Before you jump into the middle of the action, why not make sure you’re caught up on everything that came before? You can find those stories: Here. The electronic beep of the lock disengaging abruptly
Before you jump into the middle of the action, why not make sure you’re caught up on everything that came before? You can find those stories: Here.
The electronic beep of the lock disengaging abruptly ended our conversation. Lucky scrambled out onto the balcony railing and hauled himself up onto the level above us.
Someone grunted from beyond the other room. I guessed that the chair had held, at least for a moment. I wasn’t hanging around to see how long.
I passed my bag up to Lucky before crawling out after him onto the ledge. The cold breeze tore at my dress, threatening to knock me off balance. Gritting my teeth, I gripped the upper railing tightly and pulled. My muscles strained as I dragged myself upward. It had been a long time since I’d done any real climbing. Clearly too long. But I managed to scramble over the ledge and onto the balcony.
Lucky had already entered the room, but I sat there for a moment, listening for sounds below. And catching my breath. I’m too young to be this tired.
A muffled crash from our old room below pulled my attention back. Whoever was after us must have forced their way past my little barricade.
Pulling the handgun from my purse, I hurried after Lucky. If it was just the hotel realizing we hadn’t checked in, they’d have called the police. And the police would have announced themselves.
Whoever was down there, it wasn’t the cops.
The room we’d broken into was a mess. Not as bad as Lucky had left ours, but close. Furniture shifted about and tipped over, sheets cast wildly about the bedroom, and a thin layer of trash over almost every surface.
Fortunately, the culprit was nowhere in sight.
Lucky waited by the door to the suite with my suitcase. “What now?”
“We leave, as casually as possible.” I shifted my purse so that the gun in my hand wasn’t quite so obvious. “Make for the stairs, not the elevators. Whoever’s looking for us should have had time to realize we’re not there. They’ll hurry to catch up. With a little luck, they’ll stay a step ahead of us the whole way.”
“We could try and wait them out here.”
I shook my head. “There are only so many places we could go from a barricaded room, and this is one of them. Besides, I don’t want to still be here when the actual guest comes back.”
“Fair enough.” He opened the door and stepped cautiously out into the hallway.
I followed, fighting the adrenaline to keep my breath steady and my heart from rattling out of my chest.
The corridor was empty, giving us an easy path to the stairwell. So far so good. I took the lead as we descended the mostly neglected stairs. At the third floor landing, I slipped over to the door and peered through the small window into the hallway.
Rusty the biker emerged from a room, which I assumed had been ours, and growled something at his phone. So he is working with someone after all. Or for someone.
I ducked back out of sight and held up a hand for Lucky to stop as the biker turned in our direction. If he comes this way…. I adjusted the grip on my pistol.
But the door remained closed.
I waited a few tense moments, tracking time on adrenaline fueled heartbeats, before checking the window again. Rusty was gone. Back into the room or headed for the elevators. Either way, sticking around the landing wasn’t doing us any good.
“Come on.” I whispered to Lucky as we began the descent again.
We were creeping past the second floor exit when the door flew open. I spun to face the newcomer, but my gun arm hesitated a moment. The last thing I wanted was to point a handgun at a civilian.
I needn’t have worried.
The man who came through the door was big—taller than Rusty, with a good layer of fat over his muscles. His leather vest strained to stay fastened across his shirtless chest and he had a chain wrapped around his waist like a belt.
“Run!” I shouted to Lucky.
The biker—I assumed—lunged at me as I tried to bring my handgun up. His big hands engulfed mine, dragging the barrel of the gun off target.
Cursing, I kicked the door that was still half between us. It slammed against his shoulder with a thud, but he didn’t seem to notice.
Lucky dashed past, leaving my suitcase toppled over on the landing.
The thug yanked me toward him. My shoulders complained as I tried vainly to resist.
I’m not going to last long against him fist to fist.
Stumbling toward him, my options flashed through my brain. I didn’t have time for more than a few, and I settled on the dirtiest.
Using the force of his pull to my advantage, I slammed my knee into his groin.
He grunted and his grip loosened, but he didn’t topple. So I kneed him again. The second strike wasn’t as strong, but it gave me enough leverage to get my hands free. Unfortunately without my pistol.
I hated to leave it in his hands, but it wouldn’t be long before he was back on the attack, and angrier than ever. Not to mention I knew there was at least one other biker in the building. Better to get clear and deal with the consequences later.
I raced down the stairs. Lucky had only just gotten to the ground floor exit as I came bounding around the last corner.
He glanced up and seemed surprised to see it was me. “Wha—?”
“Get to the car!” I didn’t slow down.
We exited the building on the wrong side and had to run all the way around it to get back to my car.
“How’d they find us?” Lucky’s breaths were coming in short gasps as he ran.
“I don’t know.” I dug in my purse for the keys and my expandable baton. “I didn’t notice a tail when I was coming and going.”
“Me neither.”
I glared at him. “Where did you go?”
He tried to give me a sheepish grin, but the sweat running down his face ruined the effect. “We ran out of snacks. So I walked to the closest convenience store. I was only gone like, half an hour, max.”
“What part of ‘don’t leave’ didn’t you get?” I shook my head. “You’re the worst client I’ve ever had.”
“If we’re not careful, I might be your last. Now let’s get out of here.”
As we turned the last corner around the building, our hopes plummeted. Two big motorcycles were parked behind my battered, old car.
I tossed Lucky the keys. “Get in and keep your head down.”
“What about them?” He pointed at the bikes.
“Let me worry about them. Just do as you’re told for once.”
While he climbed into the car, I investigated the motorcycles. They were big and heavy, but not locked down. With just a little effort, I could roll them to one side, clearing a path.
More worrying was the fact that they clearly recognized my car.
I’d almost finished moving the second bike when their owners came running around the corner.
“Hey!” The big man yelled, waving my gun at me. “We’re not done with you yet.”
Rusty was only a few steps behind. He slid the brass knuckles onto his right hand. “No guns. Let’s do this the quiet way.”
If I’d bolted, I might have been able to get into the car and get out of there before they caught me, but not without taking fire. And who knew how that would end up.
I flicked the baton to full extension. “That suits me just fine.”
To Be Continued…