CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED SIX
They followed Nikolas swiftly to the hall of flowers. What they found was a long hall, the length of which was lined with paintings and tapestries, all of flowers -just as Nikolas had told them.
There had been a single guard, but he had taken one look at Nikolas and fled. Except for a word of warning from both Nikolas and Luke as to need to watch for taps, there was no need for words. All of them began to work their way down the length of the huge hallway, taking down the paintings and ripping the tapestries off the wall.
Sonny had paused a third of the way down the hall; at what had probably been the guard's post. He'd left everything behind in his effort to get away. Among the things left on the small table, he spread everything out; A notebook, cell phone, and a point-to-point walkie-talkie. He checked the cell first. There were no identifiable numbers in it.
To be so close and unable to find her. Sonny's heart plunged itself into despair. His eyes burned with unshed tears, while his soul screamed at him to grasp at anything, everything. It was as though he were watching someone else as he reached out for the walkie-talkie. It was crazy, it was hopeless, and everything in his mind told him that. But his heart bade him to reach out and call her name.
"Alexis…" Sonny said into the walkie-talkie. His voice broke and he fought the tears that threatened to choke his throat closed. "Alexis…Alexis!"
Alexis' head jerked upwards. Sonny's voice was so clear, how could she be imagining his voice calling her name, hearing the pain and fear in his voice. And then all of a sudden it came to her. She wasn't imagining anything. It was real. His voice was real and it was coming from the intercom by the door, just above where Stefan lay.
She forced herself to her feet and stumbled to the door. Alexis reached down with one hand to grasp at Stefan's shoulder. "Hold on, Stefan, oh, please hold on." She said. Alexis reached up and desperately pressed the buttons. "Sonny?" her voice was so, afraid to believe, but with a growing conviction, she cried his name aloud again. "Sonny!"
"Alexis!" The relief that poured through Sonny was so strong that it threatened to weaken his knees. He could barely stand upright. "Alexis, honey, where are you!"
Her voice, when it came back to him, was tinny; the unbelief and tears that overlaid it ripped at his heart, but the joy in hearing her voice over rode it all.
"Sonny! I don't know. I'm in Wyndemere, but I just don't know where I am…it was Helena…"
"We know. We know and we're here. We're here in Wyndemere. Just tell me what you see and we'll find you!"
"I'm in a room…there were two doors. I got the first one off of its hinges, but there's a second door. It's all metal and there's some sort of computer gizmo on it….there's no way I can get through it…Sonny, I never thought I'd hear your voice again… "
The sound of Alexis' voice had stopped everybody in their tracks, just for a moment, but then they turned back to their searching with more energy than ever. The growing smoke didn't stop their frantic efforts. It was Johnny who by chance reached for the largest of the wall tapestries and yanked it down, revealing a metal door with a computerized lock.
"We found it, Alexis." Sonny said into the walkie-talkie, even as he was rushing to the door. "Hold on, we're almost there."
One look at the door and the others moved to let Stan at it. He ran his fingers over the electronic keypad, and then pulled some items from his backpack and began attaching his devices first to the lock and then to his laptop. Stan slipped on his headphones, and started punching determinedly at the keyboard.
In the meanwhile, the smoke had darkened and thickened, that and the dull orange glow creeping at them from downstairs told them that the fire was drawing dangerously closer. They all crowded around, their anxiety rising as every input code Stan entered brought nothing but a flash of red, signaling access denied.
"Young Einstein, you need to blow this door or else we'll all be trapped." Luke looked down the hall and back again. "Very soon. I don't reckon on becoming toast tonight."
"Unbelievable…this is something new." Stan explained as his fingers flew over the keyboard; he was running several simultaneous code cracker routines and none of them were working. "It's only been hinted at one a couple of hacker boards. A 919 key encryption code is supposedly only on the drawing board…"
"And trust my grandmother to have gotten her hands on it." Nikolas said.
"Sonny? Is that Nikolas I hear?"
Nikolas' head came up as he heard his aunt's voice. One look and Sonny relinquished the device to him. "Yes, it's me Alexis; we're here and we're working to get you out….just a few minutes more."
In answer, all they heard was Alexis coughing. They looked at each other in alarm. Sonny took back the walkie-talkie "Alexis – are you all right?" he asked anxiously.
"….The smoke…" she managed to speak after another spasm of coughing. "It's getting heavier. Coming in through the vents…" she started coughing again, this time uncontrollably.
"Alexis, listen to me!" Sonny said. "Don't try to talk. Is there a window?"
"It's blocked…." Another spate of coughing kept Alexis from talking for a moment. When next she spoke, the smoke had thickened her voice. "You've got to get us out of here. He's hurt… I don't know how badly, but he needs medical attention."
Who? Nikolas and Sonny looked at each other….who else had been captured with Alexis? It really didn't matter. He had to get Alexis out. "Hold on, Alexis. We're right outside the door." He turned to Stan and his worry made his voice a near-snarl. "Open it, Stan. Now!"
Stan nearly slammed the laptop screen down. He jerked the connections loose and stowed them in the backpack, then pulled out a second container. "There's one sure way to blow that lock." He opened the smallish container and displayed a small shapeless mass of plastique.
"C4 explosive." Luke said approvingly. "There's something to be said for doing it the old fashioned way."
"Tell Miss Davis to get as far away from the door as she can." Stan said to Sonny.
Sonny relayed that to Alexis. "Can you do that?"
"Yes…yes…. There's another room. Can you take the walkie-talkie with you so we know that you're clear?"
"There's no walkie-talkie here, just an intercom on the wall." Alexis told him. She bent down and tried to rouse Stefan; he murmured incoherently, trying to rouse himself into consciousness.
"How long will it take you, then?" Sonny asked. He looked to Stan, who held up two fingers. Two minutes, he was telling him.
"Most of the room crashed down when the explosions started. It's going to take few minute to climb over everything." Alexis answered.
"Stan can give you two- is that enough?"
"It will…will have to be. The smoke is getting worse…" her voice was getting raspier and raspier by the moment and she was coughing between her words… "…won't be able to…to breathe…"
"Hold on, Alexis… baby just breathe!" Sonny told her. "Get away from the door – get behind whatever you can! Stan is going to blow the door!"
"All right…give us two minutes." Alexis said. There was silence. Sonny had thought she was gone, but then Alexis' voice came back online. "And Sonny...no matter what happens… thank you for coming for me." She hesitated; her voice dropped to a near-whisper, so soft and quiet that for a moment, Sonny wasn't even sure he'd heard her. "I love you." Without waiting for his answer, she was gone.
Sonny turned back to the door. Stan, with Luke's help, were finishing up molding the plastic explosive and wiring the explosive into place. The others had already retreated down the hall. Sonny, Luke and Stan ran to join them, ducking around the corner of the hall.
Stan began the countdown…
