Vanishing Point - Marc Cerasini [77]
Amid the chaos, Senator Palmer searched for his wife. She'd excused herself to go to the powder room, promising to return before he began his speech. But Sherry had been gone a long time. Now he had to find her.
Before he took a step, David felt a tug on his arm. He looked down to see a young waitress, face pale, eyes wide with fright. She pointed to a cart covered with flowers.
"It's a bomb," she cried. "A man brought it in here."
David pushed her aside, reached the cart in two steps. He scattered the flowers, saw only a smooth, white tablecloth.
"Underneath," Lilly Sheridan said with a frightened sob.
Palmer ripped the cloth away, saw the blocks of C4 tapped to the underside of the cart. He lifted the wheeled carrier with both hands, held it over his head.
"Out of the way!" he shouted. Stumbling to the broken window, then outside to the glass-strewn balcony, Palmer ran to the edge of the building and tossed the cart over the side.
The bomb went off, knocking him backwards. Blinking away the flash motes in his eye, he crawled to his feet and went back inside the ballroom. The woman who'd warned him about the bomb was gone, and Palmer didn't really care. What happened was a mystery to sort out later. Right now, he had to find his wife.
Sherry Palmer was six floors below the ballroom when the bombs detonated. She'd gone searching for Lev Cohen, who was missing with her five million dollars. As soon as she got out of the elevator, Sherry heard the first alarms going off. She didn't panic, figuring if there was a real emergency, fire marshals would show up and order everyone out of the building. For all she knew, the alarm resulted from nothing more than an elevator that was stuck.
She went to Lev's room first, pounded on the door, then finally used her own pass key to enter. Lev wasn't there, and there was no sign he'd even returned from the meeting with Jong Lee.
Sherry decided to visit Jong Lee next. She waited five minutes for the elevator, then gave up and used the stairs to go down two floors, to Lee's room. She'd just knocked on the man's door when she felt the explosions under her feet. Then the entire building seemed to teeter on its foundations, tossing Sherry against the wall, then down to the carpeted floor. Behind closed doors, she heard screams, shattering glass, the sound of furniture breaking. The trembling subsided quickly, but the hall began to fill with a white haze.
Sherry pounded the door again. "Mr. Lee? Are you all right?"
A figure emerged from the smoke, a member of the housekeeping staff who was racing for the stairs. Sherry snagged her arm.
"My friend is in there. He's hurt. Please open the door," Sherry pleaded. The woman muttered something in Spanish while she fumbled in her pocket. Finally she produced a universal card key and slid it through the slot. The green light went on and Sherry pushed the door open.
"Thank you," she said. But the housekeeper was already gone.
Lee's suite had been battered by the blast, but there was no sign of occupation. The lamps were down, so Sherry tried the overhead light. The lights seemed dim, and Sherry deduced the power was low.
She searched the suite, found Lev Cohen in the bedroom. He'd been stabbed to death. The murderer had placed him on the bed, folded his arms across his chest, but had not bothered to close his dead staring eyes. Sherry stepped closer to examine the corpse, then stumbled backwards, choking back a sob. More smoke filled the hallway, and she coughed.
I have to get out of here.
Turning, Sherry fled the grisly scene, praying that the fire would engulf this suite, and obliterate any evidence of what really happened to David Palmer's Chief of Staff. Outside, panicked patrons fled the hotel, to spill out through the shattered portico, onto sidewalks littered with broken furniture and shards of glass. Those fleeing the rear doors had to climb over a huge section of the famous Hanging Garden balcony that came crashing to earth in the explosion. Debris continued to rain down,