Chapter 21: Alarming Rescue

Tom stood holding the gun in his pocket, facing the door, still wearing the hat and overcoat. He wasn’t sure if he should knock or shoot his way in. He’d never done anything so violent before. He hesitated, keeping his head down in case there were any cameras.
After another second, he heard the loud buzzing of the fire alarm. People started streaming out of several doors on the hallway, bustling to the stairs. Tom lingered to see if anyone would emerge from 825.
He plastered his body against the wall of the hallway and waited. When the kidnapper opened the door to peek out, Tom hit him in the face with the back of his gun and pulled him forward. Tom pointed the gun to the man’s head, and led him back inside the room.
Roxanne jumped up, elated her plan had worked. With her hands still tied, though, she didn’t think she’d be much help.
Seeing Tom march in with the kidnapper, the bald man jumped off the bed and brandished his own gun which he pointed at Roxanne.
“Go ahead and shoot him,” the bald man said to Tom, “and then your girlfriend is toast.”
Roxanne’s jubilation evaporated once she found herself standing with a gun to her head. Luckily for Tom and Roxanne, the other goon was unarmed, presumably just the muscle for the job. He stood at the head of the bed with his hands up.
“Let her go,” Tom said to the bald man.
“Or what?” said the bald man in return.
“Real childish,” Roxanne rolled her eyes.
“Shut up,” said the bald man, keeping the gun trained on Roxanne’s temple.
“Or what?” she said sarcastically.
“Or I’ll shoot you,” he said. She thought about what she could do to distract him, give Tom an easier shot. Thankful they’d at least done a little target practice, she considered trying to signal to Tom that the bald man needed to be his new mark.
“I’m pretty sure the boss wouldn’t like that. How about this instead? You let me go, and we all live,” she said.
“Boss wouldn’t like that either,” said the goon by the bed.
“Look, the boss wants Tom and I alive so we can pay him, right? The way I see it, you’ll be in big trouble if you kill us right now,” Roxanne thought if she kept talking, maybe some idea would pop into her head.
“I don’t think you know how the boss works,” said the bald man.
“Then just call him,” Roxanne said.
While the bald man reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone to look at the screen, Roxanne made eye contact with Tom, tilting her head toward the bald man, trying to indicate Tom should shoot. She couldn’t believe the bald man actually listened to her. If Tom wasn’t going to shoot, Roxanne considered trying to kick the gun out of the bald man’s hand, but she knew that was a long shot.
Tom turned his gun and took a shot, missing the man but breaking the glass window behind them, glass shattering inside and out.
Roxanne, eager to use her kickboxing skills, stepped up on the chair and jumped, kicking both legs hard into the bald guy’s chest. She fell to the ground as the man stumbled backward, landing on a pile of shards. He winced in pain, the gun having fallen just out of his reach.
Tom fixed his gun back on the goon, but the other kidnapper tried to climb over the bed to get to the bald man’s dropped gun. Roxanne clamored to her feet and retrieved the gun before he got there, holding it in her tied-together hands.
Roxanne lifted her arms, outstretched and holding the gun, pointing it from one man to the other. “We’re going to go,” she said. She stepped backward one foot at a time, training the gun on the men. When she almost reached the door, she veered away from the goon Tom was pointing a gun at and Tom opened the door. They dashed out.
“Come on,” Roxanne said, running toward the stairs. “We have to go. Put the gun in your pocket.” Before they entered the stairwell, Tom untied her hands. His touch brushing against her hands zapped her with a vibrant jolt. Despite her ordeal, her face radiated at Tom. She’d needed a savior after all, and Tom came through for her.
“I told you I can’t aim,” he said, disappointed.
“That’s okay. You didn’t hit the bullseye, but you hit an outside target. Maybe not the big prize but enough to win a keychain,” she grinned at him.
Thanks to the fire alarm, the hallway was empty by that time, but there remained a few stragglers on the stairs. They stepped into the lobby filled with hundreds of other guests and sauntered toward the doors.
They walked away from the hotel, looking back to make sure the goons weren’t following them. A minute later, Roxanne’s dad drove up.
“Dad?” Roxanne said.
“Hop in, I’ll explain later,” he said. Nestled together in the back seat, Tom hugged Roxanne. She finally felt safe again after her scary night.
They passed a fire truck going in the direction of the hotel.
“Don’t worry. I let my old buddy, Grant, at the fire department know I pulled the fire alarm by mistake. I did some construction work at the station years back,” her father said.
“It was you?” Tom said in surprise.
“What did you think I was going to do? Just leave her in there? I don’t know what was taking you so long, but I had to act – to save my little girl.”
“Thanks, Dad. I was hoping Tom would get the ping and do something. Having you on my side is an extra bonus.”
“I’ve been circling around, trying to find you,” her dad said. “If you hadn’t come out when you did, I was going to send Grant through the hotel to bust every door.”
“My bad luck with shoes continues,” Roxanne picked up her leg and wiggled her toes in her socks, “but at least I’ve got the two best heroes in Memphis.
Tom looked at Roxanne, and they chuckled together.