Running from the car to the hotel lobby confirmed that I’d made the right decision to get Blaire out of the storm. The bigger wind gusts made running difficult, and even the smallest windblown debris was becoming deadly at such high speeds.
I tucked Blaire against my body, shielding her as best as I could from the wind, and hustled her inside.
On account of the storm, the harassed-looking front desk clerk accepted my excuse that our passports had been accidentally lost, and he checked us in without incident. The fact that the building was built of concrete boded well for our safety. I worried about Tonko, but he had made his decision and now he would live or die by the consequences. I was unwilling to risk Blaire’s life in an attempt to save him.
When we got into the room, Blaire started to dance in excitement.
“There’s a shower,” she squealed before stopping herself and spinning to look at me. “Sorry, would you like to use the shower first?”
“Nope, this one is all yours. Go quick before we lose water.”
“Thank you.” She disappeared into the bathroom.
I decided to make myself scarce. I went down to the hotel lobby convenience store and bought a dozen bottles of water, Mars bars and Pringles.
I opened the hotel room door slowly and was rewarded with the steamy scent of jasmine soap and floral shampoo. She stood beside the bed, with her pack open in front of her.
She gave me a wide smile. “That might have been the best shower of my life.”
I dumped the bag of snacks on the end of the bed. “In case you get hungry.”
She peeked in the bag. “Typhoon supplies. How long do you suppose a storm like this lasts?”
“Three to eight hours.”
She looked alarmed. “That’s a long time.”
I knew the quality of the water could quickly degrade in the storm, so I decided to take a shower while I still could.
“Don’t answer the door,” I told her.
As I stood in the shower, I could smell Blaire’s shampoo lingering in the steam. I inhaled deeply and felt my entire body react. There was something about her scent that drove me a little crazy. I listened, but heard nothing. I lazily soaped up my cock and felt a responding arousal jerk through my body. Energy tingled up my spine, and I felt myself swell in my own hand. I stood there debating, but without warning, Blaire entered my imagination, wearing nothing but a thong and that damn hat. My cock reacted by swelling to the point of pain. Grunting lightly, I leaned one arm against the tiles and slowly used my other hand to start stroking my dick in long, even strokes.
She’s wearing cute little runners along with that nonexistent thong. We’re on the boat, and she’s lying back on that rough wooden table. Her breasts are perky and smooth, and her nipples a cute, suck-worthy pink. With a flirty smile, she spreads her legs wide open to me. I reach forward to touch her, but her thighs snap shut on my hand.
“You can only use your mouth.”
I grip the corners of that table and, without breaking eye contact, I slowly drag my hot mouth down the side of one thigh, loving how she squirms against me. And then she’s pulled the fabric aside for me, showing me the most perfect, glistening wet pussy I’ve ever seen in my life.
Oh god, I was so close to coming. My hand pumped faster and harder over my marble-hard dick. Fuck, I need to come.
I plunge my face between her legs and bury my tongue into her sweet depths. I felt like all the blood in my body was now pulsing in my dick. I was five, maybe six hot strokes away from blowing my load when a pounding noise pulled me back into the shower.
“Viktor. Viktor, can you hear me?” Blaire rattled the doorknob.
I cupped my nuts and winced. My voice sounded slightly strangled. “What is it?”
“There’s a man at the door.”
I whipped open the shower curtain and grabbed my Glock. I looked around the bathroom for some sort of coverage, but Blaire had left me only a single hand towel. I clutched it in front of me to cover up my swollen modesty, and then I yanked open the door and mouthed, “Don’t speak.”
Her eyes were like two perfect saucers as she swept her eyes up and down my wet body. I clutched the towel a bit harder to my still-throbbing cock and motioned for her to move into the bathroom.
She had a slight, nervous stutter as she whispered, “I didn’t answer, but he said he was the manager.”
Knocking sounded again at the door.
“Stay in here.”
I cocked my weapon and moved to the hotel room door. I pinned the barrel of my gun against the wood at head level before stepping up to the peephole. The same manager who checked us in was standing outside my room.
“What is it?”
The manager spoke through the door. “Sorry to disturb you, sir, but as a safety measure, we are asking all guests to stay in their rooms for the duration of the storm. I forgot to tell you when we checked you in. If there is an emergency, we will come up to your room to warn you.”
