Smokescreen

“What the hell does that mean?”

“She didn’t know but he started chanting Stella’s name softly. Then he grabbed Dana’s hand firmly and said tell Max to save her. It spooked her and she called me immediately.”

Laci whimpers and tears fill her eyes.

“Stella never leaves her phone, ever. But her whole purse is in the bedroom. Someone’s got her. We need to fucking find her! Every second we stand here talking is another second she’s in danger.”

Jake doesn’t question anymore but puts the phone to his ear and disappears out the door. I follow him and look around for anything out of the ordinary. A light buzzing sound coming from the elevator gets my attention and I push the button, hoping they are working again. When the door opens, my heart drops.

“What the fuck?” Jake hisses beside me.

A man in a room service uniform is lying on the floor with broken bottles surrounding him. H

is cart overturned. Jake reaches for his throat.

“He’s got a pulse.”

“Fuck!” I roar.

The second elevator opens and a man, whom I presume is the manager, walks out looking flustered. When his eyes land on the unconscious employee they grow wide and his face pales.

Before he can talk, I cut him off. “He’s alive but knocked out. I have reason to believe my fiancée was taken from this hotel less than ten minutes go.”

“What?” he asks in disbelief.

“I’m a U.S. Federal Agent and I need all video feed from the hallways, entrances, and exits for this hotel the last thirty minutes. Close all exits and don’t let anyone leave this building. And call an ambulance for this guy,” Jake barks and the man starts speaking into a walkie-talkie.

Within ten minutes, local and federal law enforcement swarms every floor, asking questions to see if anyone saw Stella. Jake, Laci, and I crowd around the video monitors in the security office. My fear consumes me as I watch the man posing as a room service waiter walk into our suite and roll his cart out a few minutes later.

“I don’t understand? Where’s Stella. She’s not with him,” Laci questions.

“Yeah, babe, he’s got her.”

“But where?”

“Laci, maybe you should go up to the room and wait for us,” I try to coax her. This isn’t going to be pretty and I’m barely hanging on.

“Never in a million years.”

“Sweet lips,” Jake says gently. “That’s not a cart he’s wheeling. It’s a box disguised with a white cloth.”

“But Stella would never get in there. She’s terrified of small spaces. She’d put up a fight.”

“Unless she was unconscious.”

Realization sinks in as Jake confirms what I already know. My girl would have been kicking and screaming. No way she’d let this man stuff her in a box. Laci inhales loudly and her body starts shaking.

No one speaks as we watch the kidnapper walk towards the back hallway and then disappear.

“What’s in this hallway?” I ask the manager behind us.

“That’s the service elevator. But we have no feed from that time period because our system went down.”

“Does that happen often?”

“Never. This is the first time. Actually the elevators were stalled for almost ten minutes.”

“Agent Freed?” an officer walks in holding a black device. “We found this in the hallway near Mr. McCoy’s room.”