Page 49 of Close Encounters of the Sexy Kind
Chapter Twenty-One
The scene was surreal. A black shell, charred and smoking, rose from the rubble where Tiberius’s club used to be. An entire section of the western wall, where the bar had been, was completely gone. Smoke and dust filled the air. Lights flashed and cut through the haze from cop cars, ambulances, and fire trucks.
Ryan pushed through the crowd of curious onlookers then dipped beneath the police tape.
A beat cop off to her left saw her approach and waved. “Detective Winslet.”
“What have we got, Dominguez?”
“Initial reports from eye witnesses say that the place just exploded. The club was mostly empty, except for some daytime staff. Firefighters were able to get the blaze under control pretty quickly after arriving.”
“Any casualties?” Ryan asked, her heart in her throat.
The detective nodded, his gaze going behind her and to the left.
Looking over her shoulder, Ryan could see a trio of long, black body bags on the ground.
“Got a few, but no IDs yet. Staff who didn’t make it out in time, most likely. The rest of the injuries are minor. The EMTs are having a look at them now.”
Ryan’s stomach clenched at the sight of the bags. She refused to think about who they might contain, not yet.
Dominguez then pointed to the open back of one of the ambulances where Ryan saw a familiar face. It was the man who had escorted her to and from Tiberius’s office! He was sitting there with an oxygen mask over his face.
Ryan thanked the detective then sprinted to the ambulance. She skidded to a stop in front of the behemoth, who was nearly as wide as the emergency vehicle.
He looked at her, his eyes widening in both recognition and hope. “Detective Winslet.”
“Are you all right?”
He pulled the mask from his face. “Yeah. We were in the process of evacuating the building when the place blew.”
“Evacuating? Why?”
The man looked left and right before answering, lowering his voice. “Q got wind of something; said we had to get everyone out ASAP.”
“And Tiberius?”
“Took off; said he was going to find you and make sure you were safe. He didn’t find you?”
A wave of relief rushed through her. “No, I must have missed him. Where’s Q now?”
“I don’t know,” he said, his voice thick. “Last time I saw him, he was still inside. Said he wanted to make sure everyone was out. I’m not sure if he was caught in the blast or not.”
“Ryan!”
Ryan felt a huge wave of relief when she saw Tiberius running toward her. She didn’t think twice about wrapping her arms around him. Even in the midst of chaos, his presence centered her.
“Thank the gods you are safe,” Tiberius said, holding her tightly.
“I’m fine,” she assured him, stepping back, “but there were casualties.”
Tiberius frowned. “Who?”
“Q’s missing,” the security man said heavily. “Everyone else is accounted for.”
Tiberius’s face darkened, and Ryan felt a wave of worry crash over her.
“Don’t go jumping to conclusions,” she told him. “The bodies haven’t been identified yet.”
