Lure (27 page)

Though the grunt lowered his eyes for a quick glance, he quickly resumed his stoic stance and continued to cast his gaze over the rest of the lobby area, only occasionally stopping for quick glimpses of admiration at Sam and Maddie, who were doing everything they could to catch his attention.

"Did you ladies hear the evacuation order?"

"The what?" Sam asked with her best ditsy broad impression. She could tell that Maddie was having a hard time keeping a straight face, and she decided she better tone it down a bit, but then Maddie managed to drop her earbuds on the floor.

"Oops!" When she bent down to retrieve them, still dancing to the no longer playing music, none of the men could keep their eyes off of her. Even Sam felt her gaze being pulled in that direction; perhaps she should go easier on men in the future when their gazes wandered, there were times it was simply too much to resist.

"There is an evacuation order," Michael said, his face almost expressionless, though Sam could sense that his anxiety was increasing with each passing moment. Sam couldn't blame him, since she was starting to wonder how they were going to pull this off. They had assumed both men would still be near the reception desk, and they had no plan for distracting the second man who was keeping a keen eye on the exact doors Greg needed to sneak through.

"I don't want to leave," Sam said. "We were just headed to the beach."

"You're going to need to get to your car and get on the road," Michael said.

"Ut oh," Sam said with mock innocence. "I seem to have lost my keys. Would you like to help me find them?"

This moment proved to Sam that all men are men and no amount of training can change that. The grunt next to Michael couldn't help but stop and run his eyes over Sam.

"See?" Sam said. "No pockets!"

"If we're going to have to get on the road," Maddie said, "I'm going to need a drink. Maybe two. How far away do we have to go?"

"I don't know," Michael said. "Probably not too terribly far, but I know you won't be able to stay in the Lake Lure area. Everyone needs to be out of here by sundown. Including me."

"Oh, well in that case, we have plenty of time," Sam said with her most winning smile. Then she walked to the front doors and looked out, knowing what she would see. "Look at all the traffic out there! If we left now, we would just have to sit in traffic all day. We should wait until it gets dark and then leave."

Maddie had already made her way to the bar and had the bartender eating out of her hand. She leaned on the bar and shook her ass at the man watching the kitchen doors, or at least the man who
had
been watching the kitchen doors. Still, it wasn't enough. There was no way Greg would be able to slip past without the man seeing. After she acquired a free drink from the bartender, since she, too, had no pockets, Maddie walked over to the other man. "I'm going to the beach, but I need someone to put sunscreen on my back. Would you help me?"

Sam almost felt sorry for the man, who struggled to find words. He looked over at his companion, who was obviously in charge, and after the other man shook his head severely, he hung his head. "I'm sorry, ma'am. I have to stay here."

"Ma'am? Did you really just call me ma'am?" Maddie asked, leaning forward and almost forcing her bikini into structural failure. The younger man's eyes looked as if they might leave his head.

"I'm sorry, m—I mean, uh, miss. I just. I mean. I'm not at liberty to leave my uh, to leave here at the moment."

"How strange," Maddie said. "If you don't like me, all you have to do is say so." She wore a hurt and pouting expression that clearly tore at the man's heart, if not other parts of him. "He doesn't like me." Maddie said to Sam from across the room, looking as if she might cry. The younger man looked to the older man with a pleading look in his eyes. The older man looked annoyed but compassionate. He glanced down at his watch and with his fingers gestured two then zero. The younger man offered a look of extreme gratitude before he turned back to Maddie.

"It would be my honor to assist you, miss, but I only have a limited amount of time."

"Oh, goodie!" Maddie said, clapping her hands and bouncing up and down, which clearly mesmerized the younger man. She grabbed has hands and dragged him toward the stairs. "If we only have twenty minutes, though, maybe we should skip the sunscreen and just go up to my room."

The younger man was speechless, and Sam thought his superior officer actually looked a little jealous. Sam knew it was a warning to Greg, who was waiting on the stairs. Worried he might need a little extra time to get back to Shells' room to hide, Sam tried to think of what she could do to create a distraction, but Maddie was two steps ahead of her. She dropped her MP3 player on the floor in front of her, and without warning stopped in front of the younger man, bending down to pick it up. This caught the younger man off his guard, and he walked into Maddie's waiting rear end. His hands landed on her waist, and Maddie gave out a little squeal, and without standing up, turned to look back at the younger man with a look of surprise and pleasure. "Oh, my," she said. "You're a big boy, aren't you? And such strong hands."

It was everything Sam could do to keep a straight face, and it seemed the younger man couldn't get up the stairs fast enough. Sam doubted he would need the whole twenty minutes. They discussed such a possibility before enacting their plan, and Sam was confident that Greg would have hidden in Shells' room while Maddie would take the young man to her room. This meant that Sam would be responsible for distracting the other man and giving Greg the all-clear signal. At the moment she was at a complete loss, but the way the older man was looking at her made it clear that he was willing to work with her, and that at least gave her hope. Maddie's comment about the twenty minutes seemed to have given the older man reason for suspicion, and Sam knew she would need to think fast. If this man suspected that they knew he and the younger man were posted here as guards, it could put him on even higher alert.

Before he could think it through any further, Sam stepped up to him, rubbed up against him and whispered in his ear, "I think my top is going to fall off. Could you please help me?"

This broke what concentration the man had left and he just looked at her with something of a blank expression.

"It'll only take a minute," she said as she took him by the hand and pulled him down the hall that led to the spa. Once in the shadows beyond, Sam reached behind her and pulled the string. "Oops," she said.

