He wondered if the elevators were working. Then he recalled Chappy’s words: “practically everything in this place is fully functional.” He could only hope that included the elevators.
Tom sprinted across the lobby to the bank of elevators, pressed the “up” button with his elbow and held his breath. The door slid open with a quiet whoosh.
Awesome! he thought.
He hopped in, pushed the button for the fifteenth floor for no particular reason except that it seemed far away from where he stood now, located the ‘close door’ button and pressed it repeatedly. He heard another gunshot come from the lobby and the muffled sound of running madmen through the door as it closed.
Tom nervously watched the floor indicator panel as the car ascended. The elevator slowed down and stopped at the fifteenth floor, the doors slid open and he bolted out into total darkness.
Perhaps not such a good choice, he thought to himself. Were the lights off on all of the upper floors or had he just happened to choose the only one that was?
No time to ponder-he caught the door before it closed and re-entered the elevator.
The odds of the power being on were probably greater near the lobby, he theorized. Although he didn’t really want to go back toward the pursuing posse, he knew he was going to have to chance it. Besides, he wasn’t even sure if these bad boys were still in the hotel at the moment. They may have thought he fled outside instead-in fact, that was most likely the case. After all, they didn’t know that he knew Kyle and Erin-so there was no reason for him to stay in the hotel as far as they were concerned. They would assume that he had fled the same way he had come in: via Park Avenue.
Of course! he thought. Right now was his best shot at finding Erin while they were out looking for his ass.
He pressed the button for the fifth floor. He would try it and then work his way down. Erin would most likely be on one of the lower floors.
The doors closed and the elevator plummeted at a fairly good clip. When it reached the fifth floor, Tom crossed his fingers as the door opened.
The floor was lit up like a Christmas tree!
He stepped out and looked in either direction, noting that the floor consisted of numbered guest rooms as far as he could see. He went to the nearest room and turned the knob. Locked. He glanced at the ring of keys in his hand, wondering if there was a master key to the rooms or a key to the handcuffs.
He stepped over to one of the chairs sitting near the elevator, turned around and dropped the keys onto it. He searched for a small key that might be the one for the cuffs. Most of the dozen or so keys were of average size and appeared to be door keys. There was also a GM car key-perhaps the one for the hearse.
Tom spotted a tiny brass key that looked like it could be the one he sought. Excitedly, he picked up the key ring, went over to a mirror and began the arduous task of trying to slip the key into the tiny hole of the cuff. Sweating profusely, he eventually managed to get the key into the hole and nearly snapped his wrist fumbling around trying to get the key to rotate inside the hole. Five minutes later, he heard a crisp click as the manacle sprang away from his left wrist, freeing his hand.
A victorious smile came to Tom’s face as he brought his hands around and unlocked the other cuff.
He’d done it, by god!
Tom picked up the keys, chose one randomly and tried it in one of the guest room doors. The key went in but wouldn’t turn. What he needed to do now was find the room holding Erin captive and worry about the keys later.
The problem was that she could be anywhere in this huge hotel and there was really no way to know where to start. He would just have to give it his best shot and pray for a miracle before Chappy and his entourage returned to the Waldorf.
He quickly worked his way down the corridor, knocking on each door and listening for a sound. Then he advanced to the adjacent hallway and repeated the process until he’d covered nearly the entire fifth floor. When he suddenly heard a sound coming from the direction of the elevators, he froze where he stood and then quietly backtracked toward the direction of the sound. He arrived at the end of the hallway and cautiously peeked around the corner.
At first, he didn’t see anything. Then suddenly, he saw the door to the stairway open and someone stepped out into the hallway.
It was Bummer!
Tom thought Bummer had spotted him so he ran down the corridor, thankful that it was carpeted. He could only pray that Bummer wasn’t headed toward him because if that were the case, he was a goner. The corridor dead-ended and he would have no time to get inside any of the rooms.
He heard Bummer running down the hall toward him and started looking around for a possible escape route. There was nothing. Bummer would be rounding the corner any second.
Tom tried the handle of the nearest guest room door and couldn’t believe it-the door was unlocked! Quickly, he opened it, ran inside and closed the door behind him. He slid the deadbolt as quietly as he could, praying that Bummer wouldn’t hear “Room service,” he heard just outside the door.
Bummer had found him.
Tom glanced around the room then heard a huge crash at the door. He turned around and saw the sharp edge of an ax sticking out where it had sliced through the door.
Feeling like he was in a scene from The Shining, Tom watched in horror as the ax blade withdraw then sliced into the door again about a half-inch to the right of the first hole. He ran over to the bed, grabbed a lamp and stood off to the side. It was at that moment that he spotted another door in the room with a deadbolt on it.
A door that led to the adjoining room!
Tom ran over to the door, slid open the dead bolt and tried the doorknob. It turned. He opened the door, ran into the adjoining room and locked the door behind him. He was safe for the moment.
But how long would it take for Bummer to break into the other room then proceed to this room?
He needed to get away quickly or he would be a dead man.
Tom heard the ax continuously crashing into the wood as he stepped over to the room entrance. Quietly, with his heart beating hard in his chest, he cracked the door an inch and looked out into the corridor. Fortunately, the door swung in the direction that allowed him to see Bummer next door hacking the hell out of the door with his ax. Unfortunately, there would be nothing standing between him and Bummer once he ran out into the hall.
So he would have to wait until Bummer axed his way through the door then take off like a bat out of hell.
“You just wait till I get in there, asshole!” Bummer grunted, short of breath from his labors. “I’m gonna make you look like a pile of raw ground beef!”
Tom watched as Bummer swung his ax one more time then poked his hand through the gaping hole in the door. He heard the deadbolt slide and watched as Bummer swung open the door. The moment he went inside, Tom bolted out of the room.
“Gotcha!” Tom heard the stocky slob shout the moment he hit the hallway. He sped after Tom and was directly behind him in an instant. Tom suddenly turned around and saw Bummer holding the ax high over his head, poised to strike.
That’s when Tom swung the lamp as hard as he could into Bummer’s fat face.
The boy was so shocked that he dropped the ax and simply stood there dumbfounded for a second, a look of hideous stupidity on his face. Tom swung again, this time landing the brass base of the lamp squarely into Bummer’s jaw.
Blood literally squirted out as Bummer howled like an animal. Tom hesitated a moment, then gathered up all his strength and let him have it one more time, this time from overhead into his huge hairless skull.
Bummer slumped and fell like a limp dishcloth onto the floor, out like a light.
Or dead as a doornail-Tom wasn’t really sure.