‘Goddam it man! Do you have to kill him? There must be another way.’
The wheezy low voice sounded like General Douglas, but she couldn’t be sure.
‘Have you got a better idea? This is getting out of hand. If we don’t do something soon there’ll be total anarchy here, for Christ sake.’
Who were they plotting to kill? Laura wanted to demand an answer, but common sense told her to stay hidden. She strained to hear more, but the voices drifted away until she could no longer hear the conversation. What could she do anyway? Who could she trust? Josh was the only person, but he was struggling to deal with the loss of his family, and had lost the drive and ambition she had once admired. Instead, she crept away like a guilty child caught listening at her parent’s door. Back in her small apartment she felt recharged. Now she had something to focus on, she had to find out who was plotting to kill whom.
Chapter Forty-three
Washington, June 9
Kathy Martin had just arrived at her executive office in Alexandria, Washington at 8.30am on June 9 when she heard about the Tsunami warnings from her excited staff. Kathy had started her personnel agency two years prior, and what had began as a small home based, one-person operation, had flourished into one of the most successful personnel agencies in town. She had moved into these offices on the sixth floor overlooking the Potomac River only six months earlier, after searching the city for just the right place.
Brad Jones was a personable twenty year-old chosen by Kathy to be her secretary, following the recent trend toward hiring male personal assistants, and Kathy wanted her male clients to feel she also embraced this practice. She had not been sorry, as Brad was a delight to have around. He worked hard, did not mind the long hours, and it was a bonus to have a man around to do some of those little things required to keep an office running smoothly. He idolised Kathy and was not afraid to show his admiration, showering her with attention, cleaning her desk, earning the title Kathy’s little boy.
Brad showed this concern by trying to convince Kathy that they should close the office for the day and move to safe ground.
‘Don’t be silly Brad. Alexandria’s safe, the south dam will protect us. Besides, they said it would be eight to ten hours before it arrives in this vicinity.’
Kathy had sent her staff home but refused to leave herself. ‘I’m working on the Horsefield account Brad, if we get that account it’ll support us for years. I’ve got to have it finished by Thursday, that only gives me two days.’
‘If you insist on staying, then I’m staying with you.’ Brad said.
‘Thought you might.’ Kathy grinned.
‘Yes, but—’
‘No buts. We’ve got stacks of work to get through. I promise we’ll be out of here by six.’
All day Brad checked the internet and listened to the radio turned down low. He learned from the building manager that all the other offices had closed and he was unable to concentrate on his tasks, disturbed by the frantic activity he could see on the river. Sirens wailed throughout the city all day, and surprisingly the majority of boats were heading up river.
Brad popped his head into Kathy’s office. ‘Why d’you think everyone’s heading up river?’
‘Don’t know. Maybe trying to find a safe anchor.’
‘I still think we should pack up and go home.’ Brad muttered.
Kathy waved him away and went on with her work, speaking in a calm voice to her computer display on her office wall.
At four-fifteen Brad had taken a coffee break to watch the action from the balcony facing the river. Over the sounds of the sirens and Vetos, he heard a tremendous thundering roar. For a moment he thought it was a huge rolling thunderstorm. He turned his eyes to the east and in the fading light saw the sky turn an inky black.
Suddenly the window behind him exploded with a heart stopping crash. Brad instinctively hurled himself to the balcony floor, covering his head with his arms. Glass showered in all directions covering him, and slicing a large gash in his arm.
Kathy ran to the balcony and stumbled as the wild wind force hit her. ‘Brad! Are you all right? What happened? What on earth was that?’
‘I’m okay.’ Brad said, picking himself up and brushing glass from his body.
Just then two police boats went by, lights flashing, sirens screeching. A voice on a loudhailer warned of flooding. Brad and Kathy turned and could not believe their eyes when both boats were picked up by a huge surging wave and carried eastward out of control. A mountain of black water began creeping up and over the river banks. Brad had never seen anything like it in his life.
‘I told you we should’ve gone home! Look! The river’s rising too quickly! The dam must have burst.’ By the time he finished speaking the mounting surge had reached the base of their building and they watched in horror as it continued to rise, flooding the first floor and moving forcefully upward toward the second.
‘We’d better get out of here fast! Brad cried.
‘How? Where can we go, the bottom floors are flooding!’
‘The emergency stairs! They go up to the roof.’
They picked their way carefully over the glass on the office floor to the emergency exit door. When they entered the stairwell the thick door slammed behind them, isolating them from the office and increasing the deafening thunderous roar outside. The air smelled of concrete and dust.
Kathy paused. ‘My phone! I should’ve grabbed my sat-phone.’ She yelled. ‘It’s on my desk. We’ll need it to get help.’
‘I’ll go back for it.’ Brad said grabbing the door as he spoke.
‘It won’t open!’ he cried.
‘Oh, shit!’ Kathy exclaimed. ‘I forgot. The door only opens out. It’s an emergency exit. You can’t get in that way. Security.’
‘Great! Now we really are stuck! We’ll have to try to signal some help from the roof.’
‘What in the dark! We don’t even have a torch. We’ll probably be stuck there until the morning!’
‘Don’t yell at me. It’s not my fault. You’re the one who refused to go home.’
‘Maybe someone’s still on one of the floors above.’
‘Bloody mad if they are!’ Brad said as they hurried up the stairs.
He banged on the door of the sixth floor hoping someone had been bloody mad and stayed behind, but there was no reply.
‘C’mon. There’s nobody there.’ Kathy urged. ‘Let’s go up to the roof.’
The stairs from each emergency door led upward to a landing, then turned before leading further up to the next floor. Very small fixed plate-glass windows were positioned high on the exterior wall to allow light into the stairwell, way too small for a man to crawl through, if they could get up that high. They arrived on the landing to the roof top exit door and Brad was horrified to see a large padlock bolted firmly in place.
He pulled at the padlock. ‘What the hell! The doors locked! How the bloody hell did they think people are supposed to escape!’
‘You’re s’posed to go down not up!’
He turned to peer at Kathy. ‘What if there’s a fire and you can’t go down?’
‘The doors are fire proof! I um, have the key to the lock in my desk drawer.’
‘Fat lot of good that will do us now. Shit Kathy. We’re trapped in here!’
‘We’ll be okay. We’ll just have to wait it out until the water goes down. I’m going down to see how far the water has risen.’
Brad followed Kathy down the stairs. They reached the third floor before they saw the black menacing water filling the entire stair well below them. Kathy backed up the stairs watching it creeping slowly, silently toward her. ‘It’s reached the top of the second floor! How far up do you think it’ll come?’