“Anyone else in the hotel?” Chase asked as Benjamin switched on the small portable.
“Just my cousin, Shirley. Everyone else has gone home for the night.”
“And Gina,” Chase reminded him. “I guess she’s on the fourteenth floor for the duration.” He thought about climbing fourteen flights of stairs to reach her.
“No, I don’t think so,” Benjamin corrected, his voice toneless as he remembered. “Shirley said Gina was meeting me down in the lobby.”
Uneasiness began to spread through Chase’s shoulders. “And she’s not here. That means she’s in the elevator.”
“Maybe not.”
Just as he said it, another slash of light cut into the darkness. Shirley hurried into the foyer to join them, holding a camping lantern aloft. “I just heard the elevator alarm go off a second before the power died.”
Gina, Chase thought.
Chapter Ten
A lopsided crown of perspiration encircled Gina’s forehead, dripping down to the back of her neck. She pressed her back against the padded wall of the elevator. Panic pulled short, shallow breaths from her lungs in snatches. If she wasn’t careful, she was going to hyperventilate.
She forced herself to take in one long, cleansing breath and then blow it out slowly. It was followed by another. A tiny measure of calm was restored. She had to think clearly. If she surrendered to fear, it would only make matters that much worse for her.
The power would come back on any second. It was just a fluke, right? There was no need to worry.
Gina clenched and unclenched her hands impotently at her sides. Her mouth was dry.
This was stupid, she upbraided herself, being afraid like this. What was going to happen to her? It wasn’t as if she’d been lowered headfirst into a bayou filled with snakes and alligators, or locked in a storeroom filled with hungry, scavenging rodents. She was in an elevator. She spread out her hands to either side of her, as if to reassure herself. A nice, safe elevator.
That just happened to be stuck between floors.
Like a dark coffin suspended in a shaft on a cable.
Counting slowly to ten, Gina managed to level her breathing. She was just being an idiot about this.
A very hot idiot, she thought as she opened the top three buttons of her silk blouse. She could feel the soft material beginning to stick to her back. She shed her jacket and lifted her hair from her neck. After a moment, she let it fall again, frustrated. There was no way to cool herself off, no handy clips or pins to secure her hair away from her neck. She fervently wished that she’d stayed in her room a few minutes longer. Then she’d be stuck up there instead of in a little metal box dangling by a steel thread between floors.
Murphy’s law.
Just as Murphy’s law had brought Chase back into her life.
Someone, she thought irritably, should go out and shoot Murphy.
She slid down, her back against the padded wall, until she was sitting on the floor. Bringing her knees to her chest, she hugged them and began to whistle softly. The silence, now that the alarm had abruptly gone off, was making her even edgier than she already was.
When the telephone in the elevator panel suddenly began ringing, Gina bolted up in one fluid motion, her heart pounding like a pneumatic drill breaking up a stretch of concrete.
Momentarily disoriented, her eyes swept over the pitch-dark enclosure reflexively. The ringing was coming from in here. But if the telephone was working, why was the power still out?
It was a riddle to be puzzled over later. Right now she had to find the telephone. Gina groped along the dusty drop cloth until she found the opening again. The one that she had found earlier to hit the alarm. The clammy feel of metal had her sighing in relief.
She remembered glancing at a small rectangular door with the words telephone over it during one of her rides. It was directly over the panel of numbers. Gina stood up on her toes and felt around until she encountered the little metal handle. Yanking the door open, she fumbled with the receiver and brought it to her mouth.
“Hello?”
“Gina?”
She clutched the telephone in both hands. “Chase, where are you?”
He was right. She had gotten on before the power failed. “At the front desk. The question is, where are you?”
“In the elevator.” It was everything she could do to keep the whimper out of her voice.
He heard the razor edge of panic underlying her reply. He wanted to take her in his arms and hold her until it was gone. Impatience bit small holes in him. He hated what she was going through.
