses?” Dempsey asked.
“Shut up and move beside her!” Audrey ordered, and Dempsey hurried across the room. “I’m sorry about this, sir.”
Olivia grasped the clasp of the zipper on her bag.
“If you try anything, I’ll blow a hole in you.” Audrey aimed for center mass at Olivia’s chest. “Throw the handbag. I’m sure you’re armed. We’ve done our homework on Aegis.”
Apparently. Olivia held her gaze. “Let’s talk about this.”
“ASIG agents are manipulators. Nothing you say matters. Toss the purse. Now. Your final warning,” Audrey said, pure conviction gleaming in her eyes.
Slowly, Olivia removed the strap from her shoulder and threw the bag into the space between them. She calculated how quickly she could close the distance separating them, while in two-inch heels, and rush Audrey when the woman bent down to pick up the handbag.
Keeping her sights locked on Olivia, Audrey said, “Go get the handbag, Henry. Check it for a weapon.”
Smart. That ruled out rushing anyone.
“Be careful,” Audrey added. “She’s dangerous.”
The young guy lowered the large backpack from his shoulder. From the way he set the rucksack on the carpet, it looked heavy. He entered the room, scooped up the purse, and looked inside. “Yep, she has one.” He pulled out the gun and threw the handbag down.
“What happens now?” Olivia asked.
Audrey stepped backward out of the room with Henry. “Gloriosa.”
The single word sent a chill through Olivia’s body. What did that mean?
“What about Mr. Dempsey?” Henry asked. “Only the Aegis agent is supposed to be contained.”
“He shouldn’t have been here,” Audrey said. “I tried to get him to leave.”
“I can keep quiet.” Dempsey looked between his assistant and the valet. “Whatever you’re doing, I won’t tell anyone. Just let me go.”
“You should’ve gone after Mr. Whitney when I told you to,” Audrey said. She turned to Henry. “We lock him in with her.”
The growing alarm in Olivia’s chest burrowed deeper.
Henry lowered his head. “But—”
“But nothing. Gloriosa is in motion. We’ve got to do our part. If we let Mr. Dempsey go, he’ll ruin everything. We need to get started in the Grand Ballroom.”
Henry knelt and opened the rucksack. Then he pulled out a chain, padlock, flares, and two jerry fuel cans.
No. They were going to start a fire.
“You can’t lock us in here.” Olivia eased forward, trying to get close enough to disarm them, but she was still fifty feet away. “You’re not murderers. Not yet.”
“Stop walking.” Audrey jabbed the gun in the air, finger on the trigger as she spoke.
Olivia halted.
“We’ll call 911 once it starts.” Audrey closed one door. “The fire won’t kill you.” She grabbed the handle of the other door.
“But the smoke could,” Olivia said.
Audrey bit her lip in response as though she hadn’t considered that.
“I assume you’re starting the fire next door.” Olivia gestured to the adjacent ballroom.
A grin tugged at the corner of Audrey’s mouth. “One of many fires.”
Olivia looked at Henry, hoping to get through to him instead. “Most people who are killed in fires die from the toxic gases, the smoke, and lack of oxygen. Not from the fire itself.”
“What if she’s right?” Henry asked.
Raising his palms, Dempsey wore an imploring expression. “Listen to him. You don’t want to hurt me. I haven’t done anything wrong.”
“Sacrifices have to be made and you’re not innocent,” Audrey said. “You knew what they did. What they killed to build this place.”
Olivia turned to Dempsey “What is she talking about?”
He shrugged. “I—I don’t know.”
“Liar! Those investors decimated the last breeding ground of black-footed ferrets in Montana. They’re one of the most endangered animals in North America.
Driven to the brink of extinction because of this monstrosity, that’s a playground for the wealthy.
And you know it, Mr. Dempsey, which makes you complicit. ”
“Olivia!” Eli’s voice came over the intercom. “You better be at this front desk in the next sixty seconds, or I’m going to tear this whole place—”
The intercom cut off as the power went out, leaving them with only the daylight filtering in from the hall.
“We’re in control here,” Audrey said. “I take it that was Pioneer over the intercom before we severed the landline.”
“Yes. If he finds out you locked me in here, he’ll track you down and make it his only mission in life to see that you pay. Dearly. He’s far more dangerous than I am. I suggest you let me go.”
“And I was just thinking about how I could give the fire department an anonymous tip to start in the ballroom wing first. But I guess I need to make sure Pioneer doesn’t find out about me instead. Let’s lock them in, Henry.”
“You’re sure?”
Keeping the gun trained on Olivia, Audrey glanced at Henry. “Every action, every consequence, every casualty is for a new dawn.”
Henry nodded again. This time his face showed no doubt, only resolve. “A new dawn.”
They sounded like a new cult.
A deadly one that was ready to trap her inside this room and set the entire resort ablaze.
“Let’s start the fire in the hall and then we’ll move to the grand ballroom,” Audrey said. “I don’t want Pioneer knowing who to hunt.”
Henry looped the chain through one of the door handles. Then he handed Audrey the padlock, removed the cap from a jerry fuel can, and splashed gasoline on the carpet.
Audrey shut the second door, making the room even darker with no natural light.
The chain clanked on the other side.
Olivia ran to the doors and shoved them. The chain was wrapped so tightly around the handles, with the padlock securing it, she couldn’t get a crack between the doors to see into the hall.
At least it wasn’t pitch black in the room. A bit of light came in under the doors.
The smell of smoke teased her nostrils. Turning, she looked around the dim room for something that might help. Her gaze fell to her purse on the floor.
They’d made the mistake of leaving her handbag in the room. She hustled to it, picked up her purse, and grabbed her phone that was inside. Quickly, she dialed Eli.
The call didn’t go through.
She made sure airplane mode was turned off. Checked that it wasn’t on Do Not Disturb.
But none of that was the problem because she still didn’t have any bars.
“Try calling 911,” she said to Dempsey as she dialed Eli again.
Nothing.
“That’s strange.” Dempsey stared at his screen. “It’s not connecting.”
“Is this a dead spot?” She winced at the poor choice of words.
“Calls always go through with no problem in every part of the hotel. I don’t understand.”
That’s why Eli didn’t call her. Cell phones weren’t working. Wi-Fi had probably been down earlier also. The New Dawn Revolution was using jammers. Now they had cut the landline and power.
Leaving her purse hadn’t been a mistake. Audrey knew Olivia and Dempsey wouldn’t be able to call for help.
“They won’t be able to burn the place down,” Dempsey said. “Any moment the fire suppression system will kick in. We’ll be okay until help arrives.”
“They probably disabled the system,” she said, and Dempsey grimaced.
Smoke from the hallway wafted under the doors into the room. Panic slammed into Olivia.
She didn’t want to die. Not now. Not here. Not like this.
Eli.
Maybe procrastinating in having the talk with him had been for the best. She pressed a hand to her belly. If she died, then it was good she spared Eli and didn’t muster the courage to tell him the truth.
That she was carrying his child.