“I’m sure it’s just a minor earthquake.”

  “And if it’s not?”

  He patted his pockets. “Well, I guess this cash won’t be much use.”

  There was a pause as they continued to drink.

  “So what else?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I asked if you were here for business or pleasure. You said both.”

  He pulled out a pack of cigarettes and offered her one but she declined. He took it, placed it between his lips and lit the end. After a long drag on it, he blew out smoke.

  “I was playing cards. Trying to win enough money.”

  “To get out of what you do for a living?”

  “Nope. To pay off loan sharks I owe.”

  “Oh?”

  He knocked his drink back. “Yeah, not the best position to be in but hey, things could be worse,” he said gazing around and then laughing.

  “So that’s why you want the money.”

  “Oh, believe me. If I get out of this, those assholes aren’t getting one cent of this. I’m disappearing. Perhaps I’ll buy a yacht and go spend my days on some island in the Caribbean.”

  “And spend your days being chased?”

  “Well let’s hope they didn’t make it. Miracles can happen, right?”

  “Right. So why were you heading up in the elevator?”

  He breathed in. He tapped his finger against the mahogany bar that was chewed up by fallen debris and covered in a thin layer of dust. “Nothing escapes your eye, does it?” he said before continuing. “I was…”

  Before he could finish what he was about to say, Zeke called out.

  “Guys, Dexter has made it through. Let’s go!”

  Chapter 8

  It seemed to take forever to squeeze through the mangled mess of rock and metal. It was a game of inches, and a great degree of luck. The air inside was practically nil. Minimal airflow made every inch forward feel like they were climbing a mountain. Felicity was reminded of her ex as she clambered through. In the weeks leading up to their separation, Jarrod had taken her out climbing in the foothills of Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. They’d come across several caves and one that had a section called the letterbox due to its shape and the fact climbers had to remove their helmet and backpack if they wanted to squeeze through. It had scared her to death but not as bad as this. This was far worse. She could hear the rock around her shifting, dust drifted into her face and Felicity coughed up a lung.

  “How are you doing, Felicity?” Dexter hollered back.

  “Just dandy,” she said before pressing on, sliding around a large pillar. Her head and shoulders got through but her hips weren’t having any of it. She wiggled and tried to push her foot against more rock, but that only caused more dust to fall.

  Eventually, she squeezed through, cursing every step of the way. All of them were, Aamir was the worst. She could hear him muttering to himself in his Indian language and then every few seconds blurting out an F-bomb. She kind of felt bad for the guy. It was true if she had paid him off, he wouldn’t have been in this mess. But how the hell was she meant to know that it was going to turn out this way?

  “That’s it, keep coming,” Dexter coaxed her through the final section. “Now you are going to slip but I’ll catch you.”

  He was right. As she dangled out, bent over and hanging down the slope, she felt herself slip and fall headfirst into the knee-deep water. When she emerged from the water Dexter was looking a little sheepish.

  “I thought you would catch me?”

  “Sorry, I misjudged it and my foot slipped.”

  “My fist will slip in a minute,” she said before breaking into a grin.

  One by one they emerged from the womb-like enclosure to a spacious area full of stores. The air was thick with dust, it was like walking onto a construction site where they were drywalling. Felicity pulled her top up over her face while she waited for Ben. He was the last one through. As he crawled out and pushed his feet against a section of concrete, there was an almighty crack, then rubble gave way.

  “Go, go, go,” Dexter shouted to him, realizing that it would collapse.

  She’d never seen Ben move so damn fast. His chubby fingers raked at the rock below him like an army guy in boot camp scrambling below barbed wire and taking in mouthfuls of dirty water. Aamir and Dexter reached and grabbed him by his arms and tugged him out, seconds before the hole closed behind him.

  A huge waft of dust billowed out.

  Gasping for air, Ben placed his hands on his knees as he remained in the water, before splashing some of it over his face and then touching his pockets. “Shit. Shit!”

  “What?” Zeke asked.

