Chapter 10
As much as she hated to admit it, she was feeling the effects of her kidnapping. She didn’t know how long she’d been in the hospital, but when she checked the time and saw it was almost four o’clock in the afternoon, she realized just how much longer the day would still get.
But she’d been honest when she said she was likely to sleep most of the way. She was also getting hungry. Maybe that was a good sign. Although she was afraid if she ate anything, it would come right back up.
They had a second cup of coffee and continued going over some of the information they found. She also learned the kids who kidnapped her had made a deal with the DA. She didn’t have a problem with that. She was more concerned about getting the people above them. What she didn’t want was to have anybody coming after her again.
It was thirty minutes in when the DA stood up and said, “We’re very grateful to you, Sienna. I’ll let you be on your way. The office is closing in a few minutes too.”
An alarm ripped through the building.
She quickly put her cup down and stood. Her hand went to her head as the sudden movement brought on the pounding inside again. “What the hell is that?” she asked. She reached out for Rhodes immediately and found his arm wrapping around her, holding her close.
He looked at the DA and said in a hard voice, “What does the alarm mean?”
The DA’s expression showed shock, bewilderment. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard it before, but it’s a lockdown.”
“Lockdown?” she asked in a faint voice. “As in we can’t leave?”
He nodded. His hand immediately went to the phone. Picking it up, he put in a call to security. There was a short exchange. “Security said they’ve had a viable threat called in from one of the other offices. They apologize, but lockdown mode is necessary until I can verify what’s happening.”
“Wouldn’t it be better if we were all allowed to leave first?” she asked. The last place she wanted to be was here.
But Rhodes made it very clear. “The only reason they wouldn’t let us leave is if they’re afraid this person would escape with the crowd.” His voice fell off as he considered the implication. He looked at the DA, then back outside. “Call security back and see if this person is holding anybody hostage in the building.”
The DA immediately picked up the phone again and called security. “This is the DA. I want more details. Specifically, I want to know exactly what the threat is right now.”
He stood rigid; his voice never changed, but his gaze immediately zinged to Rhodes. “One gunman or two?”
After a few more harsh words, he hung up the phone. “Two gunmen were seen on the floor below us. Security was called by somebody who saw them on the elevator. The lower three floors have been emptied of employees. Only our security guards are left. We’re on the fifth floor. The gunmen were seen on the fourth. No sign of them now. Plus, there’s been no contact with or from them.”
Sienna slowly sat back down. “Is it me they’re after?” She waved her hand at the box of materials on the table. “Or the information you have?”
“Both prisoners, the kids, were taken downtown to lockup earlier. They left maybe an hour ago. But we did it on the sly. Just in case …” the DA said. “If that’s who they’re after, they are out of luck. If, however, they are after me, or even you two, … then it’s not so good for us.”
She glanced at Rhodes. “Are you armed?”
He shook his head. “I have weapons locked in the truck.”
“He wouldn’t have been allowed to bring them into the building,” Robert said. “Our security system wouldn’t let him pass through the metal detector if he’d been armed.”
“Well, it didn’t work then, did it?” she snapped. “Apparently we have two gunmen inside downstairs, while the good guys aren’t allowed to carry weapons to defend themselves.” She leaned her head back and rubbed her face gently. “I knew we shouldn’t have come inside.”
There wasn’t much anybody could say to her. Rhodes reached his hand down and grasped hers. “It’ll be fine.”
She opened her eyes and stared at him. “How the hell can you say that?”
“Because I’m getting you out of here.” He looked at the DA. “Both of you, you’re targets.” He glanced at the box of paperwork and laptop. “Do you have a place to lock that up safely?”
Robert hopped to his feet, walked to the side filing cabinets and opened the bottom one. They put the laptop in and pulled the paper out of the box, filling the drawer. He locked it up, pocketed the keys and left the empty box with the lid on the table.
With Rhodes ushering them both toward the door, they quickly moved through the series of offices.
Sienna glanced around as she walked. “It looks like most of the people have left already.”
“The offices closed a few minutes ago.”
“So maybe the gunmen wanted that to be the case.”
They shouldn’t have stayed for coffee.
Still it was too damn late. Like so much of her life. She couldn’t believe she was in this situation. Talk about going from shit to shit. Still, she trusted Rhodes. He’d saved her once; she figured he’d do it again.
Although that was a lot of pressure to put on one man. And no matter how good anybody was at any point in time, everyone’s luck ran out sometime.
*
This was not the end of the day he’d planned. It wasn’t even the afternoon he’d hoped for. They should’ve just left. In fact, she should’ve stayed in the vehicle and he could’ve come back down after delivering the box. But the world was full of should haves. Now they were stuck in the building with gunmen. And no way in hell those men weren’t after either Sienna, Robert, or both.
He wished he had his weapons though. He’d already have these two gunmen taken out. And Sienna’s safety was primary. He needed a weapon, which meant he had to take one off the gunmen. He opened the door to the hallway, calling back to Robert in a low whisper, “How many exits are there?”
“There’s the stairs and a service elevator. Plus, the three main ones.”
“Where’s the service one?”
“We can’t access it from here. Have to go to the floor below. This was an add-on to be a rooftop deck and God only knows, a garden, I guess. They decided to close it in for offices. So the service elevator only goes to the fourth.”
Rhodes turned and looked at him. “We have to take the stairs or the elevator down one floor so we can grab the service one?”
Robert nodded.
That was the stupidest of all stupid ideas. But Rhodes had certainly heard a lot worse. Development projects had construction issues, all covered up in a pretty layer of drywall and paint.
“Is it safe to leave?” Sienna asked behind him.
“The one thing you can count on is if they’re looking for you, they’ll go room by room. If we stay here, they would eventually find us.”