“I know that, but did you happen to notice what floor you’d passed when the elevator came to a stop?”
She closed her eyes and forced herself to think. “Third. The light was just fading off the three when the elevator stopped,” she said excitedly.
So far, so good. They wouldn’t have to climb all the way up fourteen flights to get to her.
Her hand tightened around the telephone, afraid that if she loosened her grip, she’d lose her connection. “Chase, the power’s out, how can you be calling?”
“The telephone doesn’t run on the same circuits, honey. The storm hasn’t gotten to that yet.”
Yet. The word vibrated in her head, setting off a new series of nerves. She felt her breath growing short again. It was so terribly hot in here. Even her eyelashes felt hot.
“Chase, can you do anything? Can you get me out of here?” She was trying not to let her panic loose, not to sound as afraid as she felt.
Chase exchanged looks with Benjamin as her voice bounced about the darkness over the speaker phone. He spoke slowly and deliberately, hoping his voice would calm her. “Benjamin and I will have you out of there in a few minutes. Hang in there, Gina, we’re coming.”
She nodded, although there was no way he could see. No way anyone could see.
“I just promised her we’d be there,” Chase said to Benjamin as he broke the connection.
“I heard.”
Chase saw pity in Shirley’s eyes. He didn’t want pity, he wanted a way out. “Any way I can deliver on that promise?”
Benjamin nodded. “C’mon, I’ll see if I can save the white man from breaking another promise.” Shining the flashlight before them, he led the way to the stairwell.
* * *
Gina twisted the telephone in her hand, wishing it were a flashlight. Or that she at least had one in her purse. There were all sorts of handy gadgets in her purse—a Swiss army knife, tiny scissors, three kinds of pens and a miniature screwdriver. But no flashlight. Nothing to chase away the dark.
Chase.
Please hurry, Chase. Please.
“You’re not five years old anymore,” she berated herself loudly, ashamed of the way she felt.
If she tried, she could almost hear her father’s stern lectures about building character as he would turn out the light in her room, leaving her alone in the dark. Leaving her alone to wait until the monsters came for her. They never did, but that didn’t convince her they weren’t there. Just that they hadn’t wanted her that night.
It went on that way for years. The monsters were eventually replaced by alien beings, and then by nebulous things that went bump in the night.
The baseless fear continued to haunt her until she’d grown up. And even after. Chase had been tolerant of it, she remembered. He’d gotten used to sleeping with one light on. He had done that for her.
Gina’s mouth curved slightly. He did have his good points.
She realized that she was still clutching the telephone. With a ragged sigh, she hunted around until she found the little door again. She replaced the telephone as best she could, closing the door after it. That done, there was nothing left to do but sit and wait.
Gina slid back down onto the floor. Despite the heat, she wrapped her arms around herself and slowly started to rock.
Hurry, Chase, hurry.
She began whistling again.
When she heard
the noise on top of the car, Gina tensed and looked up, although there wasn’t anything that she could see.
Now what? Was the car going to fall?
As she stared at the top of the car, she thought she could see slivers of light slice through the darkness like a rapier, slivers forming the perimeter of a rectangle. The next moment, the rectangle was yanked up and more light, made brighter by the absence of any, descended into the elevator car, finding her.
She jumped to her feet. “Chase?” It was both a question and a cry.
Chase dropped the trapdoor to the side and crouched, looking in. He shone the flashlight beam next to her leg, afraid of blinding her. Behind him, on the landing, Benjamin stood at the opening of the shaft, aiming the camping lantern down to amplify the light. He and Chase had managed to pry apart the elevator doors by using a manual override.
Chase grinned, relieved to see that, for the most part, she was all right. “You never could carry a tune worth a damn.”
Her eyes filled with tears of relief. She quickly wiped them away, pretending that the light was in her eyes. “I’ll let you criticize my whistling all you want, just hurry up and get me out of here.”
