by Carsen Taite
“Don’t react,” she said quietly. “I need to ask you a few questions and I need to know that none of the information I’m about to share with you will be passed on to anyone else without my express permission. Nod your head if you understand.”
His eyes grew wide and he nodded.
“Okay, great.” She pulled out her phone and scrolled through to find a picture of Kayla. “Have you seen this girl come into the building? It would’ve been in the last half hour.”
He looked at the screen and scrunched his brow before nodding his head. “She took the elevator, but I’m not sure where.”
“Thanks.” She flipped to the next photo, the one Leo had taken that included a shot of Ellery. She pointed at the screen. “And this woman? How about her?”
“Yes. She came in shortly after. I remember because she seemed like she was late for something. She ran toward one of the elevators and got really frustrated when it closed as she got there. She went down the escalator over there. It goes into the tunnels. That’s all I remember.”
“That’s good. Now, there is a potential terrorist threat to this building. I need to know the evacuation protocol and I need to know you’re ready to call it in if I give the word.”
He spent a minute taking her through the protocol and she tried to ignore the shake in his voice. Of course he was nervous. The entire city had been on edge immediately after the explosion at the arena, but the concern had faded into the reassuring conclusion that lightning wouldn’t strike twice in the same place. But terrorism didn’t behave like a natural disaster, and zealots could strike again at any time.
After she was sure he would be ready to call the alarm if necessary, she had a decision to make. Try and find Kayla or go after Ellery. Duty told her to find Kayla first and then make sure Ellery was okay, but instinct told her Ellery had gone after Kayla and finding Ellery would lead her to the bomb. “Will my cell phone work below this floor?” she asked.
“It should. Signal’s actually pretty good down there.” He reached into a drawer and pulled out a card. “This is my number if you need me.”
Sarah typed the numbers into her phone and shoved the card into her pocket. She reached out a hand. “What’s your name?”
“Phillips. Ed Phillips.” He grasped her hand. “Do you want me to go with you?”
She shook her head. This guy hadn’t signed up for the kind of danger she was headed toward. Besides, she needed someone in place who could initiate an evacuation if it came to that. “I appreciate the offer, but what I really need is for you to stay right here and be ready in case we need to evacuate the building. Okay?”
“Okay.”
She shot him what she hoped was a look full of confidence, and then she jogged toward the escalator, determined to find Ellery, hoping they would both survive this day.
*
The elevator door shut before she could reach it and Ellery cursed under her breath. She glanced around, finally locating the escalator that led to the tunnels. Every instinct told her Kayla was headed below ground and, as she took the stairs two at a time, she hoped she was right.
At the bottom of the escalator was a sparsely populated, wide corridor with a convenience store immediately to her right and a sign that said Field Street. Up ahead, the tunnel led to Renaissance Tower and to her left the path seemed to dead end. She didn’t see Kayla in any direction. She reached for her cell phone before she remembered Jasmine had taken her phone once they’d gotten into the van.
Guess you should have thought of that before you went running after Kayla. She cursed her lack of foresight. She had two options. Go back upstairs, call the police, and let them handle finding Kayla or stay down here and keep looking for her. Right now, she was only steps behind Kayla, but in the time it would take to get help, she risked losing her entirely. After a few seconds consideration, she resolved to press on.
She walked a few steps to the right and glanced around. At the end of the hallway were glass doors that led out into an open, underground courtyard. If the explosion was planned to go off outside, there wouldn’t have been any reason for Kayla to have entered the building in the first place. She looked back at the corridor directly in front of the escalator and decided it was her best bet. Feeling the pressure of ticking time, she abandoned all pretense of sneaking up on Kayla and broke into a run. Within seconds, she was standing in the middle of a food court and she pulled up short and turned in a circle, hoping to spot Kayla among the late lunch stragglers.
It didn’t take long. She was seated in a popular sandwich chain, flipping through pages of a newspaper. To the casual observer, she looked like a student who’d just finished her lunch and was reading the paper to kill time.
