Ramona input the door code,but instead of the door clicking open, the keypad beeped three times.
“Sorry,” Ramona said.
She entered the code in again, and again the pad beeped thrice.
She glanced at Sofia. “Can you do it?”
“Me?” Sofia said.
“I’m still a little shaken up from earlier.”
“I, uh, I don’t, um…”
“Is there a problem?” Stone asked.
Ramona hesitated before saying, “We just moved in a couple of weeks ago.”
“Yeah,” Sofia said quickly. “And I keep forgetting the code.”
“Me, too, apparently.”
“Do you have it written down somewhere?” Stone asked.
Ramona’s eyes brighten. “Yes!”
She opened her purse and pulled out a piece of paper on which several numbers were written. She tapped the keypad again, and this time the door buzzed.
She pulled it open and smiled. “I won’t forget next time.”
They entered and crossed the small lobby to a hallway at the back.
“The elevator’s this way,” Ramona said with a gesture, and turned to the right.
Stone followed and was surprised to find himself in what must have been a maintenance hallway. Before he could say anything, a door they’d just passed swung open and two large men stepped out.
One grabbed Stone by the arms, clamping them against Stone’s sides, while the other watched.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Stone protested.
“Thank you, ladies,” the watching one said. “We’ll take it from here.”
Ramona gave Stone a worried look and mumbled, “Sorry.”
Sofia snagged Ramona’s arm and pulled her farther down the hallway. “Let’s get out of here.”
They disappeared down an adjoining hallway that headed back toward the front of the building.
Stone twisted free from one of the man’s hands, then turned and kneed the guy in the crotch. The man’s other hand fell away as he groaned in pain.
“You son of a bitch!” he hissed, voice strained.
Stone raced down the corridor, in the direction Ramona and Sofia had gone. A beat later, he heard footsteps pounding the cement behind him, coming fast.
Stone had almost reached the hallway the women had taken when a giant mitt of a hand slapped down on his shoulder, spun him around, and smashed into the side of his face.
Stone stumbled into a wall, and the thug punched himin the gut. Air rushed out of Stone’s lungs. He sagged to the floor, dazed.
He felt hands patting him down, and one pulling something out from one of his pockets.
