Chapter 21

Wolfgang and Kala chatted about the virus as the walked back to their room. They just reached their room door when Wolfgang put a hand out stopping Kala in her tracks. He motioned to her to keep talking as she had been, as he was staring intently at their door. Kala struggled to sound normal in her conversation as she looked at door. She opened her mind slightly and looked at the door through Wolfgang.

He noticed it right away. There were small scratches in the paint beside the key lock. Obviously someone hadn't had either the time or the skill to get the key card for the room, but they had the skill to break in anyways. Wolfgang kept Kala talking in case there was someone in the room, so they weren't alerted to him seeing the marks on the door and reached down to his right ankle where he kept a small hand gun strapped. He felt Kala tense beside him and automatically place her hands on the arm that barred her path protectively.

Standing off to the side of the door with Kala pressed behind him safely , he slid the card into the door lock. It happened just a millisecond after the beep of the door unlocked. A small charge went off, knocking both Wolfgang and Kala to the floor. Elsewhere in the hotel, Lito, Nomi, Sun, Capheus, Will and Riley dropped to the floor grabbing their heads.

Kala's head was fuzzy, her vision blurred and there was a weight pinning her down. Her ears were ringing as her body was coughing involuntarily on the smoke in the hall as she tried to focus on the seen around her. She couldn't move and she couldn't seem to understand why she was unable to move. As she slowly came to her senses the fire alarm became clear ringing like the old fashion bells, she could hear people yelling and footsteps pounding away from her and the smoke started to clear as the minutes passed. She was finally able understand that the weight on her wasn't rubble, it was soft, and warm. She realized it was Wolfgang just as the others appeared around her.

Will immediately jumped into things helping Kala move Wolfgang off her gently as to not cause any further damage. Once Kala was free she immediately checked to see if he was breathing, gently placing her one hand under his chin and the other on his forehead. She was reassured by his warm breath on her cheek and his chest slowly rising and falling as she looked down the length of him. Once she was comfortable that his breathing was regular and not labored she quickly patted down the his body to make sure he wasn't hurt anywhere. When she didn't find anything other than minor cuts and scrapes she shuffled back on her knees to his head, cupping the sides of his face in her hands.

Everyone was crowded around her worried. "Wolfgang, my love. Please…." Now that the initial shock was wearing off she felt tears welling up in her eyes and slipping down her cheeks. "Please wake up!" She said again pressing her lips against his cheek, whispering in his ear.

Wolfgang heard Kala's voice as if it were far off in the distance and he could smell smoke. Wait, he could smell smoke! There was an explosion! His eyes opened and he could see the cluster gathered around, there were voices of first responders, and Kala was on her knees beside him, her cheek against his and he could hear her praying in his ear to wake up. He started coughing and reached up to check if Kala was ok. As he did she moved back to see his concerned eye on her tear streaked face.

Kala couldn't help herself and she flung her arms around him, "Oh thank the Gods!" She propped herself up again as he lifted her moved her back, and coughing started to sit up, checking her for injuries between coughing fits.

"Are you ok? You're not hurt?!" He asked desperately. His eyes were still ringing and he noticed people starting to approach them. "We need to get out of here! It's not safe. We need to get to the others!" He added looking to the group around him and they immediately had a plan. As they decided, Wolfgang noticed a dark shape in in the crowd at the end of the hall and the smoke cleared just enough to catch a brief glimpse of a gun in his hand. With that Wolfgang grabbed Kala's hand, tucked her under his arm hissing, "Stay low!" And guided her down the hall in the opposite direction as soon as they were blocked from view by people.

They ran down the hall and turned the corner with a couple other guests then were off like a flash. Wolfgang knew he needed to get to the others as fast as possible. They would be able to find somewhere safe after that. They sprinted down the stairwell down 6 flights and out the door on the second floor as agreed upon by the group just before they had taken off running. As soon as they got around the corner of the stairwell door they ran straight into everyone else. The fire alarms were all still going off and emergency light system had turned on making the hall noise and oddly lit as the group met up.

It wasn't just the cluster, Capheus was with Zakia, Hernando and Dani were with Lito, Sun and Mun were on high alert, Nomi, Amanita and Bug had hastily tossed what they could in a couple travel bags and were arguing over what they had left in the room, and Will and Riley were holding hands watching the backs of the group. There was a collective check as everyone made sure everyone else was ok before Will and Wolfgang's eye met.

"It was a professional, but I don't think they know we are all together. We need to split up." Wolfgang said as Will, flipped through the series of events in Wolfgang's memory.

He nodded and turned to Capheus, "You and Zakia go out the main lobby with the crowd. You haven't been seen much with Wolfgang in public since the wedding so just blend in with the crowd and we will let you know where to meet."

Capheus nodded and after a collective, "Be safe!" He and Zakia took off down the hall in the opposite direction to the far stairwell.

"We will go back to our room quick and grab our bags, then go out through the garage. Our flight leaves in 3 hours to Bombay." Sun said and the group wished them luck before they went up the stairs back to the floor above.

"You guys head out through the lobby too. No one should connect you guys to us either." Wolfgang added just as Sun left. Lito clapped him on the back quickly, nodded at Will and the three headed out down the stairs with a couple that had come out of their room down the hall.

"Come with us." Will said and they turned walking briskly down the hall. About halfway down the hall he stopped at a door, put the key in and went in with Riley, holding the door for Wolfgang and Kala. As soon as they were in and the door closed Riley embraced both.

"I am so glad you both are ok!" She said, tear brimming her eyes. She lead Kala into smaller standard single bed room, "I'm sure I have something that will fit you. You need to change." She added and Kala noticed how dirty she was from the blast.

It was the first time Kala looked down at herself. She had small cuts and scrapes on her arms, her pants were ripped in a couple places with a little blood on them, and she could feel she had a lump on the back of her head, presumably from where she had hit the floor. "Yeah, I guess I should change." She mumbled back at Riley starting to feel numb all over.

Will had Wolfgang still by the door, "They have already done the room to room on this floor so we should be good for a bit yet." Will said to Wolfgang and they both looked over at the girls.

Wolfgang noticed Kala was looking down at herself with a stunned expression and she had gone very pale. He had just enough time to rush over to her as her knees gave out. He wrapped his arms around her waist and sat her in a nearby chair. He dropped to his knees in front of her and took her face gently between his hands looking her in the eye. "Are you ok?" He asked anxiously. She nodded at him still dazed and he leaned forward touching her forehead to his and whispered quietly, "You're ok…you're safe….I've got you…..I love you." It was only then he noticed that his hands were trembling a little as he comforted her.

Kala took a deep breath and focused on Wolfgang's voice, the warmth of his breath on her cheek, and his soothing words in her ear. "I am okay." She said quietly at Wolfgang. "We need to get moving here and find out who did this." At the end her words were firm and resolved. She looked up into Wolfgang's eyes and saw the same look of determination.

ok...so I struggled with chapter a bit...any suggestions for improvement would be appreciated!