Vanishing Point - Marc Cerasini [71]
Evelyn Ankers interrupted Lilly Sheridan at table six and send her to the beverage pantry to fetch pitchers of distilled ice water for the speaker's podium.
As she crossed the crowded banquet hall, the cell phone in Lilly's skirt pocket vibrated. She waited until she was in the wings and out of sight to before answering, lest the authoritarian banquet manager catch her on a personal call. Finally Lilly reached a quiet alcove near the rest rooms and reached for the phone. Along with the cell she pulled someone's business card out of her pocket. Lilly immediately checked the caller's number. As she feared, the call came from her daughter.
"Pamela, I told you not to call me unless..."
"Shut up and listen for once, Lilly. I have a gentleman here who wants to speak with you."
"Stella? Is that you? Where's Pamela? What's the mat..."
A man's accented voice interrupted her. "Lilly Sheridan, listen carefully. We have your daughter. She's safe as long as you follow our instructions."
Icy hands seemed to squeeze the breath out of Lilly's lungs. "I don't understand. Is this some kind of sick joke..."
"It's no joke, honey." Stella again. "We're here in the uniform storage room where you stashed your kid. Pamela's safe. It's up to you to see that she stays that way. Here, talk to your mom, cuddle bunny."
Lilly strained to hear over the noisy crowd. "Mom. I'm scared. Aunt Stella is acting weird and..."
"That's enough," Stella Hawk interrupted. "In a couple of minutes, a guy's going to show up in front of the kitchen door. He'll be pushing a serving cart with flowers on it. That's Carlos. He'll tell you what to do."
"Stella, why are you doing this?"
"Shut up, Lil. I can't stand it when you whine."
Stella hung up.
Trembling, Lilly lowered the phone, leaned against a pillar to keep from falling down. She twisted her head to face the kitchen door, but saw no one pushing a flower cart. Fumbling to put away her phone, Lilly realized she was clutching something in her left hand — Jaycee Jager's business card. She stared at the number scrawled on the back, her mind racing. Jager was Stella's boyfriend. Could he have something to do with what was happening? Somehow she didn't think so, but Lilly realized Jaycee might know something.
Crouching out of sight behind the coffee station, Lilly quickly punched in Jaycee's number.
* * *
10:41:00 p.m. PDT
The Cha-Cha Lounge, Las Vegas
When the lights went out, Jack heard the gang's cries of alarm. He listened while Don Driscoll tried to calm them, insisting the power failure was just a glitch.
But it was their leader, the man called Wildman, who finally restored order. Despite his outlandish appearance, Wildman seemed to know what he was doing. That was unfortunate. Jack assumed that when the lights failed, the gang would panic, maybe scatter. He could easily gun them down one by one. But since they stuck together, the hit team had a better chance of stopping Jack before he got them all.
Bauer crept down the remaining steps. With the night vision equipment, he could clearly see the men in the corridor — white blobs in a field of green, twenty feet away. Their guns were drawn, and they had formed a defensive circle. Jack was willing to wait for a better shot, because it would be difficult to take them down now.
Then Jack saw Don Driscoll reach into his pocket. When his hand came out again, the man was clutching a flashlight pointed in Jack's direction. Like it or not, the time for Jack to strike had come.
Aiming with both hands, Jack stepped away from the wall and fired. The first shot took out the man with the shotgun. He tumbled to the concrete floor. The second shot slammed into the man with the Raiders cap, threw him backwards in a gush of blood. His fall left a man in a hooded jacket exposed, and Jack shot him next. The man reeled but didn't go down, so Jack shot him again.
The man with the cornrows stepped behind Don Driscoll. Jack paused, unwilling to risk hitting his pit boss. He shifted his aim and