“Yeah, that’s fine.”
“Thank you,” he said before disappearing from view. I waited at the peephole for another minute, but no one else appeared in the hallway.
I turned around. Instead of being tucked safely in the bathroom, Blaire stood in the middle of the bedroom with awe and lust etched on her expression.
I was a heartbeat away from tossing that towel over my shoulder.
“You keep looking at me like that and there’s going to be trouble,” I warned her.
She was breathless. “Maybe you shouldn’t walk around wearing only a hand towel.”
I worked not to show how she amused me. “If you object to the size of towel I’m wearing, maybe next time you shouldn’t use all the towels.”
Her hands flew to her face, but laughter danced in her eyes. “I’m so sorry.”
The chemistry between us crackled. I knew that if I took only one step toward her, she would willingly open her body to me and let me do all the things I wanted to do to her. I would give her everything I had to offer and then some. Desire, like a hot flame, licked at me, taunting me.
If I crossed this line, there would be no coming back.
With my last vestiges of willpower, I forced myself to walk into the bathroom and shut the door.
She’s such a distraction. I stared at my reflection, wondering what I was doing, toying with the idea of her. The fact that I was even debating crossing a line concerned me. Blaire was capable of making me forget everything else around us. And that would get us both killed.
I got dressed and repacked my bag. Then I took the towel and wiped all the moisture out of the tub. Going forward, I needed to keep her at bay. The closer she got to me, the more difficult it would be to protect her.
I opened the door and joined her. Every single space in the room was covered with tiny little piles of clothes and items. I didn’t understand what was happening. “What are you doing?”
“What do you mean?”
“Why are there so many piles of stuff everywhere?”
“I’m trying to Marie Kondo my bag…”
“Marie who?”
“Marie Kondo.”
“Still not ringing a bell.”
She studied me, almost as if to see if I was kidding. “Marie Kondo is a Japanese organizing consultant. Everyone knows who she is. She’s international.”
I knew on some deep level I was never going to win this one. “So you’re trying to reorganize your bag?”
“Yes.”
“You have five minutes.”
She stopped folding and clutched an item to her chest. “Out of everything that has happened in the last few days—the kidnapping and the snake and the typhoon and everything else—I think the most alarming thing is the realization that you really don’t know who Marie Kondo is.”
“Do I look like someone who knows about Japanese organizing consultants?”
“No, but Marie Kondo is famous—really famous.”
I worked not to laugh at her indignation and realized that I felt more alive than I had in months. It was a dangerous feeling.
I had to dig deep to switch into impersonal military mode. “You now have just over four minutes. Start packing.”
While Blaire took a solid fifteen minutes to repack her bag, I stood at the patio window and looked out over the parking lot. Under the streetlights, I could see the rain sheeting sideways. The wind was trying to force massive palm trees to bend over and kneel in submission. I knew I should be more alert, thinking of different scenarios to troubleshoot, but I was so tired I felt almost delirious.
Behind us, every channel on the television reported on the storm that was practically on top of us, but I couldn’t understand a damn word they were saying.
“Do you understand the news?” I asked Blaire, who stood listening to the television.
“No, they are speaking only Vietnamese.”
I wished that Tonko had come with us. This storm had only just started, and it already looked deadly outside.
She looked worried. “They seem to be taking this storm pretty seriously. Do you think we’ll be okay?”
“Pretty sure.”
“What does pretty sure mean?”
“It means I think there is a real strong chance we’ll get through this.”
Ignoring the dismay on her face, I moved to strip the linen off the bed. I put the blankets and all the pillows in the tub, creating a little bed for Blaire. There was one semi-comfortable chair in our room, so I carried that into the bathroom too.
Blaire stood by and silently watched as I dragged the heavy mattress off the bed and laid it against the patio doors.
“Why are you doing that?”
“It might help support the glass from blowing in, and if it doesn’t, it will help prevent glass from spraying everywhere.”
She gave a little cry when the lights turned off, leaving us in complete darkness. Then they flickered and came back on. She looked completely terrified. “Do you think the lights will go out?”
I was pretty certain they would. “We’ll be safe in the bathroom.”