Ellery looked around to assess how many other people were nearby. In addition to the two employees behind the counter, an older couple was seated at a table next to Kayla, eating their lunch and a middle-aged woman in a suit was sipping a coffee and reading a book a few tables away. While she was thinking about a subtle way to get these people away from here, Kayla looked up, directly at her.
Her eyes were vacant, but her lips formed a slow smile, taunting and malicious. Ellery remembered what Jasmine had said and silently repeated the words. She can’t do anything without Hashid. She looked around again and didn’t see anyone else in close proximity. If Hashid was running the show, he was doing it remotely. If she took any action at all, would she force his hand? Was it worth the risk? If she were one of the innocent people caught up in this cluster fuck, she’d want to know what was going on so she could make decisions about her own fate. She took a deep breath, pointed at Kayla, and yelled, “She has a bomb. Get out of here as fast as you can.”
For a split second, the patrons and employees looked at her like she was a lunatic, annoyingly interrupting their lunch. She moved closer and lied to get her point across. “I’m with the FBI. She has a bomb. Leave now. All of you.” She whirled in a circle to make sure everyone within the sound of her voice knew they were included in her warning. In what seemed like slow motion, one by one, the people in the food court dropped their lunches, grabbed their things, and started first walking, then running from the area. Ellery kept her eyes on Kayla the entire time, but she didn’t move. She didn’t even blink.
“Like that’s going to do any good,” she said.
“Why are you doing this?” Ellery asked.
“I told you,” Kayla said. “I’m willing to die for what I believe.”
“I know you aren’t in charge. Hashid controls the explosives, not you. Did you ever ask yourself why he’s not the one down here ready to blow himself up for what he believes?”
“Infidel. We all have our destiny. We don’t choose our path, it is chosen for us. You don’t understand and you never will.”
Ellery realized it was pointless to argue with a zealot, and she considered her next move. She was about ten feet from Kayla, close enough to see her glance down at her cell phone every few seconds. She was certain the phone was the key. It had probably been Hashid on the other end of the cell during the entire drive from her house to this building. She imagined him huddled up somewhere nearby, safe from capture and ready to detonate Kayla’s vest as soon as she was in place. Was he on the phone now listening, or was he waiting for a signal from her?
As if on cue, Kayla lifted the phone from the table. Ellery started to take a step toward her, but an authoritative voice stopped her in her tracks.
“FBI. Put the phone down and put your hands in the air. Now.”
Sarah. The sound of her voice warmed the icy grip of fear that had Ellery in its grasp. She turned to see Sarah standing directly behind her, and her first instinct was to go to her and pull her close, but relief at Sarah’s arrival quickly morphed to panic when she realized Sarah was alone and her threat wasn’t accompanied by a show of force.
She might be panicked, but Sarah’s appearance had done nothing to ruffle Kayla’s easy composure. “I don’t think so,” she said. “If you�
��re scared to die, you can leave.”
Ellery looked between them. Did Sarah have a plan? If so, now was the time to let her in on it. She stepped back so they were close enough to touch and Sarah whispered in her ear. “You need to get out now.”
“Not leaving without you.”
“It wasn’t a request.”
Sarah’s voice was a low growl, but her pleading eyes told her the command was born of caring. She injected as much warmth as she could into her words. “I’m not leaving you.” She jerked her chin at Kayla and lowered her voice. “It’s the phone. We need to get it from her.”
Sarah grabbed her arm, squeezed her bicep, and then pushed her aside, saying in a loud voice. “Your clients have caused enough trouble. Get out now or I’ll arrest you both.” She turned so her back was to Ellery and started walking toward Kayla as she spoke. “Kayla, the building is already being evacuated. Your little plan is off the rails. Give me the phone and you might have a chance at something less than the death penalty.”