The man looked at her appreciatively, and his hands were equally appreciative. Sam let out a loud gasp of pleasure, and she thought she heard Greg make his way down the steps. He was supposed to be quiet, but the sound was traveling, so Sam turned it up just a bit. A moment later, she gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Could you tie me up?" she asked with mock innocence, and the man looked as if he might melt. He did as she asked, and let his hand drift lower and gave her ass a squeeze before they walked back to they lobby.

"Ooh," Sam said with a wicked smile. "Why thank you."

"The pleasure was all mine."

Not long after they got back to the reception desk, Maddie and the younger man returned. Maddie looked quite satisfied with herself, though the young man was red in the face.

"Twenty minutes might have been overkill," Maddie said, and the young man flushed even deeper. "Don't be ashamed sweetie, you were almost more than I could handle." Her words might as well have called him inadequate, and he returned to his post quite sheepishly. "Shall we get some time at the beach before we evacuate?"

"That sounds good to me," Sam said, and they walked out the front doors with all three men watching them go. Once outside, they turned to the right and quickly made their way over the hot blacktop to the garage, hoping no one else was watching all that closely. Given some of the catcalls that came from traffic, it seemed unlikely; but that was a risk they would simply have to take. Going to the side door, they quickly slipped inside and found Greg and Shells waiting for them.

"It took you long enough," Shells said.

"I had a little something to take care of," Maddie quipped, and Sam couldn't help but laugh.

Chapter 16

Huddled within the carriage house, Sam and the others watched as the steady stream of traffic continued to flow out of Lake Lure. She wondered how many others would stay behind, and just how much the evacuation order would be enforced. The fact that what looked like National Guard vehicles were gathering along the shoreline did not bode well for leniency.

The late afternoon sun cast orange rays through the valley and across the surface of the lake. Despite the chaos, it was among the most beautiful things Sam had ever seen. In those moments, she felt insignificant in the face of nature's majesty. The mountains seemed to look down on them with something akin to tolerant patience, as if knowing they would remain when the people had long since faded away. It was a strange realization, and it put Sam in a reflective mood. She had to ask herself what difference her life made in the grand scheme of things, and she found no answers.

When Michael emerged from the tunnel entrance, which remained exposed, he didn't look happy. "You all need to get back into the tunnel until after dark. When the time has come for you to emerge, I'll come get you."

"Aw, c'mon, Mikey," Shells said. "I don't get any cell signal down there. I can't even check my email."

"And believe me when I say that's a very good thing," Michael said, his mood still dour. "Cell phones can be used to track your location. Especially ones with GPS, like the one you have. You would be best served by turning that thing off."

"If I have to go back into that nightmare of a tunnel, the least you can do is let me play some games or jam to some tunes, dude."

"Suit yourself, but at least consider putting that thing in airplane mode. I wouldn't put it past someone to put up a dummy cell tower to find out exactly who ignores the evacuation order. Do you want to be on a list with homeland security for the rest of your life?"

"I'm pretty sure she's already on a few lists," Greg said.

"Whatever," Shells said. "If I turn off my phone, can we just hide out up here? It's seriously funkin' down there, man. That place is a good place for a stick up."

"Light a match," Michael said. "If you stay up here, I can almost guarantee they'll haul you out of here. After all we've done to get this far, I'd rather not see that happen."

"Some of it wasn't all that bad," Maddie said, and Michael raised an eyebrow but didn't comment.

"Let's get back down there, then," Sam said, and no one in the group seemed enthused or in any real hurry to comply. "It'll be over soon enough. It's only a couple hours until dark."

"I'll close the door behind you and move the bench back in place," Michael said. "Let's get a move on. I don't want this tunnel discovered, remember?"

"Yeah, yeah," Shells said, reluctantly going back into the tunnel. "I'm telling you man, something crawled up your garage's ass and died. Damn it stinks down here. For real, yo. Straight up."

* * *

By the time Michael returned, Sam found herself in agreement with Shells. Most times, extended exposure to foul smells would desensitize the olfactory nerves, but it was as if the ground released new foulness over time.

Shells cast a dark look at Greg, whose stomach had been rumbling for much of the time. "Seriously, dude. I have one word for you: Beano."

"It wasn't me," Greg said. "This hole in the ground just stinks, that's all."

"Uh huh," Shells said. "Whatever you say."

Michael appeared to be in a much better mood, and he even smiled at Shells' remarks.

"What the hell are you smiling about?" Shells asked.

"Can't you feel it?" Michael asked. "The time is almost here."

Despite all the distractions, Sam could feel something. The pulling sensation she had experienced in the past seemed to be growing stronger, and the more she concentrated on it, the more intense the pull became. Maddie met her eyes and wordlessly communicated her agreement. Sam wondered a moment at Maddie's ability to communicate with her without saying anything. The two hadn't known each other for long, yet there seemed to be a connection between them that defied explanation; just as many things about this situation did.

"It's just about dark," Michael said, "and the military types are busy getting into position. By my calculations, they've got just a few more hours before the big show begins."

"Calculations?" Sam asked.

"There are some things I haven't told you," Michael admitted.

"Now there's a shocker," Shells said. "Spill it, Mikey."

There was a long moment of silence, as Michael looked each of them in the eyes, as if trying to decide if he could really trust them. Then with a long sigh, he settled himself into a comfortable position and seemed to be talking to himself more than anything else.

"Years ago," he began, "I was a respected astrophysicist."

"Bullshit," Shells said, and everyone else cast angry glances her way. "Fine. Fine. The manager of the Lake Lure Inn is an astrophysicist. I guess I can buy that."