Page 62 of Sinner's Salvation

“Are you...okay?” he asked in a whisper in her ear.

“Yes, are you?” she whispered back.

He pulled his head away from hers, just far enough for him to look down at her. He slowly lowered his head, his gaze locked on her lips.

She could stop him if she wanted to. She didn’t want to.

Their lips met in a slow soft slide that was less than a second away from turning into a raging forest fire when someone knocked on the door.

They pulled apart, looked at the door, then at each other.

He stepped back, looked at her, then paused. “I...uh, messed up your hair.”

She flashed him a grin and went into the bathroom to brush it out.

Evan opened the door, letting someone inside.

“Is my Mom ready?” Baz asked.

She poked her head out of the bathroom, still brushing her hair. “Almost.”

He studied her for a moment. “You look like you could be my younger sister.”

“Should I take that as a compliment?” she asked. She wasn’t sure how he meant that.

“Police and FBI have entered the hotel. They’re looking for Brian.”

“Just him?”

“So far.”

“Homeland isn’t with them?” Evan asked.

“Not so far. All their ID checked out, but I suppose one of the FBI agents could really be Homeland.” Baz waved at the door. “You two need to head to the safe room.”

Anna nodded and led the way to the closet. She opened the trapdoor to the safe room. She glanced at Evan.

He had a huge smile on his face. “Nice.”

The stairs descended into darkness, steep enough to treat them like ladder rungs. She started down, with Evan following right behind her.

The room below was pitch black, and she had to find the light switch by feel.

There it was.

She flipped it on and watched Evan’s reaction as he reached the bottom of the stairs.

He looked around the room, then focused on the twenty-four monitor screens on the far wall. Next to each screen was a card describing its location within the hotel.

Above them, Baz closed the hidden door.

“How do we turn this on?” Evan asked, gesturing at the screens.

There was a table with a couple of chairs in front of the screens. On the table were a couple of computers and a row of switches that looked like a power bar. She flipped one and all the screens came to life.

There was activity on all the screens. The lobby, elevators, parking garage, and public areas on the first three floors all contained people in some kind of uniform. There were a few in hotel security black, but they were outnumbered.

Anna took a seat and Evan sat in the other one.

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