  “The money. The money, it’s gone.”

  He got down on his knees and swept his hands in an arcing motion, frantically searching the water.

  Aamir laughed. “Oh man, you are funny. I’m glad I’m not the only one who’s lost money tonight.”

  “You took money from the casino, didn’t you?” Zeke said cluing in.

  Ben didn’t answer that, he was too busy fretting.

  “Give it up, man, it’s not going to be of much use to you wet.”

  Ben let out a loud cry. “Aha!”

  He raised up a brick of cash that was soaked. “Here, Felicity, hold this, the other one has got to be here.” She took it and looked at him like he was some kind of crack addict searching the floor for his next hit.

  He never found that second brick.

  After searching for close to half an hour, he concluded it must have dropped out while he was squeezing through the narrow gap. The four of them pressed on and after about ten minutes, and traveling up a slight incline, they finally ended up on dry ground.

  “I’m starving. What about you all?”

  “I want to get out of these wet clothes.”

  They stuck to her body like a million tiny leeches. Dexter nodded to a clothing store. Its main window was shattered, and several of the mannequins were crushed below a mound of rubble.

  “Well, I always wanted to shop without paying.” She smiled and stepped into the clothing store. It was hard to see anything inside. The only light came from her phone, and that was at the point of giving up the ghost.

  “We need to find some flashlights.”

  “I’ll go check,” Zeke said heading out of the store and disappearing out of view.

  She snagged up a few items that looked like they might fit. A pair of jeans, a T-shirt, and a warm hoodie, along with a jacket and underwear. The others did the same. Though the situation wasn’t any better, doing something that they had done before seemed to lighten the mood. Felicity snagged up a few pieces of clothing to towel herself dry before heading into the changing room.

  Five minutes later she came out feeling like a new woman. Her clothes would get torn and wet again, but at least her entire body wasn’t soaked. Staying wet was the quickest way to end up ill, and right now she couldn’t afford that.

  “Not bad,” Ben said. “You clean up well.”

  She tied back her hair into a ponytail. “You too.”

  He now looked preppy in his tan khakis, white sneakers, blue and white boating shirt and red jacket.

  “Look what I found,” Zeke said stumbling in, nearly tripping over. He was holding four flashlights and several packs of batteries. “Well look at all of you.”

  “You gonna change?” Aamir asked him.

  “Into those cheap threads? Hell no, I would rather stay wet.”

  Aamir shrugged. “Suit yourself.”

  As they made their way out, Zeke peppered them with questions. “So you didn’t tell me where you all come from? Are you here on vacation?”

  “I’m based in New York,” Ben replied. “No kids. No wife.”

  “No? How come?”

  “Too busy with work. I never got around to it. And you?”

  “Three kids, three failed marriages and a girlfriend that just recently left me.”

  “Sounds like I’m not missing anything,” Ben said before chuckling.

  “Trust me. You’re not.” He then looked over to Dexter. “And what about you, my light-fingered friend?”

  Dexter tossed him a scowl.

  “Ooh, brooding. Actually, don’t tell me, let me guess. You have a crib north of Las Vegas that you share with your homeboys, and it’s packed with all the highest-end merchandise. Products that you stole of course, but nevertheless, top of the line. Am I getting warmer?”

  “Screw you, Zeke. You don’t know me.”

  “Oh, I think I have a good idea.”

  “Yeah? Oh, that’s right, you read minds as part of your magic act.” Dexter turned, so he was facing him but walking backward. Felicity was beside him. “So, how about you guess how many fingers I’m holding up?”

  Felicity laughed as she could see he was flipping him the bird with both hands.

  “You know what, Dexter, who cares where you’re from. What about you, Aamir? You got a little honey at home? I figure you as a big family man. Nine kids. Am I right?”

  Aamir was kicking small pieces of stone across the ground as he pressed forward. “I am married, with four kids and I’ve lived here in Las Vegas my whole life.” He reached into his pocket, pulled out his wallet, retrieved a photo and handed it off to Zeke.