She didn’t look convinced.
“Go get settled.”
“Are you coming too?”
“I’ll be there in a minute.”
I stood looking out the window, watching as water and wind shredded everything in their path. Across the road, beneath the streetlight, a skinny bamboo fence was ripped up like an accordion. Piece by piece, it disappeared into the sky.
If these patio doors blew out, the only thing between us and that storm would be the bathroom door. I needed something heavy to brace against it. I opted for the large teak dresser. It took some effort, but I managed to push it into the bathroom. It was incredibly tight, but I made it fit.
Blaire was sitting in the chair with her knees up. “You’re bringing that in here?”
“I want to brace the door.” I grunted as I pushed it against the locked door.
“Good idea.” She sounded worried.
“You doing okay?”
“I’m fine.” She stood up from the chair and then sat down on the edge of the tub.
I was not fine. I had hit my wall. I was about to start hallucinating from lack of sleep. I figured I had an hour before the storm got really bad. If I was going to get some shut-eye, this was my window. “I need a quick nap.”
“Right now?” She sounded stunned. “How can you possibly sleep?”
“I can sleep anywhere.” I sank down on the chair.
“If you want to sleep, get in the tub.”
“That’s your bed.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. I’m way too keyed up to sleep.”
I was tempted. “I only need an hour of sleep.”
“That’s fine.”
I took off my watch and handed it to her. “Wake me in an hour.”
“Okay.”
With inhuman strength, I managed to stand up again. “Don’t leave the bathroom. Not for any reason, is that clear?”
“I doubt I could get past that dresser.”
“I’m sure you’d find a way.”
“I have no interest in going out there.”
My body screamed with relief as I lowered myself into the tub. One boot was braced against the wall and the other leg hung over the edge of the tub while the pillows and blanket supported my back and head. Holy fuck, it felt good. I managed to give one more instruction. “Wake me if you need me.”
And then my lights went out.
I woke up to the sensation of Blaire leaning against the leg that was hanging outside of the tub. I opened my eyes to pitch darkness. Outside, the wind howled with ferocity. My ears popped like I was doing a high-altitude jump.
“What’s wrong?” I rasped.
“Nothing.” The already-dim flashlight clicked on, illuminating her position on the floor. She had curled her body around my leg. “I hope you don’t mind. I just feel better when you’re close.”
“Here—you should be in the tub.”
I started to push myself out, but she moved with lightning speed. I grunted as she awkwardly climbed onto my lap.
“What are you doing?” I asked while my hands lifted her more securely in place.
“You told me to get into the tub.”
“I was going to get out first.”
She curled up against me and lay her head down on my chest. “This is good too.”
Her trembling body felt warm, and my arms, against my will, tugged her closer. The feeling of having her safe in my arms did something to me that set off more alarm bells. I tried to ignore that warning. “Are you scared?”
“Yes.”
Her blunt honesty never failed to surprise me. “We’re safe.”
“I know.”
I knew she didn’t believe that, because I could feel her erratic breathing.
Around us, the wind shrieked like some terrifying entity that was trying to fight its way inside. “We’re going to be fine.”
“I know.” Her body trembled.
She felt warm and soft, reminding me of long-ago days when I used to let myself sleep with women. I fought to keep my eyes open. “How long did I sleep?”
“About an hour and a half.”
“How long have the lights been out?”
“Eight minutes.”
Waves of fatigue threatened to pull me back under. “I need to stand up or I’m going to fall back asleep.”
She snuggled harder against me. “That’s okay.”
So far, the patio windows had held up, and we were tucked safely in the bathroom. At the moment, I had no reason to be awake.
“Do you want the tub to yourself?”
“No.”
Even another hour of sleep would keep me going for two more days. I gave in to the temptation. “Wake me if something changes.”
“I will.”
I pulled her tighter against my chest, and then I was out.
I awoke to complete silence. I clicked on the flashlight. Blaire was sprawled on me in a deep sleep. I stared down at her face, reluctant to wake her.
She looked so peaceful—almost angelic. Such innocence. As if she could sense my stare, she slowly woke up and opened her sleepy gaze to mine. The sweetest smile crossed her lips as she dropped her gaze. I wanted to taste that smile with my own lips.
