Playing With Fire

Descending to Hell

The stairwell of the next building was in total pandemonium. People were rushing down from the upper floors, panicking and trying to take the exit just in case the fire spread to them. Marcus grabbed Riley hand and pulled her into an alcove on the fifty-fifth floor, shoving the both of them against the wall as the crowd rushed past in panic.

“We can’t use the main exits,” he said, with his breath feeling warm against her ear. They rushing crowd was close enough that Riley could feel Marcus’s heartbeat pounding against her shoulder. “If someone was coming after us on purpose, they’ll have people monitoring us.”

Riley felt Marcus was probably taking the case too far. For Riley, it might not be that deep. They literally just survived a fire outbreak. Why would anyone be suddenly watching them. Oh, she there ought to be a break at least, she thought.

“You’re overthinking it,” she muttered.

“Someone just blew up my building with us inside.” His eyes locked onto hers. “Overthinking is the only way we survive.”

He wasn’t wrong. Riley hated that he wasn’t wrong. She just doesn’t have a answers herself but to agree.

When the traffic of people finally subsided, Marcus held on tight to her hand and pulled her down a maintenance corridor like a guardian angel. He sprinted quickly, with the intent of someone who had a destination in mind. Riley was amazed at how impressively familiar his legs were moving along different corners of the building.

“You’ve been here before?” Riley was forced to ask.

“I own it.” With Riley astonished by his response, he added, “I own half the buildings around here. It’s part of my real estate game which I’m sure you think is suspicious. Gotta keep things spread out, you know?”

Riley was not going to back down regardless. She held on tight to her conviction about Marcus and his shady business.

“It is suspicious.” She maintained.

“It’s called business.” He tried to open a door, but it was locked. Tried another one. “Everything looks suspicious when you’re looking for guilt or fault.”

“And everything looks innocent when you’re guilty,” Riley shot back at him.

The door opened onto a service elevator. Marcus grabbed her arm and ushered her inside, and hit the button for the basement. The doors closed, putting the both of them in a harsh metal box with too much lighting.

In the harsh ray of the light, Riley saw Marcus clearly for the first time since the fire. Blood was running down his face and his suit was torn. Dried blood still stuck to his forehead from where debris had stuck him earlier. But then, his calculating and smart-looking expression hadn’t changed at all.

It wasn’t the first time Riley had seen that expression, but it was clearer now, perhaps because it’s under too much illumination. However, she had a different opinion about that expression.

“What are you thinking?” she asked.

“That the fire started on the executive floor. My floor.” He looked up at her. “Someone wanted to make sure I was there when it the fire exploded.”

“Maybe it was just random. Wrong place, wrong time.” Riley said.

Riley didn’t believe all that. But it’s best they were open to different possibilities than holding on to assumptions. At least, that’s what her training taught her: all possibilities count until proven otherwise.

“You don’t believe that any more than I do.” The elevator made a low and steady noise as it descended. “The helicopter was destroyed. The bridge was our only exit, and even that was collapsing. This wasn’t panic or chaos. It was all planned.”

Riley gripped the strap of her bag, safeguarding it like a baby. “What enemies do you have?”

“In business? I have dozens and Hundreds of them.” He ran a hand through his hair, further staining it with smoke and blood. “I’ve made gone after big deals. Taken over companies that refused to sell and outsmarted my competitors to close deals first.” His eyes hardened. “But burning down a building? Killing innocent people? That’s not corporate rivalry. That’s something else.”

From his perspective, Riley could sense that all of these couldn’t have happened without cultivating deadly enemies along the line. She was dead sure of it. Marcus must have stepped on toes.

“Maybe you made it personal for someone,” she said.

“Maybe.” He clenched his jaw. “Or maybe you did.”

Riley stiffened. “Excuse me?”

Riley wondered why her name kept appearing in the conversation. It wasn’t her building, was it?

“See, you came to expose me. Someone might know that. Maybe someone wanted to stop you.” His voice sounded off the metal bars. “Or maybe someone wanted to stop the both of us.”

