Page 24 of Stalked

Rosalyn lay completely snuggled in his arms, draped over him like a blanket. So much for keeping his distance from her.

But that wasn’t what was wrong.

He looked over at the window. No light was peeking through, so it was obviously still night. He estimated about four o’clock in the morning.

What had awakened him?

He listened for any sounds that would be foreign. Someone trying to break into the room or yells from farther away.

Nothing.

Then he smelled it. Smoke. Too heavy to be just some cigarette somebody was toking on illegally on a balcony.

He shook Rosalyn. “Wake up, sweetheart.”

She just mumbled and tried to move away from the hands disturbing her sleep. Steve shook her again. “Rosalyn, come on, you need to wake up.” He pulled her until she was in a sitting position.

“What’s going on?” she asked, blinking multiple times. “Is it morning?”

“There’s trouble, I’m pretty sure.”

He ran over to the door. He could see smoke seeping under the crack. He ran back and grabbed the hotel phone. As soon as someone answered, he barked out, “I’m in room 742. There’s a fire in the hallway but the alarm isn’t sounding. You need to call the fire department and get some sort of alarm working.”

He didn’t wait for the person to answer. He grabbed one of Rosalyn’s shoes. “Can you put these on or do you need help?”

“I can do it. I’m slow, but I can get them.”

He handed her one shoe and put the other on her foot himself. “We’re going to have to get out of here. I’m not sure how bad the smoke and fire will be.”

She grabbed her tote bag and pulled it over her shoulder. Fine, she could take that, but the rest of the stuff would have to stay.

He stood and led her to the bathroom. “Soak these towels. We’ll keep them over our faces to protect us from the fire and smoke as best we can.”

She began running water over them as he went to check the door again. The smoke was even heavier under the crack.

He opened the door slightly to see exactly what they were up against. He couldn’t see three feet down the hall, the smoke was so thick. There was no way they’d be able to wait for the fire department to get up to their floor.

He shut the door, taking the wet towels from her. “It’s bad out there. We’re not going to be able to see much of anything. But we need to make it to the stairs.”

“I don’t know where they are.” Panic pinched her face. “Are they near the elevator?”

“No.” As a force of habit Steve had memorized the general layout of the hotel when he’d checked in. “They’re a little bit farther. Just keep hold of my hand, no matter what.”

She nodded, eyes big. He wrapped one of the wet towels around the lower part of her face. “I’m not sure the extent of the fire, but the smoke is thick out there. It’s going to be rough. Stay low and breathe through the towel as much as possible.”

When he opened the door again, he immediately felt heat to the right. The fire was closer than it had been moments ago.

And blocking their way to the stairs.

“We’re going to have to go to the far staircase,” he told Rosalyn. “Stay with me no matter what.”

She nodded and he pulled the door open farther. Smoke immediately filled their room. Steve bent at the waist to get lower than the worst of the smoke in the hall. He knew bending that way would be difficult for Rosalyn. He was glad she was significantly shorter than he was to start with.

He lost all visibility only a few feet from their hotel room. He had to rely on his instincts and his mind’s ability to process spatial data to get them to where they needed to be.

He could feel Rosalyn’s small hand in his and knew that if he made a mistake, missed the door to the stairs or turned down the wrong hall, it could mean their deaths.

About halfway to where he estimated the stairs were, the smoke got so thick they had to crawl. Steve’s eyes burned, although the wet towel at least protected his throat from the worst of the smoke.

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