The manfinallyreturned his eyes to his computer monitor, typed something else, and then reached down behind the counter and came back up with a keycard. He put it in some kind of device that was connected to his computer, hit another button, then took it out to slide across to Trixie.
“Please let us know if we can be of any further?—”
“Assistance! I will.” Trixie took the card and hurried away, leaving the employee to mutter to himself.
She really hoped she wasn’t too rude. There was no time to explain to the guy that it wasn’t him who was annoying her.
It was the idea that armed goons were positioned around the lobby, watching and waiting!
Thankfully no one else was in the elevator.
She rode up in silence, got out of the car, and then hurried down the hall. She nearly made a wrong turn. The hotel was vast and everything looked the same. It was a damn maze up there!
But she remembered the right path and arrived at her room quickly.
Holding the newly minted card to the black rectangle on her door, she was rewarded by an instant chirp and small green light. Once inside, she hurried to the nightstand, opened thedrawer, and reached up to feel the underside of the furniture’s top.
Her fingers scraped tape and then brass.
The key was still there.
She ripped it off, shoved it in her jeans pocket, and then hurried back to the door. But as soon as she opened it, she saw two men emerging from the room directly across the hall.
And she recognized them.
“Mother fudgesicles!” She followed up the exclamation by raising her right knee and crashing her foot into the first man’s groin.
“Oomph!” He turned green and doubled over before falling to his knees and grabbing himself.
Trixie didn’t bother to fight off the second guy. She was already down the hall, running toward the elevators. A loud retching sound behind her told her that first guy was throwing up.
Good, she thought with a triumphant grin.That’ll slow him down.Never breaking stride, she yelled over her shoulder, “I hope you trip on your friend’s barf!”
That would teach that second guy a thing or two.
Skidding to a stop at the elevator banks, she punched the down button frantically several times but didn’t wait around to board a car. Instead, she hit the nearby stairs.
They were probably watching the first floor, but most likely weren’t thinking about the fifth-floor pool and exit that led to the mall.
That would be her escape route.
She quickly discovered she was wrong. They must have anticipated her move, because three guys were waiting when she burst through the door from the stairwell. Only they were watching the elevators instead. So, Trixie was able to zoom pastthem, beyond the fitness center, and toward the double glass doors at the end of the corridor.
Eerie déjà vu swept over her. Hadn’t she just done this?
Only this time the guys chasing her were wise to her plan. There were probably more of them all around the Ovation Mall, just waiting for her.
Someone else anticipated her moves, too.
Daddy.
She saw John right as she barreled outside onto the rooftop pool deck.
It wasn’t even noon yet, so the pool wasn’t busy. There was just one old man sitting on a chaise lounge, talking to someone on his phone with the speaker on and volume off. Trixie couldn’t hear what he was saying and didn’t really care.
She just needed to get out of there with John!
The three men chasing her charged outside, too.
