Dangerous Conceit by Ali Lee
Chapter 52
Rafa marched to the elevator and punched in the button. It did not light. He punched it again, hitting it repeatedly in frustrated fury, afraid of what happened above. Then he jerked his boot back and kicked the elevator, barely making a dent. He could not believe what was happening and ran to the stairway, reaching for his phone to call Lexi. It was no surprise; Lexi did not answer. Nobody would answer their phones today.
He forced his legs higher, skipping three and four stairs at a time. Two floors above, he flung open the door and raced to the front. Hell had broken loose in the lobby. People who prided themselves in staying calm nearly ran over him.
“Listen, everyone!” he shouted to the panicked crowd. “You need to leave the building in an orderly fashion. You remember those fire drills you had in school? There will be no screaming. No knocking people over. Keep your heads up and stay calm.” He ordered and turned to the frightened receptionist who stood behind the counter.
“What happened?”
“I…I don't know.” She pointed up. “There was a loud booming sound from above us. It made the chandeliers shake so bad, I thought they were going to crash down. I already called 911.”
Rafa nodded and pulled out his phone. He did not know who to call. Nobody would answer their phones.
“What do you need me to do?” A voice came from behind. It was the last person who Rafa expected to see.
“Miguel?” He looked at Miguel confused for being there.
“I had a meeting with Angelo about the new cruise ship I bought. I'm sure you knew.”
“Right.” Rafa nodded his head, thankful for some reinforcement at a time like this. “I'm sorry about Bianca. I didn’t mean to cause shit with you. I hope you can get over that.”
Miguel looked away. The mention of his sister aggravated him. “Yes, it would’ve been nice if you’d taken Bianca off my hands; then she wouldn’t still be a pain in my ass. But I asked what you need me to do here?”
“I can’t get Angelo on the phone, and my wife’s on the eighteenth floor. Three of our men are up there too. I have to get up there.”
“Okay,” said Miguel.
“I need you to,” Rafa looked around and pointed. “Stay calm and do not run!” A few guests still did not understand the word order. “I need you to evacuate the hotel. Have the receptionists call all the rooms and tell the guests to leave. Make sure the receptionists stay calm. Then they need to set up rooms for the guests in other hotels. Do you have any men with you?”
Miguel snapped at two who waited near the door. “I have Isaac and Andres. My brothers are outside. What do you want them to do?”
“I need them to stand at the stairwells…make sure no one tramples each other. The elevators are out of order. When the ambulances get here, send them up.”
“Done.” Miguel turned around and started dictating orders to the women behind the counter as Rafa ran to one of the stairwells, one that led to the floor Lexi was on. He needed to climb over a dozen flights to make it to Lexi and sprinted up the first four.
“What’s happening?” a man asked on his way down. It was the first guest who Rafa passed.
“We don’t know yet but we’re on it,” Rafa said but was not sure how much control of the situation they actually had. “Be careful on your way down.”
Rafa climbed the rest of the stairs, far too anxious to feel worn out. He stopped at the door to the eighteenth floor and paused, not knowing what to expect; then he entered the hall.
Dust. Debris. An explosion left a looming cloud almost too thick to breathe. Rafa started to move forward but hesitated; he could not see past two feet in front.
“Alexis!” he coughed, unable to wave a clear path in front of his face. “Alexis!” He would not be able to save anybody if he could not find a way to ventilate. Rafa fumbled for his master key, entering the nearest door he touched.
The air was clear in the room and he ran to the balcony, hurrying to slide the glass door across. If he could open all the doors, the dusty air would disperse and he could start looking for Lexi and Brett.
Within three minutes, Rafa opened six rooms on the floor. Finally, the hazy fog started to lift and Rafa could see much further ahead. He stepped over fallen pieces of sheetrock and shredded timbers from doorframes that got worse the closer he walked to his room.
Something soft hit his boot. He looked. It was Sammy with a large bleeding wound in his neck. A segment of wood lodged in his throat.
Rafa bent down to feel his pulse, knowing there was no way he survived. Then he closed his eyes and laid a hand on his forehead, silently thanking him for the time he gave. His life was not for nothing. He would be vindicated.
Rafa had no time to mourn. He moved forward though he felt the dread of what would come. It was all happening too fast to cope with; the pain in his chest grew stronger when he ran into another body not far from where Sammy lay. It was Thomas. Thomas was about to leave the bottles behind the bar and step up in rank, but hard metal was scattered around him, his body sprawled limp on the hard floor. Rafa knew he was dead before he ever made sure.
Rafa rubbed his face, terrified of what he would find next. If two men did not survive so close to his room, what would he find in the room itself?
He approached. His room no longer had a door. There were no more walls but a large gaping hole. He instantly started pulling away ruined beams and waste, careful not to touch any loose wires that dangled and sparked against the other. The room suffered major structural damage. It would amaze him to find anyone alive at all.
“Lexi? Brett?” he called, almost whispering, too afraid to consider the possibility as he fully entered the room. His eyes looked all around; thick residue covered every inch, making it difficult for him to see. Rafa resorted to feeling instead.
“Rafa.” His name was called from the other end of the room. “We’re over here,” Brett managed to say but his voice sounded too faint to be all right.
