CHAPTER 3 – THE STAIRWELL
CHAPTER 3 – THE STAIRWELL
The first gunshot echoed through the Regency Crown Hotel.
The second sent guests screaming.
By the third, the grand ballroom had dissolved into chaos.
Crystal glasses shattered across the marble floor. Executives ducked beneath tables. Security guards rushed toward the emergency exits, each receiving conflicting orders through their earpieces.
Michael didn't wait.
He slammed through the emergency stairwell door and took the steps three at a time.
"Mr. Harrington!" someone shouted behind him.
He ignored them.
Nothing existed except one thought.
Emily. Sophie.
Twenty floors above, the hotel hallway had become a battlefield.
Emily stumbled backward, clutching Sophie so tightly that the little girl could barely breathe.
The second man lunged for the child.
Emily twisted just enough that his fingers caught only the blanket.
It slipped free.
Sophie cried louder.
"No!" Emily screamed.
She drove her knee into the man's stomach.
Years of fear had taught her one thing.
If they took Sophie...
She would never see her daughter again.
The man doubled over.
Emily sprinted toward the fire exit.
Behind her came pounding footsteps.
"They're heading downstairs!"
"Don't let her reach security!"
Inside the suite, the first masked intruder pressed a hand against his bleeding shoulder.
He calmly touched the hidden microphone near his collar.
"Target is escaping."
A voice answered through static.
"Dead or alive?"
A pause.
Then a woman's voice.
Cold.
Elegant.
Recognizable.
"Alive if possible."
Victoria Harrington.
"But bring me the child."
Michael reached the twenty-third floor just as terrified hotel guests flooded into the stairwell.
"What happened?"
"There were gunshots!"
"Someone has a gun!"
He pushed past everyone.
"Move!"
His phone buzzed again.
This time, a live GPS signal.
Emily's emergency bracelet.
Moving.
Descending.
Floor Twenty-Two.
Twenty-One.
Twenty.
She was running.
Thank God.
Then...
The signal suddenly stopped.
Michael froze.
"No..."
Emily burst through another stairwell door.
She had no idea where she was going.
Only away.
Only forward.
Sophie clung to her neck, sobbing uncontrollably.
Behind them...
The men gained ground.
One pulled out a pistol fitted with a suppressor.
Pfft.
The bullet struck the concrete wall inches from Emily's head.
Dust exploded into her face.
Another shot.
Pfft.
The railing shattered.
Emily slipped.
Her foot missed the edge of a step.
She fell.
Rolling down nearly half a flight while shielding Sophie with her own body.
Every impact slammed into her ribs.
Her shoulder.
Her spine.
She didn't let go.
Not once.
On the nineteenth floor...
An elderly hotel housekeeper heard the cries.
Without hesitation, she shoved her cleaning cart across the stairwell doorway.
Just as the gunmen rounded the corner.
The heavy cart crashed into them.
Buckets, chemicals, towels and metal poles scattered everywhere.
"What the—"
Emily looked back.
The elderly woman smiled.
"Run, sweetheart."
One gunman shoved the woman so violently she struck the wall.
Her forehead split open.
Still...
She grabbed his ankle.
"You'll have to go through me."
He kicked her away.
Hard.
Emily watched in horror.
"I'll call the police!" the housekeeper shouted.
The gunman raised his weapon.
Before he could fire—
The emergency stairwell door exploded inward.
Michael.
He tackled the shooter with enough force to send both men crashing through the railing.
Steel twisted.
Concrete cracked.
For one terrifying second...
Both disappeared over the edge.
Emily screamed.
"Michael!"
Silence.
Then—
A hand grabbed the broken railing.
Michael.
Dangling six stories above the lobby.
The gunman clung to his leg, dragging him downward.
Michael looked up.
Their eyes met.
For the first time in two years...
Husband and wife truly saw each other.
"I'm here," he whispered.
Emily collapsed to her knees.
The gunman pulled a knife.
"If I'm falling..."
"...you're coming with me."
Michael punched him across the face.
The knife slipped.
It spun through the open stairwell.
Down.
Down.
Down.
Until—
It struck the marble lobby below.
Guests scattered in terror.
Security officers finally arrived.
They pulled Michael back over the railing.
The gunman wasn't as fortunate.
His grip failed.
He plunged nearly twenty stories.
The sickening impact echoed throughout the hotel.
Silence followed.
Then...
The surviving masked man disappeared before anyone could stop him.
Michael rushed to Emily.
Neither spoke.
Neither cried.
He simply wrapped his arms around Emily and Sophie together.
For a moment...
The world disappeared.
"I'm sorry," he whispered.
Emily shook her head.
"No."
"You came."
Across the street...
Inside a black SUV.
Victoria Harrington watched the reunion through binoculars.
Her expression remained calm.
Almost bored.
Beside her sat an older man with silver hair.
Dr. Andrew Bennett.
The same dentist who had identified Emily's "remains."
He swallowed nervously.
"They survived."
Victoria never looked away from the hotel.
"I expected that."
"You... did?"
"They needed hope."
The doctor frowned.
"I don't understand."
Victoria smiled faintly.
"You will."
May you like
She picked up another phone.
"Release Phase Two."
