Yuletide Fugitive Threat. Sandra Robbins

she would ever forgive herself for the choice she’d made.

      With a sigh she walked over to the bed, sat down on the side and switched on the television with the remote. After a few minutes, she grew restless and wandered over to the window to look outside. The view of the parking lot behind the hotel left something to be desired.

      Her stomach growled, reminding her that she hadn’t eaten anything since Lucas had fixed her breakfast. She glanced at the desk in the room and spied a coffeepot. A cup of coffee and a sandwich was just what she needed. Once she had the coffee brewing, she called room service and sat down on the bed to flip through the channels to find something to watch. She’d just settled on a public television documentary when a knock sounded at the door. She glanced at her watch. No way could room service already be here.

      She eased off the bed, tiptoed to the door, and leaned against it in hopes of hearing movement in the hall. When she heard nothing, she called out. “Who is it?”

      “Maid service, ma’am. I need to put some clean towels in the bathroom,” a man’s voice called out.

      Mia glanced at the closed door to the bathroom and frowned. She hadn’t looked in there yet. Maybe the maids were behind schedule today and hadn’t left towels earlier. She remembered seeing a man cleaning a room down the hall when she and Lucas had arrived earlier. Still, Lucas had told her to be careful before opening the door.

      She took a deep breath. “Just leave them outside the door,” she said.

      “I can’t do that, ma’am. The manager would fire me if he found out. I’ll only be a minute. Quick in and out.”

      Mia reached for the doorknob and then pulled her hand away. She leaned forward and peered through the peephole into the hallway. A maid’s cart piled high with clean towels and linens sat in front of her door. She couldn’t see the man, but she caught a glimpse of his arm with towels draped over it. Underneath the towels she noticed a jacket like the one she’d seen on the hotel employee earlier.

      She grasped the knob again and pulled the door open a few inches. “Okay, come on...”

      Before she could finish her sentence, the door flew open, striking her in the chest with such a force that it knocked her backward where she landed like a sack of potatoes on the floor. Shaking her head to dispel her blurred vision, she scrambled backward as she stared up into the angry face of Tony Chapman. He slammed the door behind him and took a menacing step toward her.

      “We meet again, Mrs. Lockhart,” he snarled as he came nearer. “You went to the police after I warned you not to. I hope you remember what I told you.”

      Tears filled her eyes, and she shook her head. “Please, leave me alone. I’ve told you I don’t know what you want.”

      A sinister smirk creased his mouth. “I think you do. Maybe you just need a reminder. Get up.”

      “P-please,” she begged. “I don’t know...”

      “Get up! Don’t make me kill you right here.”

      Mia pushed to her feet and held a hand out in front of her as she backed farther away from him. “You need to get out of here before I scream for help.”

      He laughed and took another step. “Scream and it’ll be the last sound to come out of your mouth.” He reached inside his jacket, pulled out a gun and aimed it at her. “Now do as I say. We’re going to walk downstairs and out of this hotel. I will be right beside you with a gun in your ribs, and if you so much as raise an eyebrow to anybody, I’ll kill you and whoever you try to alert. Do you understand?”

      Mia’s wide eyes stared down at the gun in Tony’s hand, and she believed him. He wouldn’t hesitate to kill her or anybody they came in contact with. She took a step backward and stopped as she bumped into the desk. “I’m not going with you.”

      “Oh, yes, you are.”

      She shook her head. “If I leave with you, I’ll just be putting other people in danger. And if you kill me now, you’ll never find out what you want to know. I can’t very well tell you anything if I’m dead.”

      His eyes sparkled, and he took a step nearer. “So you do know where it is.”

      She lifted her chin and stared at him. “I didn’t say that. But you don’t know whether I do or not. If you kill me, you’ll always wonder if I did.”

      An angry scowl covered his face, and he stormed toward her. “Tell me what you know right now, or I’m pulling this trigger.”

      He raised the gun, and she took a deep breath as she stared at the barrel pointed at her head. Taking another deep breath, she reached behind her, her fingers groping across the surface of the desk. He took one more step, and she clamped her fingers around the handle of the coffeepot.

      “You’re going to be sorry you messed with me,” he muttered as he racked the first bullet into the semiautomatic gun’s chamber.

      “No, you’re the one who’s going to be sorry,” she snarled.

      Her hand whipped around as she hurled the scalding contents of the coffeepot at his face. A howl of pain rumbled from his throat, and his hands grabbed at his face. The gun tumbled to the floor.

      Mia didn’t hesitate but pushed past him and ran for the door. “Come back here!” he screamed as she ran into the hall.

      The linen cart still sat outside her door, and she pushed it closer to the entrance to her room in hopes of delaying him. Behind her she could hear him yelling obscenities at her as he tried to follow.

      She looked down the hall and decided her best avenue of escape was down the steps. She ran toward the stairs as fast as she could go. The sound of the door to her room crashing against the wall sent a wave of terror through her, but she didn’t look back. At the end of the hall an exit sign above a door blinked its welcome to her, and she pushed through it like a speeding rocket. Her foot slipped as she hit the first step going down, and she stumbled, barely managing to grab the handrail.

      Pain shot up her leg from her ankle, but she couldn’t slow down. Escape was just a few feet away. Her heart dropped to the pit of her stomach when the door at the top of the stairs crashed open, and a man’s footsteps echoed on the first steps.

      She staggered down the last two steps and launched herself at the door leading into the lobby. The security officer near the hotel’s front door looked around in surprise as she plowed into the room. She stumbled toward him.

      “Help me!” she cried. “There’s a man trying to kill me!”

      The officer’s eyebrows arched as he stared past her. Before he could get his gun from the holster, a shot rang out, and he toppled to the floor. Mia glanced over her shoulder and screamed at the sight of Tony behind her, rage on his face evident under the red burn marks. He glared and pointed his gun at her.

      Mia put up her hands and glanced around the lobby. Scared guests sat huddled in chairs and on the floor as they watched Tony stride closer to her. She backed away until she was beside the concierge’s desk. His muffled voice drifted up from beneath the desk where he crouched on the floor. Her heartbeat quickened as she realized he was on the phone with the police.

      Tony must have heard him, too, because he fired one shot at the desk. A groan followed by silence sent chills racing up Mia’s spine. A woman across the lobby screamed, and Tony turned the gun in her direction.

      Mia knew it was now or never. The front door was only a few feet away. If she ran, Tony might follow her and leave the others in the lobby alone. And she might be able to evade capture until the police arrived. She had only a split second to decide before he shot the woman who had yelled.

      Breathing a quick prayer for God to watch over all of them, she turned and bolted for the front door.