Protective Measures. Maggie K. Black

door she could hear the clatter of things falling over and furniture being moved. Sounded like he was tossing the place. She whispered a prayer and focused on the lock. Then the floorboards creaked behind her. She spun. Her hands rose to strike. But a strong hand intercepted her blow, catching her small hand in his, and holding it firmly before she could pull it back.

      “Nice punch.” It was Leo.

      “Nice block.” She blinked and looked up at the tall, handsome uniformed officer. “What are you doing here?”

      “I ran down the back stairs.”

      “Now where’s the fun in that?” The words slipped out of her lips before she’d stopped to think.

      He chuckled. It was a deep, warm laugh that seemed to rumble from somewhere inside his chest. Heat was rising to her face again, and it didn’t help that he still hadn’t let go of her hand. “Well, after your rather dramatic exit, I went straight to the head of security and told him I thought I’d heard a bullet fired in the castle gardens. I then asked him point-blank if there was an intruder on the grounds. Do you know what he told me? He said all I’d heard was a car backfiring, not to worry and I should get back to the party.” Leo took a step back and pulled his hand from hers. “Then I spoke to a high-ranking police officer, who I casually know, and asked if he’d ever heard of The Anemoi. He laughed very loudly and told me The Anemoi was a myth.”

      Zoe’s heart sank.

      His hand slid into his jacket pocket and pulled out a cell phone. “Then, I sent a quick text to my old friend Josh Rhodes, even though I knew full well that he’s on his honeymoon, and asked him if he’d ever even heard of you. You can imagine how I felt when he texted back immediately, ‘She’s one of ours. Believe whatever she tells you. Do whatever she says.’”

      A smile of relief brushed Zoe’s lips. Was it her imagination or was the air between them growing warmer? Leo took another step back. Then, for the first time, his gaze seemed to take her all in. His eyebrows rose. “What happened to you?”

      “I found the intruder that security told you doesn’t exist,” she said. “He had a knife. We fought. I disarmed him. But he knocked me into a pond. Then he ran through that door.”

      He reached past her for the door handle. Then winced. “It’s hot. Stand back.”

      She stood back. He leveled one strong kick at the door that sent it flying back off its hinges.

      She turned. Sudden white-hot fear shot up her spine.

      The room was on fire.

       TWO

      Heat hit Leo’s body like a wave. Flames climbed the curtains of the coat-check room and spread out across the ceiling. Coats burned. Briefcases and laptop bags buckled in the heat. Dark smoke billowed toward them. His heart stopped. Every single piece of paper or electronic data that had been left in that room was being reduced to ashes. If the thief had stolen something, the fire would probably destroy any possibility of figuring out what it was. Had the thieves Zoe had been tracking either stolen or destroyed the intel he was after?

      If so, the implications of what that could mean were positively terrifying. Leo had made one other phone call on his rapid descent down the stairs to the one person inside the navy he trusted, his superior, Admiral Jacobs. Jacobs hadn’t answered, and the last voice mail message he’d left for Leo hadn’t changed. The informant said they would be at the party. Their identity was still unknown, but Leo was authorized to wire them up to a quarter of a million dollars if the intel proved true. He glanced at the ceiling. “No sprinklers and no fire alarm.”

      “There’s a fire extinguisher on the other side of the cloakroom.” Zoe’s voice came from behind him.

      “It’s too late for that. We have to evacuate the building.” Wrapping his jacket around his hand, Leo grabbed the handle and yanked the door closed. “This fire door should help contain it long enough to evacuate. But we won’t have long. Get out of the building. Get a safe distance away, then call 9-1-1.”

      Leo pressed his cell phone into her hand. She took it. Then her eyes closed for a fraction of a second and he watched as a prayer moved on her lips. Then she looked up at him. Fear was creeping in the edges of her eyes, but it did nothing to dim the determination burning within them. She gave him a push. “I’m on it. Just go. I’m right behind you!”

      He ran through the hall, into a second almost identical one, and then burst through another door into the lobby. The English actor Nigel was standing by the front desk talking to an elderly security guard. They both looked up.

      “The coat-check room is on fire,” Leo said. “Sprinklers aren’t working. We need to evacuate the building. I’ll get the ballroom. You clear the staff and the main floor. Now!”

      He pelted up the winding staircase to the second-floor ballroom without waiting for a response. He hit the second-floor ballroom. Well-dressed people packed the room. Waitstaff weaved between them. His eyes scanned the room in an instant, trying to access the best way to evacuate without causing a panic. The last thing he wanted was to cause a stampede.

      “Emergency services are on their way!” Zoe ran past him barefoot, like a tiny bolt of lightning. “Alex is trying to get the sprinklers back online. There’s a small lounge and balcony upstairs. I’ll go evacuate them while you sort out down here.”

      She disappeared up a second smaller set of stairs. His head shook. That woman was unbelievable. He’d told her to escape the building and instead she was running right into danger. He strode across the floor to the stage and up to the podium, feeling the old, familiar authority with which he’d commanded battleships slipping around him like a mantle. He reached the microphone and tapped it twice. No sound. But, one glance at the man behind the sound board and it sprang to life.

      “Ladies and gentlemen, your attention, please.” His voice filled the room. “Sorry to interrupt the party, but there is a small contained fire in a separate section of the building downstairs. Emergency services are on their way. What I need you to do is to just calmly walk downstairs and wait outside on the grass, so they can come in here and do their jobs.” Voices began to babble. Questions rose around him. He raised his hand. “We can all talk outside. But right now, I need you to exit the building. Quickly and quietly. Go.”

      The babbling grew louder. But he also caught the eyes of a handful of men and women, who he could tell at a glance had also served their country and community in one way or another and knew how to handle a crisis. They started ushering those around them toward the staircase. Guests started filing down the stairs. People in kitchen uniforms and waitstaff poured out side doors. Still others streamed down from the floor above. The hall began to clear. He breathed a sigh of relief and a prayer of thanksgiving. The fire door wouldn’t hold forever. But he had hope the building would clear before the fire spread. He walked back to the stairs and positioned himself on the landing to direct traffic, until finally the trickle of people heading out the doors stopped.

      But where was Zoe?

      He started back across the now empty ballroom to the stairs he’d seen her run up. The smell of smoke grew heavier in the air. Then he saw a waiter—tall and thin with long blond hair and goatee—kneeling on something behind the stage.

      “Hey!” Leo ran toward him. “You need to get out of here!”

      The waiter didn’t move. Instead he grabbed a phone from his pocket and took a picture of whatever was on the floor.

      “This isn’t a drill.” Leo grabbed the man’s shoulder. “The building’s on fire!”

      The waiter leaped up and wrenched his shoulder away from Leo’s grasp. Then he spun toward Leo and through the smoky air Leo could barely make out the shape of something long and black in his hand. The waiter lunged toward him. A knife? A gun? A Taser? Leo had only seconds to react as he knocked it free from the man’s hand. It was a thick black marker. And for the first