Chapter 1 - THREE MINUTES BEFORE DARKNESS
“How do you know my name?”
Avery Sloan stood between two men dressed as waiters, her back pressed against a stainless-steel storage cabinet.
Elias Kincaid didn't look away from the man nearest the loading dock.
“Your name tag,” he said.
Avery glanced down.
The little brass rectangle was still pinned crookedly to her vest.
Of course.
She almost laughed.
Instead, she said, “Those men aren't waiters.”
“I know.”
The man behind her shifted.
Elias's eyes moved toward him.
“Don't.”
One word.
Quiet enough to be mistaken for ordinary conversation.
The man stopped.
Elias looked at Avery.
“Come toward me. Slowly.”
She hesitated.
He noticed.
“I believe you, Ms. Sloan.”
Something about that sentence made her move.
Not because she trusted him.
She didn't.
But he was the only person in the corridor who hadn't tried to kill her.
Avery took one step.
Then another.
The man behind her suddenly lunged.
Elias moved.
There was a violent collision against the metal shelving.
Avery stumbled sideways.
A security officer appeared from the kitchen and forced the attacker to the floor.
The second fake waiter ran toward the loading dock.
Another member of Elias's security team intercepted him.
Avery stood frozen.
Elias turned toward her.
“Are you hurt?”
She shook her head.
“Good.”
He touched the communication device in his ear.
“Gabriel. Confirm the guests are moving.”
A man's voice answered.
“East exits are open. Security has identified four suspicious staff members.”
Elias glanced at his watch.
10:39 p.m.
Avery saw the time.
Her stomach dropped.
“Elias.”
He looked at her.
“The lights.”
His expression hardened.
He took her hand.
“Stay with me.”
Then the entire hotel went dark.
The first sound was not a scream.
It was the enormous mechanical sigh of the ventilation system shutting down.
Then came darkness.
Complete.
Absolute.
For half a second, nobody moved.
Then somewhere beyond the kitchen, glass shattered.
A woman screamed.
Avery felt Elias's hand tighten around hers.
“Down.”
He pulled her behind a heavy preparation counter.
Footsteps thundered through the corridor.
Someone shouted.
A door slammed.
Avery pressed both hands over her mouth.
She could hear her own heartbeat.
Elias crouched beside her.
“Listen carefully.”
She turned toward his voice.
“The ballroom evacuation began before the power failed. My people are moving everyone toward the exterior exits.”
“What about Lucy?”
“Who?”
“The banquet assistant. She's nineteen. She was near the east wall.”
Elias spoke into his radio.
“Gabriel, locate a young banquet assistant named Lucy. East side.”
A pause.
“Understood.”
Avery stared at him.
He had remembered.
In the middle of a coordinated attack, he had remembered the name of a girl he'd never met.
Then a gunshot cracked through the darkness.
Avery flinched.
Elias immediately positioned himself between her and the corridor.
Another shot.
A scream.
Then the emergency lights flickered on.
Red.
Dim.
Unsteady.
Elias looked toward the kitchen doors.
“Stay behind me.”
Avery grabbed his sleeve.
“Wait.”
He turned.
She swallowed.
“Crowe knows you received the warning.”
Elias's expression changed.
“How?”
“Because the man who tried to take me downstairs was watching me after I passed you the note.”
Elias looked toward the corridor.
Then back at her.
“Did Crowe see you?”
“I don't know.”
He was silent for a moment.
Then said, “That changes things.”
Avery stared.
“What does?”
Elias looked into her eyes.
“Tonight wasn't only an attempt to kill me.”
His voice lowered.
“Someone wanted to make sure the person who warned me disappeared too.”
At 10:47 p.m., Gabriel reported that most guests had reached protected exits, while emergency responders were taking control of the scene.
Several people were injured.
One hotel employee had been seriously hurt.
The attackers had failed to trap the ballroom as planned.
But Warren Crowe was gone.
And so was Lieutenant Mason Rourke.
Elias listened to the report without speaking.
Then he looked at Avery.
“You saved lives tonight.”
She shook her head.
“I just wrote a note.”
“No.”
His voice was firm.
“You made a decision when everyone else was in danger.”
Avery looked down at her shaking hands.
“I was terrified.”
Elias studied her.
“Courage usually starts there.”
Then his phone vibrated.
A message appeared.
No sender.
Just a photograph.
Avery's apartment building in Ravenswood.
Underneath it were four words.
WE KNOW WHERE SHE LIVES.
Elias turned the screen away.
Too late.
Avery had already seen it.
Her breath caught.
“My cat.”
Elias blinked.
“What?”
“My cat is home.”
For the first time that night, Elias Kincaid looked genuinely surprised.
Then he said, “What's his name?”
“Milo.”
Elias reached for his phone.
“Gabriel. Send someone to Ms. Sloan's apartment. Secure the building and check on a cat named Milo.”
Avery stared at him.
Elias met her eyes.
“Anything else?”
She swallowed.
“My electric bill is on the kitchen counter.”
He looked at her.
May you like
Despite everything, a faint smile appeared.
“Let's survive tonight first, Ms. Sloan.”
