Page 17 of Forgotten Promise

John ran beside Kailani, who had her phone to her ear. He took a moment to look her over, checking to see what it was she’d gotten out of that wall safe. Whatever it was had to be flat enough that she’d shoved it into a pocket without creating a bulge.

They stopped near the entrance to the currently closed-due-to-construction casual dining restaurant. It was on the ground floor of the modern part of the hotel and had an adjacent open-air dining area with a small stage. He knew a fair amount about Kailani’s family hotel, and Benjamin’s family’s various businesses, due to his background research over the past month.

The fact that the hotel had world-class musicians playing on the patio of their casual dining restaurant was a sign of just how fancy it was. Too fancy for someone like him. He’d come from humble beginnings and while he made a decent living, he was still very thrifty. John had spent too many years in bad living situations, homes where food wasn’t always guaranteed. All those years of being hungry ensured he didn’t spend money on frivolous things.

Kailani halted near a wall of plastic sheeting with a zipper in the middle. Even the construction zones looked elegant.

Here, the siren was nearly deafening, and bright white lights flashed from behind the plastic. To their left, confused hotel guests were starting to fill the open-air hallways while elegantly uniformed hotel staff directed them out of the building.

Kailani shoved her phone into her pocket—she probably couldn’t hear anything over the alarm—and then reached for the zippered doorway. John lunged, realizing too late that the zipper might be hot, but she yanked it open and pulled back the plastic. Beyond was a plain white utilitarian hallway, slowly filling with smoke.

“The kitchen,” Kailani yelled.

Then she pointed at the small spigots in the ceiling of the hallway.

The fire suppression system. Which was not on. John checked the floor. No water, no foam. That wasn’t right.

A second later, a hotel employee, the flower behind her ear somehow still in place as she ran, led a pack of firemen toward them. John backed away, nudging Benjamin with his shoulder, and pulling Kailani with them via a hand on her arm.

The Honolulu Fire Department poured through the plastic doorway.

A moment later, the fire alarm shut off, and the sudden quiet made his ears ring.

“There’s another group of firemen, they came in the loading zone,” the staff member—wait, no, this was the hotel manager, according to her name tag—told Kailani.

“Have you started the door-to-door?” Kailani asked.

“Yes. Starting with these floors.” She pointed to the section of building above the restaurant kitchen.

“Was anyone inside?” Kailani’s words were calm, but John could see the tension in her as she waited for the answer.

The manager shook her head. “The construction crew wasn’t working on the kitchen this week, and most of them are gone for the day anyway.”

Some of Kailani’s tension dissipated. “That’s right. We’re waiting on parts.”

John had been doing his level best to ignore what his gut was saying, but that was too much. He cleared his throat. “Kailani, can I talk to you for a second?”

She frowned at him, but something in his expression must have told her that he wouldn’t interrupt unless he had something critical to say.

They stepped away, Kailani angling herself so she could still see everything.

“You don’t think this is a coincidence,” Benjamin said, proving once again that he was quick, though he didn’t have a great filter. “You think that this is an attack.”

John started to shake his head at the second part of Benjamin’s statement, but Kailani’s attention whipped to them. “An attack? No, the construction probably triggered a fire.”

“And the fire suppression system didn’t go off?” John asked gently.

“It was probably accidentally unhooked or damaged or…” Kailani looked over her shoulder, expression stark.

“The Grand Master was attacked, if you’re the designated survivor—”

Kailani shook her head. “No one knows. The identity of the keyholders is a secret from everyone except the Grand Master, the council, and the keyholder families.”

“Unless the society is being attacked by someone who does know,” Benjamin countered.

“You mean a member? Regular members don’t know about me, about the keyholders. You didn’t.”

Benjamin’s jaw muscle flexed.

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