Chapter 3 - THE WOMAN IN THE SERVICE HALL
Panic swept through the ballroom.
Guests pushed away from their tables.
Several people ran toward the locked doors.
Security officers ordered everyone to remain still.
Adrian Langford grabbed Victoria’s arm.
“We are leaving.”
Victoria pulled away.
“The doors are locked.”
“Then find another exit.”
Near the stage, the head of security crouched beside the blood.
He touched it with two fingers.
“It is fresh.”
A young waitress began crying.
“Was Ms. Vale shot?”
No one answered.
The emergency lights flickered.
Then a voice came through Evelyn’s hidden earpiece.
“North service corridor.”
Evelyn moved silently through the narrow passage behind the ballroom walls.
Her right forearm was bleeding.
The bullet had grazed her.
She pressed a folded cloth against the wound and kept walking.
A woman in a kitchen uniform waited near the linen elevators.
Her name was Lena Morales.
She was the pregnant server Victoria had forced to kneel earlier that evening.
“You are hurt.”
“It looks worse than it is.”
Lena handed Evelyn another black glove.
Inside it was a replica of the pink diamond ring.
“The real one is safe?”
Lena nodded.
“In the vault.”
Evelyn pulled the glove over her injured hand.
“The shooter believed he took it.”
“Will he run?”
“No.”
“He will bring it to whoever ordered the attack.”
Lena’s expression tightened.
“Adrian?”
Evelyn looked toward the security monitor.
On the screen, Adrian was pretending to comfort Victoria.
But his eyes were searching the ballroom.
“He is involved.”
“Whether he is in charge is another question.”
Lena hesitated.
“Evelyn, you should let the police take over.”
“The city police commissioner is seated at table six.”
“He accepted three hundred thousand dollars from Adrian’s campaign fund last year.”
Lena went still.
“You think the police are part of this?”
“I think money has purchased too many loyalties.”
A loud metallic bang came from the end of the corridor.
Evelyn raised her hand for silence.
Footsteps approached.
Slow.
Deliberate.
A man appeared around the corner.
It was the mechanic from the video.
He held the stolen ring in one hand.
A pistol rested in the other.
He smiled when he saw Evelyn.
“You survived the mountain.”
Evelyn stared at him.
“You were there.”
“I watched your plane hit the snow.”
“You should have checked the wreckage.”
He lifted the gun.
“You should have stayed dead.”
Before he could pull the trigger, Lena slammed a steel food cart into his side.
The gun fired into the ceiling.
Evelyn rushed forward.
The mechanic hit her injured arm.
Pain exploded through her shoulder.
Lena grabbed the gun.
The mechanic kicked her backward.
She fell against the wall, clutching her stomach.
Evelyn’s expression changed.
She struck him once beneath the jaw.
Then she drove his wrist against the edge of the cart until the pistol fell.
He collapsed to his knees.
Evelyn picked up the weapon.
“Who paid you?”
The mechanic laughed through broken breaths.
“You still think this is about the hotel?”
He looked past her toward the service elevator.
“The hotel is only where they buried the money.”
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Then the elevator doors opened.
Three masked men stepped out.
