“Unfortunately,” he announced then turned serious, “I need to get you out of here before Cody realizes what I’ve done.”
Jade hesitated and stared at him with a surprised look. “What did you do?”
“Chose you over him, of course,” he replied while grinning. “What else?”
Vahn quickly kissed her warmly but passionately on the mouth, pulling away before she could protest. Jade stared into his eyes a moment, then hesitated and touched her heel to the wall. The spike disappeared into her shoe. Vahn released her wrists then removed her gun from his pocket and extended it to her.
“I’m trusting you not to shoot me.”
Jade took the .22 semiautomatic from him, debated whether or not she wanted to shoot him, and then returned the small gun to her thigh holster.
“There’s a supply closet just past the stairs,” he casually informed her. “It has a trapdoor in the ceiling. We can climb through that to the second-floor and escape down the fire escape. It’s going to be pretty wild on the streets judging by the gunfire and sirens. We’ll need to find shelter as quickly as possible.”
“I know just where to go.”
“Then we should get there.”
“What about the bomb?” she demanded.
“It’s not even connected,” he informed her. “I’d never risk the lives of all those innocent people.”
She was momentarily puzzled. Vahn took her free hand and hurried her toward the stairs.
Chapter Thirty-six
Bernard hurried through the rubble to join Cody near the bar, where he finished a glass of scotch. He looked at his man and frowned.
“Is it done?”
“He’s gone.”
Cody looked at Bernard and appeared confused then sedate. “Who’s gone?”
“Our VIP guest,” Bernard remarked then fidgeted. “Vahn’s missing too.”
Cody stared at him with surprise then attempted to control his emotions. “And Vahn’s detective girlfriend?”
“Bruno said she was in the closet with our guest,” Bernard informed him. “She’s gone too.”
“That son-of-a-bitch,” Cody snarled and slammed his glass on the bar. “He must’ve made a deal with the detective. How is it he makes deals with his dick, and it somehow works out for him?”
“I couldn’t say,” Bernard replied then raised his brows. “What do you want to do? Should we search the place?”
“That would be pointless,” Cody snarled and shook his head. “Somehow, he’s already made it outside. I’d stake my life on it. How’s the exit coming?”
“Just opened up,” Bernard replied.
“And Jared?”
“First one out.”
“Figures,” Cody scoffed. “I need you to make sure everyone gets out of here. I’ll take Bruno outside and search for Vahn and our VIP guest. If you see either, you know what to do.”
Bernard nodded.
§
Jade and Vahn hurried to the supply room in the nearby corridor not far from the main floor within the nightclub. When they entered, Greg jumped with a startled cry. Vahn aimed his gun at Greg. Jade aimed her gun at Vahn. He tensed and cast a look at the gun she had aimed at his head. She snatched the gun from his hand.
“Sorry, Vahn,” she replied with little emotion. “I don’t exactly trust you.”
Greg sighed with relief. “Thank God for that.”
“You can either stay here or come along with us,” Jade informed him with little emotion, “but if you’re coming along, you’ll do so without your weapon.”
He casually turned to face her and eyed the gun she kept trained on him. “Obviously, I’m going with you.”
Jade lowered her gun and motioned Greg to the crawl space opening. He climbed the shelf, opened the panel, and easily crawled through. Jade placed Vahn’s gun down the front of her dress and returned her small pistol to her thigh holster. She then climbed up the shelf after Greg. Vahn casually looked up her dress as she crawled through the opening.
“Hmm,” he announced while grinning his approval as he climbed the shelf behind her. “Black thong. Very nice.”
As he followed after her through the opening, she thrust her high heel toward his face, sending a warning message. He dodged the high heel then grinned and continued through the opening behind her. Greg, Jade, and Vahn carefully walked along the remaining second floor and observed the large chunk of floor missing toward the middle. The area they walked across seemed stable enough, although made each a little tense. They entered a small, empty room and saw the open window on the opposite end. They approached the window and crawled through it onto the fire escape.
A few minutes after they had passed through the window, Miller stepped into the same room and looked around. He then continued toward the main area of the second-floor. The large opening in the floor was heart stopping. He noticed the open crawl space door and headed for it, climbing down into the storage closet. He then headed through the back corridor and entered the club, which was left in complete shambles. He scanned the area only a moment before he was nearly plowed down by Bruno as he hurried past him and toward the front of the club. There appeared to be no other signs of life. As Miller looked across the nightclub, he saw the last of the patrons crawling out the opening in the front with Bruno bringing up the rear. Miller scratched his head and continued to scan the club.
Chapter Thirty-seven
Vahn hurried Jade and Greg to the expensive, dirt coated Bentley with its hubcaps missing. They could see the other patrons exiting the building through the small, cleared opening that used to be the door. Jade saw Miller’s car parked on the main road and did a quick scan for her partner. When she didn’t’ see him, she cursed softly. She wanted to look for him, but she knew they were in trouble if Cody discovered Greg was missing. Jade jumped in the front passenger side while Greg dove into the back. Vahn frantically searched the glove compartment for the spare keys. Cody now stood outside the club just near the alleyway and saw them attempting to escape in his Bentley. He slapped his men and indicated his car within the alley. His men ran down the alley after them.
