Chapter 44
The soldier deposited Alec in a room two floors beneath the lobby of the hotel and told him that there was where he was to wait until further instructions were relayed.
Alec knew something was about to happen but he couldn't do anything but play along until he knew where Sonia was. He sat in the room going over his plan again, questioning whether he was making the right call, thinking of Parker and the look she gave him as he left the room, knowing he'd never see her again.
He needed a distraction, something- anything- to focus his anxious energy.
He turned on the television hoping to lose the extra thoughts to something mundane like the weather channel but instead the news came on. The volume was muted but as Alec stood there transfixed on the anchor's mime and the photo caption just above her left shoulder, a leaded feeling settled in Alec's stomach.
'Senator Richard Andrew Sinclaire: Fundraiser at the Billmark Hotel.'
Alec read the close captions that popped up in small yellow type at the bottom to the screen.
'Senator Sinclaire will be the guest of honor tonight at a fundraiser being held at the Billmark hotel. Unconfirmed reports indicate that the event is the first in a series geared toward rousing the Senator's followers as he prepares for a run for the presidential elections in two years. With the many notables in attendance and the rumored sponsorship by The Hastings' Institute, Senator Sinclaire's political aspirations are becoming clearer by the day.
And now for tonight's weather….'
'That was it,' Alec thought to himself, 'that has to be it. We're here because of that fundraiser.'
His anxiety spiked as he thought of possible reasons that they would be involved. He thought back to the night at Hastings Institute and every twist and turn thereafter but he couldn't see the straight lines. Everything just seemed to keep looping back on itself.
The oxygen thinned. Alec's chest began to shrink. He attempted to stand but the dizziness increased.
'Okay, calm down,' he coaxed himself but his heartbeat accelerated.
'Something's wrong,' he thought as he lay back on the bed, his breaths shallowed and his vision blurred. He clutched his chest as the ache increased from the oxygen deprivation. It was so painful that he couldn't even scream.
'Dammit, not yet,' his panicked mind cried out.
And then he thought of Parker.
His heartbeat started slowing. Slower…slower...