He glanced over his shoulder. The distance from the top of the elevator car to the third floor landing was only a matter of about four feet. With Benjamin helping her, Chase knew she could readily pull herself up once he got her out of the car. She had a lot of upper body strength from hurling heavy objects at him.
He nodded toward the landing. “Up to a little climbing?”
“Out of here? Anytime.” Eager, she looked around the car, but there was nothing to grab on to. Standing on her suitcase wouldn’t bring her up nearly high enough to reach the trapdoor.
Holding on to the edge, Chase quickly lowered himself into the car. Unable to resist, Gina threw her arms around him and held on.
Chase held her for a moment, then drew her away. He’d felt her trembling against him, but pretended not to have noticed. He knew what her pride meant to her. “Remind me to stop the elevator between floors more often.”
Relief wafted through her. “You do and I’ll have your head,” she promised.
He shrugged as he released her. “You’ve got my heart, you might as well have the rest of me.” Before she could make a reply, he got down on one knee. “Turn around, I’ll boost you up. You can get a better grip if you’re on my shoulders.”
Gina looked down at the straight skirt she was wearing, then looked at Chase. To manage, she was going to have to pull her skirt up high. “This isn’t very dignified,” she murmured.
“You could stay here,” he suggested amicably, beginning to rise.
She placed her hand on his shoulder, pushing him back into position. “Hi-ho Silver.”
Chase laughed as he put his head between her legs. Holding her steady by placing a hand on either one of her thighs, he slowly rose to his feet.
“You putting on weight?”
Gina gave his shoulder a quick swipe. “You’re just getting old.”
Perched on Chase’s shoulders, Gina found that her chest was almost level with the opening. Her hand came in contact with filth and grit as she attempted to secure a good hold on top of the car.
Holding her breath, she pushed herself up onto the car. The surface was slippery and greasy. Gina rose unsteadily to her feet.
“You okay?” Chase called to her.
“This isn’t my idea of a place to go dancing, but I can stand up.” She didn’t dare look back at him. She was afraid she’d lose her balance if she did.
“Give me your hand, Gina,” Benjamin urged.
He smiled his encouragement as he crouched down at the opening of the elevator shaft. Bracing himself, he extended his hands toward her. Gina reached up and caught hold. Strong hands closed over her wrists.
“I’ve got you,” Benjamin assured her. His forearms strained as he pulled her up to the landing. “Are you all right?”
She scrambled to her knees and turned so that she could look down into the shaft. Chase was just underneath the trapdoor.
“I’m fine, just get Chase out of there.”
“Already on it.” Benjamin took a coil of rope he’d brought with him from the storeroom and threw one end of it into the elevator car. He wound the other end several times around his hands and braced himself. “Okay,” he called to Chase. “Climb out.”
Chase went hand over hand on the rope as calmly as if he were training in a gym. He was beside Gina in a matter of moments. She exhaled the breath she’d been unconsciously holding as she watched him.
Benjamin tossed the rope aside and sat down next to them on the floor. The flashlight beside him cast eerie shadows along the length of the hall.
For a moment no one spoke, then Chase turned to Gina. “Well, I’d say that was enough excitement for one evening, how about you?”
Gina could only nod, too drained to say anything in reply.
Chase thought it was a breakthrough.
* * *
Shirley was waiting for them when they emerged from the stairwell. Her easy manner went a long way to soothe Gina’s frayed nerves. Murmuring sympathetically, she led Gina and Chase back to the foyer, where she had lit a small fire in the stone fireplace.
“I know it’s hot, but I thought this was the best source of light we could come up with under the circumstances. The radio said that power is out all over the city. It won’t be restored until sometime tomorrow morning, weather permitting.” The howl of the wind and rain just beyond the window told everyone that the weather obstinately wasn’t permitting a thing at the moment.
Shirley paused before the fire and smiled. “Gives the place a nice glow, don’t you think?”
It did, Gina thought. A warm, inviting glow. She could certainly use a dose of that right now.
