Chapter 3 - The Pantry Door
The man in the dining room said Daniel's name again.
This time Leo did not answer immediately.
I crouched between the babies and the pantry door, every nerve in my body listening.
Daniel leaned toward me. Even half-conscious, he understood the layout faster than I expected.
"How many exits?" he whispered.
"Front, service alley, basement delivery tunnel."
"Tunnel goes where?"
"Building next door. Old bakery. It's boarded up."
"Usable?"
"If you're a rat."
"Good enough."
"You can't walk."
"Then we don't use it yet."
Outside, shoes crossed the tile.
Not one person. Three, maybe four.
Leo's voice sharpened. "I said we're closed. You need to leave."
The calm man replied, "Mr. Reed may be injured. We are here to assist him."
"Then call him."
"His phone is unavailable."
"Sounds like a personal problem."
I wanted to hug Leo and strangle him at the same time.
Daniel's hand found my sleeve.
"If they open this door, get behind the shelves."
"With two babies?"
"Take them."
"And you?"
"I'll handle it."
I looked at the blood soaking through his dressing.
"You're going to intimidate them to death?"
His mouth tightened.
"I still have the gun."
"You can barely lift your arm."
"Anna."
"No. If we're doing this, we don't suddenly become stupid because men are outside."
His eyebrows rose.
"You talk to billionaires like this often?"
"You're the first. I'm not impressed so far."
A metal chair scraped in the dining room.
Then came a thud.
Leo cursed.
I moved before I thought. Daniel grabbed my wrist.
"Don't."
"That's my friend."
"And if you go out there, there are two more people to save."
I hated that he was right.
The twins stirred. Theo made a small pre-crying sound.
I picked him up and pressed him against my chest. Evie began kicking her blanket. If they both started screaming, the pantry might as well have had a neon sign.
Daniel watched me tuck Theo under my apron and cradle Evie with my other arm.
"There's a freezer compressor behind the shelves," I whispered. "When it cycles on, it covers sound for about twenty seconds."
He stared at me.
"You notice everything."
"Waitresses survive by noticing things before customers ask."
Footsteps entered the kitchen.
One man opened cabinets.
Another kicked something metal aside.
The pantry doorknob turned.
Locked.
"What's in here?" someone asked.
Leo's answer came from farther away. "Dry storage."
"Open it."
"Key's with Ali."
That was a lie. The key hung on a hook six feet from the door.
I could see it through the vent.
So could they.
The freezer compressor roared to life.
I used the sound.
"Basement," I whispered to Daniel. "Now."
There was a narrow service hatch behind the bottom pantry shelf. Health inspectors hated it. Ali refused to seal it because his father used to roll flour sacks through it before the current kitchen existed. I had crawled through twice during plumbing repairs.
I handed Evie to Daniel.
His expression turned alarmed.
"What are you doing?"
"Holding your daughter for ten seconds. Try not to start a board meeting."
I moved sacks aside and pulled open the hatch.
Cold air came up from the basement.
The pantry door shook.
Someone had found the key.
I climbed halfway through the hatch and reached back.
"Give me Evie."
Daniel did.
"Now Theo."
I lowered both babies onto folded aprons at the foot of the short ladder.
The pantry lock clicked.
Daniel reached for his gun.
"No," I whispered. "You shoot, everyone knows exactly where we are."
"They're not here to talk."
"Neither am I. Move."
He tried to stand and almost fell.
I got under his arm again.
The door opened three inches.
A man's hand appeared.
I shoved Daniel toward the hatch.
"Go."
"You first."
"You weigh twice as much. If you collapse on the ladder, we're all trapped. Go."
For one second, he looked ready to argue.
Then he obeyed.
That surprised me more than anything else that night.
He lowered himself through the hatch while I held the shelf in place to partially conceal the opening.
The pantry door swung wider.
I ducked behind the shelving just as a flashlight beam cut across the room.
A man in a dark overcoat entered.
He was clean-cut, maybe thirty-five, with an earpiece and polished shoes completely wrong for a diner kitchen at two in the morning.
He looked at the flour sacks.
At the blood on the floor.
Then at the open first-aid kit.
"He's been here," the man said.
Another voice answered from the kitchen. "Find him."
The first man stepped deeper into the pantry.
His shoe stopped inches from my hand.
I held my breath.
Below me, one of the twins made a tiny squeak.
The freezer compressor shut off.
Silence.
The man's head turned toward the floor.
I grabbed the nearest object without looking.
A metal measuring cup.
Useless.
His hand reached toward the lower shelf.
Then Leo shouted from the dining room, "Hey! You want the security footage or not?"
The man froze.
Footsteps moved away.
"What footage?" the calm voice demanded.
Leo lied beautifully. "Camera caught the alley. Maybe your guy got into a car. But if you're going to threaten me, forget it."
The men left the pantry.
I waited five seconds.
Then ten.
I slipped through the hatch and pulled it shut above me.
The basement was black except for the glow of an EXIT sign near the old delivery tunnel.
Daniel sat against the wall, one hand pressed to his side. Theo lay across his thighs. Evie was in the crook of his arm.
Both babies were quiet.
"Leo bought us time," I whispered.
Daniel looked toward the ceiling.
"They're not enforcers hired off the street."
"Who are they?"
He hesitated.
"My company's internal security team."
I stared at him.
"Your own people?"
"They used to be."
"And the man asking for you?"
Daniel's face hardened.
"Marcus Vale. My chief operating officer. My best friend for fourteen years."
Above us, something crashed.
Daniel closed his eyes for a moment.
"He staged the attempt on my life tonight."
I lowered myself onto an overturned milk crate.
"Why?"
"Because at nine this morning, the board votes on whether I still control Reed Global."
"And if you're dead?"
"Marcus becomes interim CEO."
"The babies?"
Daniel looked down at Theo and Evie.
"They inherit my voting shares through a trust."
Cold traveled down my spine.
"So he needs you gone and them under his control."
Daniel met my eyes.
"Exactly."
A phone vibrated overhead.
One of the men answered.
Through the floorboards, I heard only fragments.
"...board moved early..."
"...resignation letter..."
"...six a.m. vote..."
Daniel's face changed.
"He's not waiting until nine."
"What does that mean?"
"It means Marcus plans to take my company before sunrise."
May you like
I looked at the sleeping twins, the blood on Daniel's shirt, and the dark delivery tunnel stretching beneath the city.
"Then I guess we'd better keep you alive long enough to object."