  “Nice. What is that, wife number four? Don’t you folks marry several women?”

  “No. That’s my first and only wife.”

  “Yeah, some guys can actually perform in bed,” Dexter said, holding his hand out and Aamir slapped it.

  “Hilarious,” Zeke shot back before handing the photo around so everyone could see.

  He sniffed hard. “And what about you, princess? You got a man at home to keep you warm at night?”

  She eyed him and smiled, shaking her head. “Nope.”

  “No, you’re not married? Or no, you don’t have a guy?”

  “Both.”

  “But you had one, right?”

  She focused ahead looking into the darkness. “I had one.”

  “He dumped you for another woman, didn’t he?”

  “No, he thought he could have his cake and eat it too.”

  Zeke studied her face. “You found him in bed, didn’t you?”

  She shook her head and laughed. “Maybe you can read minds.”

  “Shit, I knew it. Dang, that’s what Las Vegas will do for you. So many come here with dreams of making it big and they either succeed or fall flat on their ass and if they do, they will take you down with them.”

  “Is that what happened to you?” Aamir asked.

  “Actually, no, Aamir. I’m one of the few who succeeded for a time.”

  “So that new kid took your place.”

  He frowned. “How do you know about that?”

  Aamir talked about himself in the third person. “Oh, Aamir sees more than you know. Aamir saw the billboards around town. He saw them taking your mugshot down and replacing it with that new, fresh-faced kid. How old’s he? Eighteen, nineteen? A good-looking kid and what, you’re in your late fifties now?”

  Zeke dropped his chin.

  “Aamir,” Felicity muttered and shook her head.

  “Oh so he can chew into us but we can’t give it back to him?” Dexter asked.

  Felicity stopped in her tracks, her flashlight beam washing over the way ahead of them. They all noticed it. It was blocked off. “No. No!” Zeke yelled. He kicked a soda can across the floor and then picked up a large chunk of concrete and tossed it through a window. “Fuck!” His voice echoed loudly.

  It also didn’t help that bloodied legs and arms of victims, covered in a fine layer of dust, extended out from beneath the rubble.

  “What now?” Ben asked.

  “I’ll tell you what now, we are royally screwed,” Zeke said. “I knew we shouldn’t have moved from where we were. Eventually, the rescue crew would have shown up and smashed a window and got in and…”

  “Oh shut up, Zeke,” Dexter muttered. “Unless you have an idea how we will get out, why don’t you give those gums a rest? They’ve been flapping non-stop since I woke up.”

  Zeke stared for a second and then charged him. “I’m gonna rip your head off.”

  “Hey, hey!” Ben got between them along with Felicity. “Fighting will not get us out of this situation. We need to work together. Okay?” When Zeke didn’t reply, Ben repeated, “Zeke? Okay?”

  “Whatever.”

  “Look, maybe we should try to find something to eat and drink. I can think a lot better on a full stomach,” Ben muttered.

  “It looks like its full already,” Aamir said.

  He pointed at him. “Don’t you start!”

  As Felicity washed her beam over the ground, she noticed a trail of blood had trickled down from one of the bodies creating a mini stream. She bent down and picked up a wallet, dusted it off and flipped it open.

  “Maggie Roberts, age 52.” She pulled out a photo of her and some grown-up kids. How many had died down here? The loss of life had to have been in the high hundreds. As she fished through more of the bags and belongings buried beneath dust, she took a moment to wonder what their lives were like. The others rooted through the stores nearby searching for anything to eat.

  “Found a seafood restaurant,” Ben hollered.

  “Yogurt, anyone?” Zeke said coming out of a store with a tub in his hand and a spoon.

  Over the course of the next hour, they devoured a few plates full of cold seafood they’d pulled out of a fridge laying on its side. They washed that down with a couple of cans of Guinness from a place called the Ri Ra Irish Pub.

  “You know what?” Ben said. “I know this is a fucked-up situation but I am glad we’re in it together. It could be worse.”

  That got a smile out of all of them.

