by Dale Mayer
What the hell was Brett going to say when he found her gone?
She walked to the front door and listened. Was anyone outside? With her ear cocked she heard a knock on the old door. Her heart pounding, she shoved her fist into her mouth determined to not make a sound but at the same time she wanted to cry out to Brett she was over here.
When she didn’t answer there was a louder knock.
Holding her breath, she waited. If it was Brett surely he’d call out to her? There was a clatter of dishes as if the waiter had brought up her food. Immediately doubt set in. Was it just a food delivery? As soon as she considered there might actually be a meal waiting, that she’d panicked for no reason, hunger set in. If he left the food outside, she’d bring it in here.
The knock came again, this time followed by a loud voice. “Hello, are you in there?”
She refused to answer. She cast a glance back at the children but they slept soundly. And then she heard confirmation that everything in her world had gone wrong. There was a hard split. And the door to their old room opened. With her fist clenched she slid down to the floor, her body trembling. Her terrified gaze locked on the double doors. Would they guess what she’d done?
Within seconds she heard the intruder’s footsteps racing down the hallway.
Oh, dear God. She took a chance and opened the door to look outside. The food trolley sat with its multiple food dishes stacked on top. Should she take it? It was for her. She didn’t know how long she was going to be holed up here. Would they do a room by room search or would they assume she’d left the building?
She snuck out into the hallway and lifted the lid on one of the food trays. Sure enough that dish was Jimmy’s favorite. Hot dogs and fries. There were also several bottles of milk and juice.
She quickly wheeled the cart into her room. She didn’t know if the guy would remember he’d left it behind, but she could use the food. Inside the room she could hear Jimmy waking up. She pushed the cart toward him with a big smile.
In a low voice, she said, “We’ll eat, if you stay very quiet so that your sister can sleep.”
He looked over at his little sister and said in a whisper, “How come she’s still asleep, Mommy?”
For the second time in the last hour she froze. Was this a natural sleep? Jimmy was overly tired. She’d napped today too. And the coffee had tasted a little off, but she hadn’t really considered that there might have been something in it. Why would she?
She still had the cups so she studied the residue on the bottom. She held the cup to her nose and sniffed. Was there an odd odor? Or was she just exhausted? Besides, if she’d been drugged shouldn’t she have slept a lot longer? Then again how long had she been out? And why would the children be sleepy? They’d only had apple juice that had been delivered earlier that afternoon.
*
Brett crept down the wide staircase that wound down to a hallway. This level was full of more meeting rooms. And again the place appeared deserted. So where the hell was everyone?
The hallway split into two sides. He slipped down the right side. Somewhere in here should be an exit leading to the garage underneath. After opening the first door he came to a large room. It appeared to be more empty offices. He moved down to the next door. This one opened to show a small office area, but the desk was empty and there was no paperwork on top. Also there were no computers. He continued his search until he was back at the stairwell facing the opposite direction.
The first door was a fire exit and showed metal stairs, likely leading to the garage below.
He made it down two flights before all the lights went out. It took a few minutes for his eyes to adjust to the darkness. He could hear a woman crying. Was she alone? Then he heard a harsh voice. He could just make out the words.
“Who else is here?” raged the voice, followed by a heavy thud.
Again the woman cried out.
Brett’s gut clenched tight. The asshole was beating her. How many men was he up against?
He eased back into his hiding position as the door beside him burst open. Taking the stairs two at a time, a man raced up.
And Brett saw the automatic rifle. He dove for the man’s feet and pulled. He went down hard with a loud exclamation. Brett snagged up the gun and spun it so it pointed at him.
“Who the hell are you?”
The man stared at him in surprise, then some language Brett didn’t understand exploded from his mouth.
Brett hit him hard in the gut. “English. Speak English.”
Instead the man spat at him.
That made it easy. The fight was short and sweet. With the man now dead on the floor, Brett grabbed him by the foot and dragged the asshole down the last few steps and tucked him around the corner out of sight.
Now armed, and with proof there was an attack on the embassy, he quickly updated the rest of his unit. They were in town as the unit was due to fly home tomorrow. It had been the call from his mother that had sent him racing to the consulate.
And what he’d found was ten times worse than what he’d expected.
Chapter 6
Ceci coaxed Jimmy to eat a little bit more. Eyeing the extra food, she considered how to pack it up to take with them if she had to run. Anyone traveling with children knew they ate constantly. And she had very little in the way of snacks. Or luggage for that matter.
Damn she wanted to go home. While Jimmy worked on finishing the last of his hot dog, his head and shoulders drooped with fatigue again. She sorted through their personal belongings now in a mess on the bed.
She didn’t have much to pack. She’d been given a large carryall that looked more like a beach bag to her, but it had a zipper on the top and lots of pockets on the outside. She quickly packed up their few pieces of clothing and the toiletries she’d collected.
“Are we leaving again?” Jimmy asked, his mouth full of fries, his gaze wide with uncertainty.
