wrath of the Sea Queen (144 page)

"
Salma, where are you going?  Wait for Ben,
" Vin called her.

"
Vin, don't let Ben follow us, please.  I
wi
ll be all right.  Neal won't hurt me.  He wants information, and then he
wi
ll let me go.  But, if he sees Ben coming after him, he said he will do whatever is necessary to get away.  He has a gun, Vin.  Please, make Ben stop.
"

"
Don't worry, Salma.  Stall him.  Slow him down any chance you get.  We'll get you out of this.
"

Vin had worked his way over to Ben while he spoke to Salma and reached out to grab his arm.  Ben stopped at Vin's indication
and hearing
Salma's
reference to the gun;
but
he
did not take his eyes off the stairwell where Salma disappear
ed
a few moments earlier.

"What
else did she say
?"  Ben asked.

"She said
he wants information
.  Salma is afraid that he will shoot you if you follow them," Vin shared
the additional details
.

"I agree.  I don't think he wants to hurt
her
," Ben said as he started moving
toward
the stairwell once again.

"What are you going to do, Ben?"

"I don't know yet.  But, I
sure as hell
am not going to let him walk out of here with Salma, gun or not!
"  Ben started moving again.

"
This
confirms the answer to
at least one of our questions.  Now we know
for certain
who was behind the harassing, government letters.  I intend to put a stop to that problem h
ere and now," Ben concluded.

In hindsight, i
t seemed obvious.  Dr. Jacobs was trying to steal Salma's research for the money it
c
ould generate.  Despite what Salma might
want to
believe
,
Ben knew there was only one way the man could successfully get away with that.  There could be no one to dispute his claim.  While Neal may not want to hurt Salma yet, Ben was certain that would be the eventual outcome.

In the next instant,
Salma and Dr. Jacobs return
ed
from the stairwell
in a rush
.  It
was
apparently blocked
by flames
.  Everyone was trapped in the room.
 
Ben r
eacted immediately
from
his position
only a few steps away
.  He r
ushed
forward
and
snatched the gun away
from Dr. Jacobs
before the doctor realized that Ben was there. 
R
escu
ing
Salma from
her captor's
clutches at the same time
,
Ben
pushed her behind his
own
body
where Vin caught hold of her
.  This was the second time
Ben had been
forced to
plac
e
himself between
his wife
and Dr. Jacobs. 
Ben did not intend for there to be a third. 
Vin
moved
up to stand
beside Ben.  The two men effectively prevented Neal from getting
anywhere
near Salma a
gain
.

As
Neal
was about to
lunge forward in a final effort to
circumvent
Ben, a
large piece of flooring gave way
beneath
Dr. Jacobs
' feet
.  The doctor fell backward into the disappearing stairwell.  Ben reached
out
, but could not catch him in time.  Neal screamed in pain for a minute and then fell silent.  Vin looked over at Ben
with a knowing expression
. 
His
fate
would
be their own
if they
could not
find a way out
of the room
soon. 
Now that Salma was safely
at
his
side
,
Ben
pulled her down to
the
floor where the air was
slightly
easier to breathe
.
He
then
turn
ed
his attention to the fire.

Vin was already considering the problem. 
This was one time
when h
e
wished C
a
eli
was
nearby.
 
Vin took a moment to try calling out to her
through their link
, but he could not reach her. 
He could sense her, but there seemed to be a layer of dense fog between them.  His call went unanswered. 
There was too much chaos around him
to focus properly
.  The floor beneath their feet was beginning to get uncomfortably warm.  Many people
were
already
at
the windows trying to break the glass
while others had moved toward the outer edges of the room
where the floor was cooler
.  It seemed to be the mo
st
secure place to be
at the moment
.  The three began to move carefully a
long the edge of
the room, staying as low to the floor as they could
, heading toward the rear entrance
.

A
s they neared the mid
point
of the room, a
section of the wall buckled next to Vin
, sending a huge chunk of sheet rock falling
on top of
them
. 
Vin
's quick reflexes allowed him to raise
an aerial barrier to prevent it from
hitting
him or anyone near him
.  Unfortunately
,
he
was
not quick enough to catch all of the objects that
were
hanging on the wall
before they flew loose
.  A
heavy
painting tumbled from its bracket
and fell seconds before the wall
.  The sharp corner of a thick, metal frame struck Vin on the right side of his head, drawing blood and causing an immediate knot to rise.  Vin was
instantly
dizzy and his vision blurred.  The room began to spin around him.  He
forced himself to
stand still
, holding
onto a chair in order to regain his
equilibrium
.  While
Ben and Salma
waited
with
Vin
, Apela, Maku, and another man
, presumably Pete,
worked their way over to
join
them.

"
I might know another way out.  There is a s
hort
hallway through the coatroom
at the back
.  I
f it is not blocked by the flames
, it will get us out
.  I will show you where it is, and then come back for the rest of these folks if it is passable,
"
Maku instructed.  As they began to move in that direction, the floor directly below Salma's feet dropped away. 
A hole
large enough for her to
fall through
opened
as a
ball of flame and smoke shot upward from below.

Vin reacted i
mmediately
to place a
nother
protective
barrier, this time arou
nd Salma
,
so that the heat and flam
e would not seriously hurt her
. 
Because
of his
head
injury,
Vin
could
not focus well enough to keep her from
inhaling smoke or feeling the heat from the forest of flames beneath her
. 
Worse, Vin could not stop Salma from falling. 
He could not use the air to lif
t
Salma up. 
Thankfully, both Ben and Maku managed to do that.  Each
of them
grabbed one of Salma's arms as she fell and were now pulling her up and away from the gaping hole.  It took them no more than a minute. 
As they
tugged her to the relative safety of the conference room
, brightness filled the area surrounding Salma.

"
Don't be
afraid, Sister.  I will ease your
pain.  Your skill
s
will be needed soon, and you must be well enough to use them.
"

Salma heard the voice as if someone whispered in her ear.  She
assumed
it
to be
one of
Vin's
angel
ic
friends
.  From
the comforting sensation his touch evoked
,
and the lessening of the burning sensation on her legs,
Salma
guessed
that it must be Raphael.  S
alma
was amazed that he chose to help her.  What was she going to have to do that could be important enough to send
an archangel
calling on her?  Salma
had
only a moment to consider it before being
hauled
up to the
relative safety of the
floor above.