Vahn thrust the car into gear and floored the gas pedal. The Bentley took off down the alley in the opposite direction. Vahn drove along the cluttered road, weaving in and out of crashed cars and fissures in the road. All three marveled at the disaster surrounding them. There was mass destruction, fires, and gangs shooting at one another while the police attempted to control the situation. Another car soon appeared behind them. Vahn looked in the rearview mirror and frowned, knowing who was in the car behind them. Jade and Greg stared out the back while Vahn drove at high speeds despite the road conditions.
“We need to lose them,” Jade exclaimed.
“I’m working on it,” he grumbled. “There’s a bit more road hazards than there were earlier.”
“And if we lose them, where do we go?” Greg demanded. “This city looks like a war zone.”
“We need to get that information from your computer,” Jade announced to Greg.
“Then we need to get to my computer,” Greg informed her. “I can’t access it remotely. That computer geek has a firewall even I can’t hack.”
“So if Cody gets to your computer first, there’s no way to get that information?” Jade asked with concern.
“None at all,” Greg replied while nervously fidgeting in the back seat. “And if he destroys my computer, it’s gone forever. Of course, so is his money.”
“So he won’t destroy your computer?”
“No more than he’d kill me,” Greg informed her. “He needs us both.”
Jade turned to Vahn in the driver’s seat and stared at him with a serious look. “You need to lose them,” she announced then eyed him sharply with irritation. “I thought this was what you did for a living?”
“Kicking me in my boys is one thing, princess, but insulting my driving won’t be tolerated.”
“Maybe you should have let me drive,” she scoffed and
raised a demanding brow.
Vahn groaned with irritation. “That’s it,” he snarled. “See if you get any tonight.” He then nodded, indicating his gun down the front of her dress. “You have my gun. Impress me by shooting out their tires.”
Jade considered the request then rolled down her window and kneeled on the car seat while leaning out the window. Both Vahn and Greg eyed her backside in the short dress. Vahn removed his cell phone from his inner jacket pocket and took a picture. Jade fired at the car behind them. The Bentley drove around the wrecked cars at high speeds with the other car chasing after them. Jade fired twice and missed, unable to hit her target due to their weaving in and out of obstacles. She fired again, hitting the car’s front tire, causing it to slide out of control and strike a parked car. Jade slid back into the seat with a satisfied grin.
“That was kind of fun,” she announced cheerfully.
Vahn grinned but didn’t comment.
Greg poked his head between the two seats. “He took a picture of your ass.”
Vahn threw his hand back, backhanding Greg in the mouth. He clutched his mouth and fell to the back seat. Jade glared at Vahn with irritation while Vahn glared at Greg in the back seat.
“What’s wrong with you?” Vahn snarled at Greg.
“I asked you to let me see it,” he pouted while holding his mouth.
Jade glared at Vahn and extended her hand. “Give me the phone.”
“It’s in my pants.”
Jade felt his pants pockets for his cell phone.
Vahn grinned slyly. “No, I mean it’s really in my pants.”
Jade eyed his pants, saw the outline of the cellphone not far from his crotch then frowned and looked away.
Vahn chuckled without looking at her. “Come on,” he teased. “Where’s your sense of adventure?”
Chapter Thirty-eight
The remaining sixteen Virtual Play employees stood within cubicle square and listened to the sound of banging coming from the fire doors. Larson motioned for everyone to hide. Everyone dove beneath whatever desks were still standing. The sound of a shotgun blast frightened everyone. Abby gasped from beneath the desk then covered her mouth to keep quiet. Three punks in their late teens to early twenties ran into the office toting shotguns and handguns. They ripped out computers and tossed them into a mail cart they rolled behind them. They laughed and hollered like psychotic demons then shot random monitors with the shotgun just to watch them shatter. When the monitor on the desk above her shattered, Janice screamed. One of the interlopers rounded the desk, grabbed her by the arm, and pulled her out from under the desk.
“Look,” the first punk announced while cackling. “We got a live one for target practice.”
Peterson suddenly leaped out from beneath his desk behind them and ran for the lobby doors.
The second punk turned with his shotgun and grinned. “Rabbit season--”
He fired the shotgun, hitting Peterson in the back. Peterson took the full impact of both barrels and fell while running. Janice screamed hysterically.
“Oh, shut her up,” the third punk lashed out. “I hate it when they scream.”
The first punk aimed his gun at Janice and tightened his finger on the trigger. Dani grabbed the chair in front of where she hid, dived on top of it, and barreled forward riding the chair. She crashed into the punk, knocking him to the floor. The gun went off and the bullet struck the ceiling, knocking down more debris. Janice again screamed, now hysterical. Larson tackled Janice to the floor before the first punk could recover while the second punk aimed his shotgun at Dani.
“Not very smart,” the second punk informed her.
Dani stared at the shotgun with a look of horror, awaiting the loud explosion of both barrels firing. Instead, they heard the soft ding of the elevator. Oddly enough, the sound was almost deafening in the heat of the moment. All eyes suddenly turned to the supposedly locked out elevator just beyond the glass lobby doors. The elevator doors opened to reveal Rafael in his trench coat while looking down at his cell phone, as he usually did when he arrived. He looked up with surprise to see the three armed punks holding Dani. Dani saw Rafael and stared at him with horror at what was about to unfold.