“Don’t talk with your mouth full,” she said automatically. She didn’t answer his question because she didn’t know how. If there was an attack at the embassy someone would find her eventually. It was a question of whose side they’d be on.
When she was done, Jennifer was still tucked up in the middle of the bed sound asleep, and Jimmy still worked on his food. She walked over to the window and stared outside. The place was empty. She still had no passports, and if she couldn’t stay here where was she going to go?
Plus…where was Brett? If anyone could help her it was him. Since he raced off and told her to stay inside, she hadn’t seen or heard a sound. It’d break her heart if anything happened to him. It was hard to keep down the waves of stress that rolled through her. Packed and ready to run, yet she had nowhere to go. She could continue to move from room to room but what good would that do. It wasn’t like she could stay hidden forever. And soon enough she wouldn’t be able to keep the kids quiet either.
As she stared out the window again, she studied the gardens outside the gate. She couldn’t see much but everything appeared normal. With night not far off, it was getting dark, adding to her fear. There would be no sleep for her tonight.
She was sure that was gunshots she’d heard earlier.
Only there’d been nothing since. Neither had there been an announcement saying everything was well. Just this distressing silence. She sat down on the couch and turned on the TV, hoping for a distraction only to quickly realize anybody outside could hear the TV and would know they were there.
“Finished, Mommy.” Jimmy hopped off the chair and ran to the bathroom to wash his hands. When he came running back, he clambered up on the couch and sat on her lap. She pondered how to keep the children quiet so as not to draw attention to them.
At four and almost two that was impossible. With Jimmy in her arms she got up. Her little girl was still out. She doubted she’d sleep through the night but it had happened before. She knew the children were picking up on her fears, but it was almost impossible to change that given the situation.
> Placing Jimmy on the bed with a book she quickly cleaned and washed up a few dishes. She was careful to be quiet and make as little sound as she could. Even so, it seemed like everything she did was super loud and anyone outside of the suite would hear her. When she was done, the room looked normal. She could hear someone down the hallway, the footsteps hard, fast, and determined.
She raised a trembling hand to her temple and slowly massaged it. Inside, her breath caught in her throat. There was no place to hide. Should she have grabbed the kids and run? But where to?
When the footsteps came closer, she let out a hard gasp and wrapped her arms around her chest, too scared to breathe. Jimmy couldn’t be seen from the doorway as he was tucked up in the pillows. The only thing visible was her bag. She scooted off the bed, raced over and snagged it, tucking it up against the side of the wall out of sight. Whoever came in would have to walk all the way to the end to see them on the bed.
Ceci looked around for a weapon. There had to be something. The lamp was a flimsy looking thing. Not quite the club she was looking for.
But there were chairs. Making a fast decision she grabbed the one Jimmy had been sitting on and pulled it around the side of the wall with her. Her collection was starting to grow. She’d prefer a single chair leg, but maybe if she smashed it over somebody’s head she’d end up with one.
As she studied her hiding spot she realized just how insane this really was. She was in one of the safest places in the world, and here she was trying to find weapons. She ran her hands over her face and gave her cheeks a light scrubbing.
Dear God, maybe she did need help.
*
With one of the enemy down, a weapon back in his hand and messages back and forth to his unit, Brett felt a whole lot better about his position. Not great yet because he had no idea what was going on, but it was obvious the embassy was under attack. Likely from within. His biggest concern right now was getting Ceci and the children out. But he had no way to do that at this point. He leaned back against the wall wishing he could hear the conversation on the other side. The voices rose and fell but were too indistinct now to understand the conversation. The woman who had been crying was silent.
He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. Checking the message quickly he held it so the light on the screen didn’t shine in the window.
Two vehicles had been mobilized. His team was coming. They’d contacted the local government. As yet they had no word of backup from the military. Besides, if a coup was happening the local military were the last people they wanted to call on.
Footsteps came closer outside the double doors. He shifted deeper into the shadow to where he’d stashed the other man. The doors pushed open.
“We have to make sure we have completely evacuated the building,” a woman said.
“We’re pulling a team together,” responded a man. “As far as we know most of them are down here. The woman and her children are still in their room.”
“Most is not good enough. We need to make sure all are. And the woman needs to be taken care of. Do what you want with the children.”
“Understood.” They walked slowly up the stairs leaving Brett stunned at the casual dismissal of Ceci and the kids. He needed to know more of their plans but his heart was already panicking at the thought of not getting to her in time.
If the people who’d passed him in all likelihood were planning a floor by floor search. He needed to get Ceci out fast. As they went up the second landing he stood and twisted so he could hear more.
“We’re waiting on the military to bring a unit in here. We’ll set up offices on the main floor.”
“The US isn’t going to stand for this, you know that.”
“I’m counting on it.” The feminine voice rose in anger. “Like we need any of their shit now. There’s no reason for them to have the embassy here. They should’ve been kicked out a long time ago.”
“There hasn’t been time. We’ve only been in government a couple of months.”
