A/N: I will do my best to squeeze out a chapter or two over the Christmas holiday. Sadly my goal to finish it by Christmas was WAY too ambitious. Work has gotten crazy and I don't know where you guys live but we get hit with SNOW around here! And they say it's going to be below zero this week! EXCUSE ME?!
So stay toasty everyone if hell freezes over where you live and on with the story...
Jade saw emergency lights flashing in the hallway but the main lights were all still on.
Not a power failure and no sound of the fire alarm.
"What the hell is going on?" she asked nobody in particular.
She tried her cell yet another time and still wasn't able to make her call go through. But something dinged in her outbox.
(Holy shit! The text finally went through!)
Jade typed again, hoping to capitalize on this good luck. Maybe she hit the opposite of a dead spot and was able to access her network in this damn hotel.
TORI,
she began typing...
PLEASE HURRY. THAT FUCKER FOLLOWED ME HERE.
I'M ON THE 10TH FLOOR
I LOVE YOU.
Hitting send, the familiar swoosh of death appeared.
(Ah, fuck me!)
Then a light bulb went off in her head and she knocked on a random room.
"Excuse me? I'm lost, I was supposed to meet my friends and my phone is being stupid. Can I please use your room phone and call the front desk?"
She leaned her ear to the door and heard muffled voices inside. They had to have heard her.
"Please, I need help. This is an emergency! I think someone's following me and I need to get a hold of-"
CHINK-CLANG-CLICK
(They put the chain on. They're really pretending they're not there!)
The buzzing of her phone gave Jade a start. Excitedly, she checked it but to her disappointment it wasn't from Tori. It was an emergency alert. Cell phones of all kinds were designed to withstand enough of a signal to make contact with 911 dispatchers or on their end issue amber alerts and the like.
Here, the message read that there was an active shooter in West Hollywood and everyone within a ten mile radius were encouraged to stay inside their homes or place of business. Do not engage with anyone suspicious-looking and wait for the all clear from police.
Jade was shook when she saw the alert.
She immediately thought of Tori and Jordan. What if something really did happen down there somewhere? They could be in bad trouble. Those guys she spotted in the stairwell gave her a bad vibe (and they almost saw her!)
Jade knew that her love and best friend were both capable but even the best cop can be overpowered. At least one of those guys could have 80 pounds over one of them easily. Tori can be an unstoppable force when determined but a big enough dude could be the immovable obstacle that could stop her in her tracks.
(DEAD in her tracks...)
(No, No, NO! Can't think that way. Need to press on. We tried getting them to find you. Time for you to get your ass in gear and find THEM.)
"I'm not preggo quite yet," she said out loud. "I can still move."
Indeed the physical limitations have not taken their hold just yet. Jade had weeks before that would even begin. But the doctor warned her about stress. From the first trimester your hormones are going on a roller-coaster ride and you're not even on the first loop at this stage.
The brunette took one last look at the door and grimaced.
"FINE! DON'T HELP A DESPERATE WOMAN. WHO IS PREGNANT BY THE WAY! I'LL GO HELP MYSELF! LET IT LAY HEAVY ON YOUR CONSCIENCE!"
Feeling she turned the knife enough, she made a left looking for the elevator. With those punks running around, the stairs felt less and less safe.
She peered around the corner like a gazelle seeing if the savanna was lion-free.
Nothing.
Blue-green eyes locked onto the shiny metal doors to freedom. Or another dead end.
Jade pressed the down button and waited some hefty seconds before the doors slowly opened. She darted inside and pressed the closing button repeatedly until the elevator finally was shut. She clutched her chest, as if her heart was a wild animal that would break through its (rib)cage and escape.
(Come on, girl. BREATHE.)
Taking the deepest of breaths, she gazed at the buttons. So many floors. She looked down at the one for the lobby.
Should she chance it?
She closed her eyes and pushed it. The car didn't move.
"What the fuck?"
Jade pressed it again and again. Nothing happened. She looked around, confused until her view settled on a plaque on the wall opposite the doors.
It read:
ELEVATORS AUTOMATICALLY DISABLED DURING FIRES.
PLEASE USE STAIRS
-MANAGEMENT
(Fire? What fire? I didn't hear the bell.)
Feeling defeated, Jade tried opening the door with the button.
Nothing.
"GOD-FUCKING-DAMMIT!"
"It's done!"
O'Reilly stepped away from the control panel in security. He turned to the guard on his knees, trembling.
"Thanks for the login, buddy" he grinned before slamming him in the head with the butt of his gun.
The poor guard was knocked out cold.
He pulled out his phone and dialed for Esperanza.
"Hola!" O'Reilly cheerily said.
"The fuck do you want?"
"Just letting you know the fire doors are engaged. The entire first floor is a steel trap."
"So if Carlos is anywhere up here..."
"He ain't gettin' out," O'Reilly finished.
"Good work, kid. Maybe you're not a complete screw-up."
The line went dead on his end and he just stared at his screen.
"Nice guy, really."
Squad cars have seized the whole exterior of the Davenport Hotel. At this point, they kept their lights flashing. So much for the element of surprise.
An older man in a grey suit with a mustache that was almost the same shade entered.
"You there!"
The younger officer in blues jumped at the sudden presence of his superior's superior.
"Chief Talmadge!"
The man barely out of the academy stood at attention.
It was Deputy Chief, actually. But Ken Talmadge was the kind of blowhard that appreciated the sentiment. After all, he would have to get used to that someday.
"What's your name, son?"
"Officer Dillon, s-sir!"
The older man nodded and gestured for the bullhorn behind the upstart.
"May I?"
Momentarily thrown off track, he soon realized what he meant and handed the blue and white amplifier to the Deputy Chief.
"Now, I was briefed on the situation but in a general way. Could you give me more specific details, Officer Dillon?"
He swallowed hard, nervous about giving his first real briefing to a commanding officer for a scenario of this size.
"Well, we received a call of a possible double homicide. And around the same time, officers inside were interrogating two suspects and the conversation turned violent and there was a panic. Now the perpetrators appeared to have activated the fire doors."
"Fire doors?"
"A security measure unique to this hotel, sir. Basically with all the restaurants, recreational areas and service vehicles that are around the ground floor or below...they kept anything that was prone to a fire down here and a special series of metal barriers would come down when turned on. These would isolate the guests above from the inferno and sort of contain it until the fire department put it out."
"I see," Talmadge said, observing the massive steel plates behind the glass surrounding the lobby.
Talmadge thought back to his uncle, another cop, responding to the massive fire at the original MGM Grand in November of 1980. A small electrical failure sparked huge flames but that wasn't the worst of it. The deadliest killer of that fire was the smoke. The architectural design of the Grand only helped spread the black smoke far and wide. Trapped guests couldn't breathe. Rescue workers couldn't see. Putting out the building and saving as many lives as possible was quite the undertaking.
His uncle was haunted by that experience, though he did tell the story from time to time as if to get it off his chest.
Talmadge had to admire the safety precaution in retrospect.
"Clever," he noted as he took in the sight of the LAPD and accompanying SWAT. "But it sure makes our job a pain in the ass."