Rafael stared at the tense scene as his mouth fell open and he seemed to freeze. “Oops, wrong floor.”
The second punk turned the shotgun away from Dani and aimed it at Rafael. Rafael raised an Uzi hidden beneath his trench coat and rapidly fired at the punk holding the shotgun, striking him several times before his bullet-riddled body was thrown to the floor. The other two intruders reacted and simultaneously aimed their weapons at him. Rafael leaped out of the elevator and rolled across the floor as they shot into the elevator, peppering it with shotgun pellets. Rafael popped up from alongside the front desk and fired at both men with a sweeping motion, mowing both down with multiple shots. Rafael slowly straightened and dropped his backpack to the floor. The first punk writhed around the floor while clutching his bleeding abdomen and gasped. Rafael walked past him and casually shot him in the head as he passed.
He looked around cubicle square and shook his head. “This place is a mess.”
The others slowly came out from hiding. Abby and Larson checked on Peterson but didn’t get very close before assessing his condition. Both cringed and looked away. Dani hurried for Rafael while sighing with relief, threw her arms around his neck, and hugged him.
“Thank God you happened along,” she practically sobbed while clinging to him.
Rafael clung to her as if he’d never let go. Dani hesitated then slowly pulled away and met his gaze with a strange realization. He avoided looking at her.
Her eyes widened as she stared at him. “Boyd?” she suddenly gasped.
Rafael still didn’t look at her. Dani smiled and again threw her arms around him, clung to him, and sobbed softly. Rafael held her and closed his eyes.
“Oh, my God,” Abby gasped with surprise. “Boyd is the computer repair guy?”
“The Uzi toting computer repair guy,” Larson muttered.
Dani pulled away while staring into Rafael’s eyes and gently touched his face.
He still had some difficulty looking at her. “Sorry if you’re disappointed.”
Dani smiled, laughed joyfully, and kissed him quickly on the lips. Rafael appeared surprised. She pulled back and met his gaze while shaking her head.
“No, I’m not disappointed at all,” she announced happily. “I’m glad it was you.”
Rafael appeared relieved and smiled. Dani kissed him again but longer and with more passion. He returned the kiss without hesitation.
“Sorry for not being a true romantic here, but there’s a war going on outside, and it’s making its way into the building,” Larson informed them. “We’re not exactly safe.”
Rafael released Dani and grabbed his backpack. “So let’s level the playing field.” He dumped nearly a dozen handguns and boxes of bullets onto the nearby desk.
Janice stared at the assortment of weapons and ammunition. “Where did you get these?”
“My niece’s apartment,” Rafael casually replied. “There’s enough of us to defend this floor until the National Guard takes the city back.”
“That elevator was locked out in the lobby,” Larson remarked. “How did you use it?”
He eyed Larson with little reaction. “I picked the lock with my pen,” Rafael remarked while loading magazines. “It’s not exactly rocket science.” He slapped the magazine into the semiautomatic and handed it to Abby.
Abby uncertainly accepted the weapon, stared at it a moment, and then glanced at him. “Who’s your niece? Where did she get all these weapons?”
“The girl has some strange hobbies,” Rafael informed Abby then considered the comment. “Maybe she and I aren’t so different after all.”
Once everyone was able to calm their nerves with a bottle of gin they’d found in one of the desk drawers, they covered Peterson’s body. The remaining employees hunkered down for
the evening, hoping to avoid further incidents from the war raging on the city streets. Rafael and Dani sat on the floor behind her desk, their backs to the partition wall and a gun alongside each of them. Dani was content to cling to Rafael’s arm and rest her head on his shoulder. She was exhausted from everything that had happened in the last twelve hours. Rafael sent a text message on his cell phone, checked for a response, and then returned it to his jacket pocket with a low, disgusted groan.
“Who are you texting?” Dani asked.
“My niece,” he replied with a sigh. “I haven’t heard from her since the earthquake.”
“I assume she wasn’t at her apartment when you went for her weapons,” Dani remarked and gave him a curious look. “Where do you think she went?”
“Club Zen.”
“Club Zen?” Dani remarked with surprise. “That’s the second time that place was mentioned today. Earlier--” She hesitated and considered the comment.
“Yes, my niece is Detective Wesson,” he replied with a gentle sigh then stared at the damaged drop ceiling. “With all the damage and violence in the streets, she could have been called to duty. She could be anywhere in this crazy city.” He was silent a moment then drew a deep, tense breath. “A lot of cops died tonight. They’re not releasing names just yet. With the phones down, they’re probably unable to notify relatives.” He frowned. “The one phone call I fear more than any other.”
“I’m sure she’s okay, Rafael,” Dani informed him while gently placing her hand on his arm. “Detective Wesson seems very, uh, capable.”
“She’s reckless,” he scoffed and frowned with disapproval. “She thinks she’s shielded by a field of invincibility. I swear she thinks she’s James Bond.”
“Is she?”
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