There were blankets spread out on the long, wide sofa facing the fireplace.
Shirley smiled as Gina raised a brow. “I didn’t think you’d want to go back to one of the rooms, and under the circumstances, I didn’t think you’d want to go driving around, looking for another place to stay. All the other hotels are in the same boat we are, anyway. Speaking of boats—” she glanced out the window “—we might need one by morning.” Flash floods were not uncommon this time of year.
The older woman gave Gina a maternal, reassuring look as she patted Gina’s arm. She’d heard Gina’s voice on the loudspeaker when she’d been trapped in the elevator. There had been the keen edge of barely controlled panic—claustrophobic probably. Shirley thought the young woman needed to be in a wide-open space for a while. The foyer was the logical choice.
Shirley looked from Gina to Chase. Might even be romantic, at that. “Think of it as a camp-out,” she encouraged.
Benjamin took the smaller of the two flashlights from the desk. The lantern remained, casting its wide arc like a beacon.
“Well, if you two are set, I think we’ll just turn in.” He placed his hand lightly on his cousin’s shoulder. Shirley nodded her assent and they left amid a flurry of good-nights.
For a long moment, there was nothing but the sound of the rain beating against the windows and the subdued crackle of the fire. Gina felt her legs suddenly folding under her. Delayed reaction, she thought as she sat down on the sofa.
Wordlessly, afraid of ruining the moment, Chase sat beside her and slipped his arm around her shoulder. There was a great deal of comfort in his action.
Gina sighed and rested her head on his shoulder. “Thank you for rescuing me.”
He laughed softly to himself. Did she think he was just going to leave her there? “You’re welcome. But you realize, of course, that I did it for a purely selfish motive.”
She felt too drained to even lift her head. But she could hear his smile. “Oh?”
“I wanted to have someone here I could curl up and watch the fire with.”
God, it felt good just to be with her like this. He’d felt his heart twist at the fear in her voice earlier. He
’d wanted to do nothing more than protect her. Always. He smiled to himself. And wouldn’t his fiercely independent decorator just love to hear that one?
“I see.” She tried to sound serious and succeeded only in sounding tired. “And I take it that Benjamin wouldn’t do?”
He laughed out loud then, the tension that he’d felt ever since he heard the alarm go off draining from him in a single wave.
“He’s not my type.” His tone grew serious as he tightened his arm around her protectively. “But you are.”
She sighed. She knew it was because she was tired, because she had no defenses left at the moment, but what he’d said had sounded good. Very, very good.
“I don’t have the energy to argue with you tonight.”
The episode had to have taken more out of her than he’d imagined. Gina could always argue. “Now there’s a first.”
She did raise her head then to look at him, a tiny spark reentering her eyes. “Of course I could try to muster some up.”
He slid his finger playfully along her nose, an action he knew she found particularly annoying. She didn’t rise to the bait. Satisfied, he leaned back, holding her to him. “Don’t.”
Though everything told her not to, she nestled against him. Like old times, a voice whispered. There was more comfort in that than she knew she should take.
But she couldn’t have him getting the wrong idea. “This doesn’t change anything, you know. I’ll still be leaving in the morning.”
Like hell. “Whatever you say, Gina.”
She bristled a little, or thought she did. “You’re patronizing me.”
“I wouldn’t dare.” He smiled as he lightly stroked his hand over her arm. “We’ll talk about your leaving in the morning.”
She shifted against him, burrowing deeper into the pocket his arm and body created for her. For just a moment, only a moment.
“You don’t figure into the decision.”
It was a funny thing to say, considering that she was fleeing because of him. “Don’t I?”
She sighed. He had her there, but she resisted admitting it. “All right, but in a very superficial sort of way.”
“Flatterer.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead and swore to himself he’d find a way through this mire to reach his goal. The most precious one of his life. He stared into the fire, but his mind was full of her. And then it came to him.
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