  “I’ll toast to that,” Dexter replied lifting his black can of Guinness.

  Zeke turned to Felicity. “So you didn’t say if you lived in Las Vegas or elsewhere?”

  “I moved here eighteen months ago with my asshat boyfriend. After we got married, we lasted a whopping seven months before I caught him in the sack with some girl he’d been seeing for three more before that.”

  “What was his excuse?”

  She was a little tipsy from the Guinness and with her inhibitions low she just let it out. “Said he had fallen in love and there was nothing he could do about it. Can you believe that? Oh, and her tits were bigger than mine.” She placed her can down and cupped her breasts. “Do you think these are too small?” She glanced at them and all four of them shook their heads.

  “No, they are perfectly fine, Felicity. Believe me, I have seen my share of breasts in my time,” Zeke said.

  “Thank you, Zeke, I will take that as a compliment.” She raised her can and made a toast. “Here’s to shitty boyfriends and ignoring texts.”

  “Hear, hear, except for the part about boyfriends,” Dexter said.

  “Ignoring texts?” Aamir asked.

  “Oh, my father. Yeah. For the past year, he’s been sending me these crazy texts about how I needed to head to Florida, come home because there was some big thing about to happen and… Well, it’s just my father. He never wanted me to marry Jarrod or move to Las Vegas and he doesn’t know what kind of work I’ve been doing.”

  “An escort?” Ben asked.

  She nodded. “Look, I admit it’s not the best decision I’ve made, but it was between that and working a minimum-wage job. I wasn’t going to return home to Florida broke and without Jarrod… well… I would have never been able to live that down. Nah, I had plans. Big plans. A house, a car, and decent job.”

  “So you thought escorting would get you there faster?”

  “I figured six months and I would have enough. And maybe I would, had I not hooked up with Rico.”

  “Rico?” Zeke asked.

  “My old pimp. Now had I gone the route of doing it all myself, via Craigslist and whatnot, like I did in the last two months, I would have easily had enough money to head back out but… that’s all in hindsight now.”

  “And perhaps you would have been dead,” Zeke replied. “It’s not exactly a friendly city to do that kind of work in.”

  “No, you’re right. Like I said, I didn’t plan on being in it this long.”

  They sat there in silence and Aamir had this confused look on his face.

  “So, what does your father do for a living?”

  She blurted it out without even giving it a second thought. “He’s a teacher at a university but the label most would give him would be an astronomer.”

  “And so this big important thing that he wanted you to escape from… it wouldn’t have been by any chance… an earthquake, would it?”

  She looked at him and swallowed. “I would need to check my texts.”

  “You mean, you didn’t look at any of them?” Zeke asked.

  “I gazed at a few, but they all seemed pretty much the same. Come home. I miss you. It’s not safe. You should leave immediately and so forth. See what you need to understand is that long before I left home he was always paranoid about where I went, and so forth.”

  Dexter snorted. “But you’re a grown woman.”

  “Exactly!” she exclaimed.

  Again there was silence until Aamir piped up.

  “Um. I hate to point out the obvious, but wouldn’t the part about… it’s not safe, have made you check the rest of the texts?”

  In her slightly intoxicated mind, she made a face and shrugged.

  “You don’t know my father.”

  He leaned in. “Turn on your phone. Check the text messages.”

  “No point Aamir. I wouldn’t be able to get them. They are on a server. They’re only displayed once I click on them.” She fished out her phone and hit the power. It didn’t turn on. “And… there we go, there is no power… great!”

  Zeke blew out his cheeks and looked over to Ben. “You know that part about this being a fucked-up situation but it’s not that bad as we’re not alone?”

  Ben raised an eyebrow. “Yeah?”

  “Well, I’m questioning the validity of that.”

  Chapter 9

  Over the course of the next hour, they scavenged through the different stores to make sure they had enough to stay strong, safe and alive. There was no way to know how bad it was beyond the hotel. If anyone was alive or if the city had been abandoned?

 

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