“Storm seems to have passed,” I told her. I lifted her wrist, which now wore my watch. Seven hours had passed since we had left Tonko’s place. Most of that time we had spent lying together in the tub.
She sounded wistful. “Is this my cue to get up?”
An irrational part of me wanted to put my arms around her and tell her to go back to sleep, if only so I could hold her a bit longer.
“Yup.”
When Blaire moved away from me, my arms felt oddly empty.
She waited while I pushed the teak dresser aside, and then together we stepped into the hotel room. We emerged to daylight and a different world. The glass patio doors were missing and so was the railing of the deck, leaving a gaping hole in the wall that overlooked the street. The mattress was gone. All items in the room, including paintings, the bedside table and the bed frame, were smashed and piled against one of the interior walls.
Side by side, we stepped up to the open space to look outside. There were no real words to describe the catastrophic destruction below.
Eventually, she spoke. “Holy shit.”
The world had become a scene from an apocalypse movie. Smashed vehicles, rubble, broken trees, pieces of metal and bits of people’s broken lives had been washed into massive piles. Power lines, snapped like twigs, now criss-crossed the road. People milled around in small groups, disorganized, most of them either injured or in shock from the storm. Our stolen car was gone or destroyed beyond recognition.
“When do we have to be in Singapore?” Blaire asked.
“Less than twenty hours.”
“How are we going to make that happen?”
Even if there was a working vehicle somewhere, the roads were impassable. We had at least a six-mile walk to Tonko’s place, and I had no realistic plan to get out of this city, much less to Singapore. It was an impossible feat, but I couldn’t bring myself to tell her that I had failed.
“I need a phone.”
I could sense her looking at me. “Who are you going to call?”
“Drake.”
She didn’t even question why. I think she could sense we were up shit creek, but she was too polite to ask me how far. Which, somehow, made me feel worse. If I didn’t figure this out, Andrusha and Olivia would lose their lives. So would Blaire’s grandfather. If we weren’t successful, I was fairly certain Drake would try to eliminate us, too.
“Maybe Tonko has a working phone,” she suggested hopefully.
Tonko didn’t believe in phones, but I didn’t remind her of that. “Put on your pack and your hat. We need to move.”
She didn’t argue, and for the first time she worked fast—locating her hat and her sunglasses.
Less than a minute later she said, “I’m ready.”
Due to all the debris on the road, it took us nearly two hours to walk to Tonko’s place. We had to avoid live power lines, sharp metal objects and piles of wreckage. Twice I saw a human foot emerging from beneath the rubble, but I didn’t point them out to Blaire, and she didn’t notice.
When we finally arrived, Tonko’s street was almost unrecognizable. Even worse, most of it was still under at least two feet of surge water. I thought of all the things that could be in that water.
“Careful,” I told Blaire. “Follow directly behind me.”
From the street, we stood and stared at what was left of Tonko’s home. Most of the huge garden wall was missing. Half of the roof of his row house was caved in, and the front door and part of the foyer were gone.
Together, we approached the front door.
“Tonko,” I yelled from the doorway. “Tonko, it’s Pushka. You in there?”
“Maybe he left,” Blaire whispered from behind me.
I hoped, for his sake, that he had left. On the walls, the watermarks were only inches from the ceiling. We stood, listening, but I heard nothing but the sound of water sloshing. I needed to make sure Tonko wasn’t trapped in this mess. If he had survived, he would have moved upstairs. I needed to search there first.
I stepped over the threshold and positioned her just inside the front foyer. “I’m going to check upstairs. I need you to stay here.”
“I want to come with you.”
I wasn’t sure about the structural integrity of the house and I didn’t have time to argue. “Stay right here. Shout if you need me.”
“How long are you going for?”
“Just for a few minutes.” I couldn’t understand my patience with her, but she was so scared she was shaking. “Be brave for me.”
She nodded with wide eyes.
I started up the steps. “Don’t go outside under any circumstances.”
Most of the roof was caved in upstairs, but I found no signs of Tonko. I lifted up large chunks of material, every time expecting to see a body, but the place was clear. I was just about to head downstairs when a high-pitched scream tore through the air.
