Ratio: A Leopold Blake Thriller (A Private Investigator Series of Crime and Suspense Thrillers) (29 page)

“Soon, I promise,” said Leopold, the clattering noise in the background worse than ever. “Just keep your door locked. We’re sending an agent to find Jerome and get up there. Secret Service has Jack. What’s your status? Any unwelcome guests?”

“Taken care of,” she said with a sigh. “Unconscious, bound, and needs a trip to the hospital.”

Leopold chuckled. “You are full of surprises, aren’t you, Doctor? What happened?”

“He got into the room and…never mind. Just get me out of here. I’m done with this weekend. Along with tropical Hawaii, the Great Northwest is getting taken off my list of vacation destinations.”

“All in due time. But first, there’s a new development. Doctor, we’ve got a second threat against the building.”

“Will you please stop calling me Doctor?”

“Fine, but you need to answer something,” Leopold told her. “Did the man up there with you speak English?”

“Yeah, why?”

“With an accent?”

“No, with a generic American accent.”

“What does he look like?” Leopold asked. 

“Actually, I think he might be a security guard or something. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen him before. Normal-looking guy. White, maybe six-one. Middle-aged. He’s got a major grudge against Jack.”

“Okay.” Leopold paused. “Two foreign men that fit the descriptions from this morning’s bomb scare were apprehended earlier today. One of them is dead, but the other indicated there’s another threat to the building. We think it might be gas.”

June frowned. “Gas, like in natural gas? Just have someone turn it off.”

“No. Gas as in sarin gas. Rigged up to the ventilation system.” He sighed. “Actually, I’m staring at the detonator right now.”

June looked up at the open duct only a few feet in front of her. She felt her pulse quicken. “Don’t tell me. No one knows how to disarm it, right?”

“Looks like a PIN code deactivation,” Leopold said. “But without a conscious suspect to interrogate, we’re shit out of luck.” 

“Great. And I can’t get out,” June muttered, trying to ignore the panic building in her chest. “I’m in lockdown.”

“You and a couple hundred other people.”

“You guys have police and fire department down there, why not get people out?”

“We’re trying. It looks like we’ve got a pretty severe bottleneck. With all the rooms booked out for the conference, the hotel is at full capacity. We don’t think we can get everyone out and to a safe distance in time.”

June looked up at the unconscious man on her bed. “What about the guy I’ve got up here? Maybe he knows something.”

“Unlikely.” 

“How do you know?”

“If he’s in the hotel right now, he’s not involved.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

A deep breath. “I was hoping I wouldn’t have to tell you this,” said Leopold. “But the detonator is counting down.”

June swore. “How long?”

“Around six minutes.”

June swore again. 

“Seattle Police and Fire Departments are doing the best they can. We’ve got around half the people out, but it’s complete mayhem down there. At least we got Jack into Secret Service’s hands.”

“So, what about me and the other guests locked in here?” June asked.

“We’re working on it.”

June got up and walked over to the bed. “This guy I’ve got said he couldn’t find anyone else on the seventh floor. I guess the housekeeper split.” She felt his pulse again. His breathing sounded a little stronger.

“Mariel’s gone?” 

“Looks like it.”

“Okay, we’ll deal with that later. In the meantime, try to find out what you can if your guest decides to wake up. Jerome should be with you any moment to get those stairwell barriers out of the way. We can get you downstairs.”

“Lot of good that’ll do if I can’t get out the lobby.”

“Just pray we get it cleared in time. I’ve got to go.” Leopold hung up. 

June went back to the bedroom for a blanket and pillows. She fluffed the pillows and tried ramming one under the man’s head to prop it up, trying to keep his airways open. She stuck the second pillow behind his back, and then draped the blanket over him. After, she limped off for a bottle of water, returning to sit on the bed, her heart still pounding.

Chapter 53

JONNY HAMMERED ON the door. The staff room on the third floor was locked. The PA system had announced the evacuation a few moments ago, and the hallway was deserted. Everyone had headed for the lobby, taking their chances. Jonny didn’t like his odds. Not with the police zeroing in, not with Kanezaki stalking around the hotel somewhere. He swore out loud and slapped both palms against the door. Rattled the handle, slammed his shoulder against the wood. The door didn’t budge. 

Movement behind him, and Jonny whipped around. A figure appeared at the top of the stairs, moving fast. Tall, muscular, dressed in jeans and a leather jacket.

Kanezaki.
 

Jonny froze. Kanezaki saw him, locked eyes with his. Started running toward him. 

“Hey, I was just –”

Kanezaki crossed the distance between them fast. He grabbed Jonny by the jacket, forcing him up against the door. 

“You got five minutes to make good on your end,” Kanezaki said. He was close enough that Jonny could smell his breath. 

“It’s not that simple,” Jonny said, struggling to keep his nerves in check. “I’m trying to find Mariel. She was supposed to check on Kato.”

“I don’t give a shit.” Kanezaki pulled something from his jeans pocket. A small ceramic knife. The blade looked impossibly sharp. He held it up against Jonny’s throat.

Jonny tensed. Felt something warm and wet down below, trickling down his legs. He closed his eyes, feeling hot tears welling up behind the lids. Lips quivering, he forced himself not to move. Couldn’t risk cutting himself. 

“You gonna do something about it?” Kanezaki said, pushing the blade into Jonny’s throat a little harder. 

“K-Kato should still be upstairs. W-would have seen her leave with M-Melendez. Wh-what do you want me to do?” 