“Brett.” Rafa started shoving litter out of the way, unconcerned with being careful now that he knew where they were. When he saw them, it took every bit of self-control not to panic, not to show Brett that their injuries fazed him in the least.
“You had to get happy with explosives, didn't you?” Rafa said to lighten the sight of the bleeding hole in Brett's stomach.
“You,” Brett started, letting out a strangled cough. “You should have been here to see the show. Maybe for the next one.”
“Typical.” Rafa cracked a smile but yanked off his buttoned shirt and pressed it to Brett's wound. “Yeah, I’ll definitely be here for the next one.” Then he turned to Lexi who showed no signs of being alive.
“She's un”—Brett coughed again, trying to get a breath—“She’s unconscious. She has a pulse.”
Rafa felt; her heart barely beat but she was alive. “Brett…” Rafa still held his shirt against his injured abdomen. Brett did not answer. “Shit!”
Rafa looked around and held his head with his other hand. No word from Angelo. Members were dead. Lexi was unconscious and Brett passed out. It was as if time stood still and launched him in the center of a chaotic mess. Rafa was so close to the moment that he could hardly think. How could he think when the woman he loved was on the verge of death?
He leaned down and kissed her cheek. Her normal coloring was gone. All he could do was touch her body and hope she opened her eyes. The impact from the blast must have caught her off guard. Her sleeping body made her completely susceptible to its wrath.
“I figured you needed help.” Miguel stepped in and approached to assist.
“Thank you.” Rafa lifted his hands and let Miguel take over with Brett while he examined Lexi.
“Do you know who's responsible for this?” Miguel asked.
“I don’t even know anymore.” Rafa breathed out the answer, trying to ignore the pain of it all.
“And that’s your wife?”
“Angelo sprung a wedding on us yesterday. What a great honeymoon this turned out to be.”
“Then Angelo approves.”
Rafa nodded. “Not many people know, not even her. She's Angelo's sister. All this happened out of revenge for Antonio.”
“Angelo's father?” Rafa confirmed with a nod. “How deep does this go?”
Rafa gave a glance up before focusing his attention on Lexi's neck. “The governor.”
“Well, that explains a lot.”
“Why are you endorsing me, by the way?” Rafa asked as he sat on the floor, holding Lexi's head close. He wanted to make conversation, anything to keep his mind off the impending thoughts entering his mind. Where were the damn paramedics?
“Why? Because that bastard is trying to shut me down. I’ve gotten health code violations, structural warnings and once, he evacuated my entire ship because I didn't have a qualified captain. The hell I didn't. Pearson was pissed off because I wouldn't endorse him as governor. I have never endorsed anyone in politics…well, until now.”
The EMT's came running down the hallway, checking all the rooms until they got to the right one. Since Brett seemed worse, they compressed his wound and put him on a stretcher first. After they carried him out, Rafa helped them with Lexi.
“Be careful with her.” He pointed at one of the paramedics. “She’s not a rag doll.”
The caretakers were being gentle but Rafa would take no chances. “I'm riding with her.”
He started to stand, followed by Miguel; then he heard the alarming ring of his phone.
“Hello… Yes, what did you find?”
As the other end began to relay information, Rafa leaned against the dusty wall, needing support to take it all in. The phone nearly slipped from his hand. It took amazing strength to keep it to his ear. He could hear Lily screaming and Ella trying to calm her down. Angelo said nothing at all, where normally he would dictate orders at a time like this, yet the boss said nothing. Not a word.
He should have heard someone else in the background. A child he knew he would hear unless she was asleep. For the first time in his life, Rafa felt lightheaded, unable to process the news. As he hung up, he simply dropped his phone to the floor and covered his forehead with his hand.
“Hey,” Miguel called but Rafa could not have heard a gunshot in that moment. He looked at the floor, at what used to be the lush cream carpet now covered with layers of debris. His body was on the verge of completely shutting down. Again, Rafa questioned himself, feeling the full effects of self-loathe. Was he strong enough to keep them safe?
He snorted and watched them carry Lexi away; his mind leaped to some other place, a place where his wife and child were safe within the confines of his home. Reality was bound to creep back in though. Miguel reared his fist back and punched his face, knocking Rafa away from the wall.
“Son of a bitch!” Rafa became defensive in a second. His arm raised high; Miguel did not have time to duck. Instead, he knocked Miguel to the ground. “Do it again!” Rafa demanded, hoping Miguel would fight back, not knowing why he hit him in the first place. Rafa wanted to get out some frustration.
“God almighty, you’re quick.” Miguel gave him a menacing look. “Are you better now? Have you snapped out of your self-pity?”
“Fuck off.” Rafa picked up his phone.
“Good! I pissed you the hell off. Now tell me what happened so I can help you out.”
“What happened? You want to know what happened? My boss has four bullets through his body. He's not responding. Two of our men are dead out there.” He pointed out of the room. “Brett passed out. My wife is in a coma. And to top it off,” his body started to grow numb again as he looked at Miguel with the most desperate expression he ever gave. The unbearable pain further fueled his rage.
“They took Maura. They took my baby girl.”