Ellery watched as Sarah got closer to Kayla. Despite her terse words, Sarah’s expression had been laced with concern, and she knew with every fiber of her being Sarah was trying to separate her from danger. Sarah may have more information than she did, but that didn’t mean she’d make a better decision about what to do next. They should both get the hell out of here while they still could, but it was clear Sarah wasn’t going anywhere, and Ellery decided she would rather face her fears than risk losing her. As long as Sarah was staying, she wasn’t going anywhere.
Sarah was almost at the table now, and she stepped quickly to catch up. They would take Kayla together or not at all. She was practically on Sarah’s heels when a loud ringing sound cut through the air.
Everything happened in slow motion. Kayla reached for her phone. Sarah launched through the air, her arm outstretched. Ellery lunged forward, but by the time she reached them, Sarah and Kayla were a tangled mass of arms and legs as they brawled for control of the phone. Ellery saw the phone in Kayla’s hand and, saying a silent prayer that all the commotion wouldn’t cause an explosion, she dove in, grabbing for Kayla’s arm. She yanked Kayla’s arm to the floor and slammed her wrist against the hard tile, willing her to let go. While she held Kayla’s arm, Sarah got to her knees and tried to hold her still, but Kayla struggled against them like an angry cat, kicking with both legs.
Ellery heard a loud thud and glanced up to see Sarah grab her head. She started to reach out to her, but a quick look back at Kayla tore her attention in two. Kayla had taken advantage of Ellery’s split second distraction and her thumb was inching toward the answer call button on the phone. Ellery growled and gripped Kayla’s wrist until she felt the raw grind of bones breaking. Kayla screamed and the phone dropped from her grasp. Ellery scooped it up with her free hand and as she reached for Sarah, the phone stopped ringing and loud shouts filled the air.
Chapter Twenty-four
Sarah struggled to sit up, but a strong arm kept her in place.
“Don’t move.”
Whoever it was needn’t have worried. Slowly and carefully, she opened her eyes. The paramedic kneeling next to her was wiping her forehead with a pad that reeked of pungent antiseptic. She tried to turn her head to look around, but spikes of pain sent a wave of nausea through her. At least she was alive.
The realization sparked her memory. Ellery struggling with Kayla for control of the phone, the incessantly ringing phone that held the power to send them all to a horrible death. The entire scene replayed in her head: the pain of Kayla’s shoe connecting with her head, the sound of Kayla’s screams as Ellery wrestled her for control of the phone, and then the mad chaos of federal agents swarming them just as Ellery won the battle. Everything after that was fuzzy. Had she passed out? She must have because she didn’t have a clue what had happened next. She shifted in place and sharp darts burned behind her eyes. Obviously, she wasn’t dead, but what about Ellery?
Suddenly, she didn’t care about the nausea or the pain. She had to know what had happened. She braced a hand on the floor and pushed herself up. “Ellery. Where’s Ellery?”
“Whoa there, hang on a minute.”
The paramedic held her in place, but now that she was upright she could take in the entire scene. The food court was full of law enforcement personnel and buzzing with action. Her eyes were drawn to a group of agents huddled around a spot on the floor, and she spied Kayla’s blond hair through one of the agent’s legs. “The vest?”
“Intact. We got it off her and it’s disarmed.”
She smiled at the sound of Trip’s voice and turned to see him standing behind her. The sudden movement sparked pain in her head. “Oh shit.” The paramedic reached out a hand, but she brushed it away. “I’m okay. Got to remember to move slowly. Trip, help me up. Where’s Ellery?”
He held her arm and she carefully pulled herself up. He looked around. “I haven’t seen her. I just got down here. I was a little busy above ground locating Hashid. Looks like we got to him in the nick of time too. He had already dialed Kayla’s number. If she’d answered, well…”
Sarah shuddered. She considered what might have happened had Kayla answered the call and her gut clenched. She’d been in danger before, but being shot at paled in comparison to the threat of being blown to bits. And Ellery. She’d tried to get her to leave, but Ellery had charged right in and joined the fight, never mind the fact she’d been falsely accused, and her name had been tarnished in the press. Would she have been as brave, as selfless if the tables were turned?