“Way I see it, you’ve got one chance of making it out this hotel alive,” Kanezaki said. “Make it happen.” He pulled away, took a few steps back.

Jonny slumped against the door, gasping for air. “Wh-where are you going?”

Kanezaki folded the knife and slipped it back into his pocket. “I’m getting the hell out of here. I have people posted at all the exits. We’ll pick you up when you’re done. If you fail, you know what’s gonna happen.” Kanezaki turned and walked away, disappearing back down the stairs. 

Jonny collapsed to his knees. Without Mariel, he had no idea whether Kato was in position. The bitch had bailed on him. After all they’d been through. He felt light-headed, struggling to breathe. The muscles in his arms tingled and his chest tightened. His vision spun, nausea welling up inside his stomach.  

He threw up, barely keeping it off himself. He leaned against the wall for support, taking deep breaths. The worst of it had passed. Feeling a little better, he forced his mind to clear. The only choice left was to either take Kato out, or get past Kanezaki’s thugs and escape the city. The odds were stacked against him either way, but the latter option seemed more plausible. 

All he needed was a distraction. 

Jonny fumbled in his pockets for his cell phone. Found the program that activated the detcord. Stared at the screen. 

No signal. 

Shit.
 

He forced himself up onto his feet. Shaking a little, he stumbled over to the window. It overlooked the parking lot. Tried the latch. Locked. He held the phone up against the pane. 

Come on, come on…

The detonators stuffed inside the pillows had a range of several hundred feet, but Jonny needed a cellular connection to send the command. He angled the screen toward him. Stared at the signal indicator in the top corner. 

Just one bar. Just one Goddamn bar.

Movement below. The fire trucks were on the scene, holding a loose perimeter. The vehicles streamed past, heading for the main entrance. More sirens followed, police and paramedics. Jonny’s eyes flicked back to the cell phone. His heart skipped a beat.

Yes! 

A single bar of signal was all he needed. Quickly, he activated the program and punched in the code Kanezaki had given him. For some reason, he’d insisted on a specific sequence of numbers. It hadn’t seemed important at the time. 

Jonny sucked in a deep breath. Everything was going to work out. The detonation, even if it didn’t take out Kato, would distract everyone enough for Jonny to slip out one of the exits without the police or paramedics noticing. The escape route Mariel had mapped out for him led to one of the side alleys, where Kanezaki would never think to look. With all the pillows on the seventh floor stuffed with explosives, the combined noise would be audible all through the building. The fire alarms would go off, maybe the sprinkler systems too. There might even be a dead body to sweeten the deal. By the time the dust settled, Jonny would be halfway across Seattle. 

His cell phone buzzed. The code had been accepted. All he needed to do now was confirm the command. He checked his watch. Three-fifty-seven p.m. A little earlier than planned, but no matter.  

Jonny smiled and hit “send.”

Chapter 54

JUNE’S GUEST WAS waking up.

“How ya feelin’?” she asked.

The intruder blinked hard and groaned. “What’d you do to me?” 

“Feeling some pain?”

“Screw…you.”

“Yeah, well, you hang onto that thought for a while,” she said, checking for messages on her phone. “I got news for you. While you’ve been out, someone discovered there’s a bomb somewhere in the hotel. Loaded up with sarin gas. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you?”

“Get me out…of here…”

“Not so easy.” She set her phone aside and smiled at him. “The hotel is in full evacuation right now. But, unfortunately, we’re stuck up here.”

His eyes rolled closed again.

She gave him a nudge with her good foot. His eyes popped open. 

“Wh-what time is it?”

June checked her watch. “Three-fifty-six,” she said. “Why, you got somewhere to be?”

He coughed. “Not any more.” 

“I’m supposed to feel sorry for you?” 

“I’m injured. Help me,” he mumbled, spitting the last of the words out. 

“You shot at me. What do you expect, a Valentine card?”

The intruder looked up. “All I wanted was Jack, not you.”

June took a few steps back, settled herself in the chair near the dresser. “Well, you go after Jack, you go after me,” she said. “Where I come from, we protect the people we love.” The words stung as she said them. She tried not to let it show.

“What’s that noise?” the man said. 

“What noise?” June tilted her head. 

“Some kind of beeping.” 

“I don’t hear anything.” She stood up. 

“I can hear something near my head. What the hell have you –”

He never got to finish. A blinding light filled the room and June hit the floor, clasping her hands over her ears as a deafening
crack
reverberated through the air. Head spinning, June crawled on her elbows and found cover underneath the bed, screwing up her eyes. Alarm bells sounded, a piercing noise that rattled June’s skull. 

This is it
, she thought.
We’re too late. 

The smell of plaster dust filled the room. Something else too, a chemical odor she didn’t recognize. June opened her eyes. A thin veil of smoke hung in the air. White feathers were falling to the carpet, drifting slowly. Some of them were tinged with red. 

That’s never a good sign
.

June crawled out from her hiding place and got to her feet. Another scent hit her nostrils, something musky with a metallic edge to it. Like steak gone bad. Her eyes drifted down to the bed.

Holy shit
.

The bedsheets had been ripped to pieces, throwing up stuffing and feathers. Where the intruder had been propped up, just a twisted mess of tangled flesh remained. Slick and red, what was left of the sheets was stained crimson and black. The explosion must have ripped him in half; his legs were still intact, his feet still tied to the bedposts, but the rest of him…