“I vote for escape,” Robert said.
“I do too.” Sienna added, “I have no intention of sitting here like livestock going to the slaughter. If they want a piece of me, then they’ll have to fight for it.”
As much as he liked her attitude, she didn’t have enough in her right now to make good on any threat.
“If there’s only two, they can’t cover all the elevators and stairs. If we get a chance to see just one, I’ll take him out and grab his weapon. That’ll even the odds somewhat. The intention is to take the stairs down as far as we can go. You ready?” He turned and looked at both of them. When he got a nod from each, he opened the door to the hall wider and slipped out. Quietly he motioned to the stairwell to the left. He raced toward it and pushed open the door. They were right behind him.
No sound came from below. He was taking a risk, but they had very few options. Moving as silently as they could, the three made it down one set of stairs. Still nobody. Rather than trying for an elevator, considering that Sienna was still strong enough to keep going down the other three flights, he moved them forward, and on they went down to the third, the second, and the first.
Something inside him said it was way too damn easy. At the main floor, he paused and looked through the glass window in the door, where he saw one of the security guards holding a weapon on the rest, who would normally be the last to leave after completing a full sweep of the building.
Shit. This was an inside job. Robert caught a glance at what was outside the window too. His gaze widened, and he shook his head. Rhodes immediately placed his finger to his lips and motioned them to continue down to the parking garage level. They had to get somewhere they could hide.
At least in the garage there would be vehicles. There was only one more floor. He was careful as he peered through the door window. He couldn’t see anybody. Taking a chance, he pulled it ajar slightly. No alarms went off.
He pulled it fully open and motioned the other two out ahead of him. They immediately raced to the first vehicle and crouched down beside it. He didn’t see anyone standing guard, so he joined them. He didn’t know how the underground system here worked, but there must be some kind of an open gate to enter and exit through. But they had to get there first. In the background, he heard something that made his blood chill.
“Did that door just open?” someone yelled too damn close by.
From the opposite side, on his right, came the answer.
“I didn’t see anybody come out.”
From the left again came someone speaking. “You’re supposed to stand there, keeping an eye out, making sure nobody escaped.”
“I was, remember? Then he sent me over to check out the ramp. Make sure nobody walked in or out.” The man’s voice was frustrated. “I can’t watch everything. What the hell are you doing?”
There was only silence to Rhodes’s left.
And Rhodes knew the man was on the move. He motioned for the others to stay low against the vehicle. He peered around the back of the car, his ear cocked, listening hard. He could hear footsteps approaching. Desperate to keep the gunman away from Sienna and Robert, he raced around the car to intercept him.
“What the—”
One solid blow to the throat and the gunman crumpled to his knees. Rhodes caught him as he pitched forward and slowly lowered the man to the ground. Rhodes pulled the semiautomatic weapon off his shoulder and slipped it over his own.
He crept forward to the front of the car and around to squat quietly beside Robert and Sienna.
“Hey, Jimmy, is that you?”
Damn. Rhodes had hoped for a minute’s window before the other guy realized his buddy was not answering. Still, Rhodes had a weapon now.
At the sound of running footsteps, he huddled at the front of the vehicle and waited. If he could take out both these assholes, that would give the SWAT team a chance to come in. They needed a clear entrance into the building.
He could see Robert had his phone out, sending a text, alerting the police probably. That was all fine and dandy, but Rhodes wanted these two out of here before the bloodshed started.
“Jimmy?”
Silence.
Rhodes’s muscles tensed as he waited. The second gunman’s footsteps slowed, and Rhodes heard the shifting of the weapon in his hands. But he no longer called for his friend. Rhodes heard the gunman’s footsteps coming closer, and he counted them off in his head. Three. Two. One. He stood up and fired. One single shot. The second gunman dropped, his weapon banging to the ground.
Rhodes raced over and kicked the second weapon free. One bullet to the upper shoulder, but he was unconscious and bleeding heavily. He dragged the gunman over to join his buddy, then went back and picked up the second weapon. Using his shoulder as a harness, he threw it over his back and went around to Robert and Sienna.
“That’s the two who were on guard down here,” he said. “Come on. We’ll head toward the ramp. With them down, that leaves law enforcement an avenue to get in.”
He ushered them quickly through the rows of parked vehicles to the exit. Up ahead he could see one single bar across the road. At least there was no floor-to-ceiling gate at the entrance. They should be able to get out without any trouble.
He pulled them back just as they were about to walk up. “We have to be careful, in case a sniper is out there.”
They both froze.
Sienna looked at him. “Is that likely?”
He shot her a look and said, “Would you have thought this building would’ve been taken over by gunmen? Was that likely?”
Robert made a single call. “We’re free down in the parking garage. We’ve taken out two gunmen watching this entrance. We’re standing by the ramp. Not sure if there’s any snipers to stop our escape. Vehicles can come in here. It’s clear.” And he hung up.
Two minutes later a SWAT vehicle came ripping through to the underground parking level. Several men jumped out and raced toward them, weapons raised. Rhodes held up his hands. Robert stepped forward and quickly explained.
As much as he didn’t want to, because they still weren’t free and clear, Rhodes quickly gave up the confiscated weapons. They were ushered as a group outside to the street level. There they were quickly moved around to the corner of the block where the police had a control center set up.
Sienna clung to Rhodes’s side. They were quickly checked over, and when he turned around, Robert was gone.
Realizing the SWAT focus would be on the building, he pulled Sienna farther back out of the way and said, “Feel like sneaking off and getting out of here?”
She looked up at him gratefully. “Can we?” She pointed at the front of the building. “Isn’t that where you parked?”
He stared over at the vehicle, then at the surrounding chaos. He made a fast decision. “Stay here.”
And he bolted for the truck.