“I don’t know anything worth killing me over.”

“You sure about that?” Marcus stepped closer. The elevator seemed to get smaller around them. “What were you going to expose, Riley? What’s so dangerous you had to come in person instead of publishing?”

Her hand guarded her bag even more. The flash drive inside suddenly felt heavy. Of course, she was carrying some secrets that made it so. “You really want to do this now? While we’re running for our lives?”

“I want to know who’s trying to kill me. If you have information…”

The elevator stopped. Not gently. It came to a halt with a violent drop that swung the both of them off their feet. The lights flashed only once.

“That’s not good,” Riley said.

Marcus was already pressing buttons, but nothing came off it. He tried his phone, but still no signal. “Emergency phone should be…”

In a wink of an eye, the elevator suddenly dropped deeper. It was as if it was plunging deep for gold.

Riley’s stomach twisted as they went falling freely. Marcus grabbed her, bringing the both of them to the floor. They fell, plunging deep from one floor to another until they slammed to a stop so hard her teeth chattered.

Then darkness. Darkness overtook the elevator as they now seemed to be trapped in a hell hole.

“Riley?” Marcus’s voice called. It was close and rough on the edge. “You okay?”

That question did not sit pretty with her. Why would she okay in the middle of this terrible bustle? If he knew how much this hurt, he wouldn’t bother to ask.

“Define okay.” Riley snapped, obviously not feeling ‘okay.’ Everything today had brought her pain. Her shoulder ached from the earlier impact, but nothing felt damaged. At least, not yet “You?”

“Yeah.” She felt his hand brush her arm in the darkness. “Stay still. Let me…”

A made a click on his phone keypad, and the flashlight lit up his face. The light revealed that his face was pale, stained with smoke and it looked all tensed up.

The elevator was stuck somewhere in a position between floors. The doors had bent but wouldn’t open.

“We have to get out,” Riley said. “If the cables go…”

“I know.” Marcus replied as he shone the light at the bent door. “Help me.”

They jammed their fingers into the crack in the door and pulled as hard as they could. Metal was stubborn. It groaned but finally yielded to their strength, shoeing a part of the basement level which is about feet up.

“We can fit through. We can make it,” Marcus assured. He pulled himself through first, then offered his hand back to her. “Come on.”

She took his, grabbed it firmly, and he pulled her up. For a moment she was hanging between the basement floor and the shaft below. This moment, of course, was reminiscent of when they managed to cross over to this building. It was an excruciating moment she wouldn’t want to experience again. But as it was, the moment seemed inevitable. His grip was the only thing sustaining her. Then she managed to get onto solid ground.

The basement was dim and just lit by flashing red emergency lights. Water dripped down from somewhere unknown, and the air smelled like chemicals and old concrete. Certainly not a pleasant atmosphere

“Exit should be this way,” Marcus said, walking ahead.

Riley grabbed his arm to grab his attention. “Wait and listen to me.”

She felt something was wrong. She suddenly noticed. The basement was quiet. It was too quiet. Every other floor had been in shambles, in utter chaos. But it was different on this floor. Nothing was happening. That called for suspicion.

“Marcus,” she whispered. “Where is everyone?”

Marcus paused a bit. “This level’s automated. No one’s usually here.”

Riley was not sure if she should believe this. The floor looked sinister and she could feel something was off, like a danger waiting to ambush.

Suddenly, Marcus stopped in his tracks. “Listen.”

Riley held her breath for a moment to take a listen.

Heavy footsteps advanced, slow and steady. It was getting closer.

Marcus pulled her behind a concrete pillar. They took cover in the shadows as a man appeared through the tensed haze. He was dressed in a maintenance gear, carrying a gun.

It was over, Riley thought. She finally realized she had come in the middle of brawl, to meet her maker. This was definitely not the plan. But why today of all days? She trembled.

“They’re in the building,” the man said into a phone. “Elevator shaft. We’re checking now.” There was a short pause. “Both of them. Yeah, I’m sure.”

He moved toward the elevator, and raised his weapon.