The answer flooded her mind with crystal clarity. She would do anything, everything, in her power to save Ellery’s life, no matter what the consequences. Ellery had said last night that whatever was happening between them was important. What a colossal understatement. This thing between them was exactly what Sarah had been looking for when she left her career and moved across the country. Leave it to fate to give her what she wanted all wrapped in complications. Last night she’d walked away from love, but she’d be damned if she was going to do it again.
“Ellery stopped Kayla from answering the phone.” Sarah shook Trip’s arm. “She saved my life. I need to find her. Right now.”
*
Ellery strained to see over the agent’s shoulder, but he was too tall. He was also becoming increasingly annoyed at her refusal to talk. Since he’d yanked her away from Kayla, handcuffed her, and started peppering her with questions, she had consistently repeated the same phrase over and over in response to every query. “I’ll only talk to Agent Flores.” The words became her mantra.
Finally, he threw his hands in the air and snapped, “Your right to remain silent is going to put you on death row.” He pushed his chair back and ordered one of the other agents to keep an eye on her before he stalked off. With his large frame no longer blocking the view, Ellery could see a large contingent of officers blocking off the area where she and Sarah had wrestled with Kayla. She could make out what looked like a paramedic bent over someone, but the angle kept her from telling who. If it’s Sarah, please let her be okay.
She had no idea what had happened to Sarah while she was wrestling with Kayla. She’d wanted to go to her, but she knew she had to keep fighting Kayla if they were going to have a chance to make it out alive. The rest of the scuffle had been a blur ending with agents pulling her off Kayla, ripping the phone out of her hand, and hustling her away from the scene.
She glanced around the room, praying she would spot Sarah, but she was nowhere in sight. When she looked back at the paramedic, he had moved, and now she could tell the person he’d been tending to was blond. She flexed her fist which was still sore from gripping Kayla’s wrist. She hoped she’d broken it into pieces.
“Ellery?”
The voice behind her was soft and tentative, but after last night its lush tone would forever be engraved in her memory. She sighed with relief. Sarah, accompanied by a man she didn’t recognize, stood in front of her with a large bandage on her forehead
, her clothes disheveled. Ellery stood and, ignoring the glare of the agent who’d been left to guard her, she raised her hands to touch Sarah’s cheek. “You’re okay?”
Sarah put her hands on her still cuffed wrists. “Yes. You?”
“I’m fine.” She motioned to her guard. “Except I think I might be under arrest.”
Sarah looked at the man beside her. “Trip, can you take care of this?”
“On it.”
The man motioned to the guard and instructed him to unlock the handcuffs. Once her hands were free, Ellery rubbed her wrists. “Thanks.”
“Ellery Durant, meet Trip Sandler. He’s a friend.”
Ellery nodded. She noted the way Trip held Sarah’s arm, protective and caring. He was clearly a good friend, and under other circumstances, she would have been happy to meet someone Sarah cared about and who so obviously cared about her, but right now all she wanted was to be above-ground and alone with Sarah. Last night’s intimacy seemed so long ago, but after today’s danger, the tangled feelings Sarah had left behind came roaring back. She was in love with her, but did Sarah feel the same way? After staring down death just moments ago, she didn’t want to wait to find out.
“Come on.”
Sarah’s soft words were a welcome command, and she followed her out of the building, past the agents, past Kayla still prone on the floor, toward a future she hoped they would share.
*
Sarah pulled her car into Ellery’s driveway and shut off the engine. She looked over at the passenger seat. Ellery was staring at the front door, but she couldn’t read her expression. Should she stay or go? They hadn’t talked much on the ride over, both of them seemingly sucked out of adrenaline. She leaned back in the seat and waited for Ellery to make the first move. A few seconds later, her phone rang and she rushed to silence it, the sound a painful reminder of the ordeal they’d just endured.