Brett melted back against the wall, his mind spinning. He pulled out his cell phone and quickly texted Mason. The military are in on it. New government no longer wanting US Embassy on their soil.
He pocketed his phone and made his way to the double doors to the garage. On the other side of them silence descended. Shit. He opened one a crack. At least there was no light shining through. To the right he heard a couple of loud voices followed by raucous laughter that raised the hairs on his forearm. Not a sound he liked to hear at any time.
There were several vehicles parked in front of him. Staying low he slipped through the double doors and raced to the side of one then down toward the back, then stopped and listened.
Peering around the doorway, he spied a large truck. He headed toward the men’s loud laughter. As he came around he saw an unconscious woman on the ground, her clothes being ripped off as two men laughed at her. This, he could fix. He came up behind the first man and got him in a choke hold before quickly snapping his neck. He let him drop to the ground as the second turned, saw him and reached for his weapon. Brett kicked the gun out of his hand then drove his right fist into the man’s jaw.
The man’s head snapped backwards and he dropped to the ground.
Assholes.
The first man was dead, the second unconscious. Brett reached down and checked the woman’s pulse. It was strong. She was alive, and as he couldn’t see any visible injuries, he assumed she’d been knocked out or fainted. He swooped her up into his arms and immediately disappeared amongst the vehicles. He had to find a safe place to stash her while he figured out what was going on down here and who else he was up against.
There was an exit sign up ahead. He raced toward it to see the doors were propped open. So not a good sign. He backed up and spied a pickup with a flat tire. He carefully lowered his cargo into the pickup bed. Hopefully no one would look for her here. He ducked down behind the vehicle and retraced his steps to the stairwell he’d come down and headed to the far side. Ahead he could see three still figures on the floor. When he reached them he saw two men in suits both had bullet holes in the head and the third was Martin from the dining room. In his case, the bullet hole was in his temple.
Shit. He quickly updated Mason. Now to collect Ceci and get the hell out of here.
He was hoping to find a service elevator. Not everyone would know about that. He raced up the stairs to the first landing, passed it and headed up. On the top floor, he realized he still had yet to hear or see anyone.
The hallway was empty too.
That was at least a good sign. He strode to her door where he gave a short knock.
And got no answer in return. But the door slowly swung open, the lock broken.
Chapter 7
Shit. What should she do? The sound of those footsteps stabbed her in the gut as panic threatened to empty her stomach.
Then she heard the harsh whisper. Was that her name? She raced to the front door and held her ear against the cold wood. On the other side she heard a low male voice call out, “Ceci?”
Brett? Should she take the chance? If she made the wrong decision it could have fatal consequences.
“Ceci, it’s Brett. Open up.”
With her throat threatening to close on her, she unlocked the door and peered through the crack. “Oh my God, it is you.”
Brett spun at the sound of her voice. His confusion turning to relief. She motioned him inside. “Hurry, hurry.”
“What happened? Why are you in this room and not that one?”
“I was afraid we weren’t safe over there.” With a glance down the hallway in both directions he slipped inside the room and closed and locked the door.
“Did someone come here?”
She held a finger to her lips and motioned to the sleeping children in the bed. He immediately nodded.
She gave him a quick rundown of the events including her race to move into this room. “I did hear somebody arrive with the trolley and go into the room. He lef
t and so far no one else has come by.” She shuddered. “But I’m terrified someone will at any moment.”
She walked into the center of the room and turned to face him. “Tell me what’s going on?”
“I don’t have all the details,” he said. “But there’s an attack on the embassy. I found three dead men in the bottom garage level and one woman who’s unconscious but alive.” He walked over to the window where he peered through the curtains. “Before getting shot one of the men told me there’d been a meeting off the embassy grounds and that the staff were fifteen minutes late getting back.” He looked at his watch. “Make that an hour late now.” He turned to look at her, his face grim.
She had her hand clasped over her mouth to still the shriek trying to sneak past. “Oh my God, did you say three men are dead?”
He raced toward her, wrapping her tight in his arms. “It’s okay, we will get out of this.”
She shook her head. “How can this be happening again?”
He rubbed her arms up and down. “I have no idea. I don’t understand the government’s history here. I’ve never been to this embassy before. However, it is and that’s what we have to deal with. I don’t know how many men are involved. In fact, there’s not a whole lot I can tell you at this moment.”
With her eyes locked on his, she whispered, “What are we going to do?”
He gave her a gentle smile. “We’re going to wait. My team’s en route. I believe a military operation is responsible for taking out the embassy personnel. I don’t know if the vehicle that was supposed to return with the staff has been hijacked, if those people have been killed or if they are being held hostage somewhere. There are so many unknowns. The only thing we do know is that we have to stay safe.”
She went to the bed to where Jimmy slept – book in hand.
Behind her Brett asked, “How long have they been asleep?”
Her shoulders rose and fell. “Jennifer’s been out for a while. Jimmy slept earlier, then woke up to eat and fell asleep again.” She admitted, “I was starting to worry something was wrong.”
