Chapter 5 - The Trap is Sprung
A sudden, aggressive pounding echoed from the heavy mahogany doors of the penthouse.
Charlotte and Elias exchanged a sharp look.
"Open up!" a rough voice shouted from the hallway.
"Security! We have a breach in the executive suite!"
Arthur Vale had obviously been alerted to the activity in the penthouse.
He had sent his own private mercenaries, not the standard hotel security.
"They have jammed the elevator," Elias said, looking at the security monitor.
"We are trapped up here, Miss Vale."
Charlotte calmly pulled a small, silver flash drive from her pocket and downloaded all of Arthur's files.
"My mother did not build this fortress without an escape route," Charlotte said.
The heavy mahogany doors began to splinter as the men outside slammed a battering ram against them.
Charlotte walked over to the grand fireplace in the center of the room.
She reached under the heavy marble mantle and twisted a hidden brass dial.
A section of the bookshelf slid open, revealing a dark, narrow maintenance shaft.
"After you, Elias," she said, holding the drive tightly.
Just as Elias squeezed into the hidden passage, the main doors of the penthouse burst wide open.
Five men armed with suppressed pistols rushed into the room.
"Find her!" the lead mercenary barked.
"Arthur wants her dead before the morning meeting!"
Charlotte slipped into the darkness of the shaft and slammed the heavy bookcase shut just in time.
She could hear the men tearing the penthouse apart on the other side of the wall.
Her heart pounded against her ribs, but she felt no fear.
Only vengeance.
She and Elias climbed carefully down the rusted iron ladder in absolute silence.
They were descending into the very bones of the Solmere Hotel.
"Where does this lead?" Elias whispered in the dark.
"To the underground parking garage," Charlotte replied softly.
"We need to get out of the building tonight."
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"Tomorrow at noon, Arthur is hosting the annual shareholder gala in the grand ballroom."
"That is where I will end him."
