“Oh, so we’re generalizing, are we? This might be a good time to say something about business tycoons who rape and pillage the economy.”
She was so easy, he thought with a grin. Cathy had a temper, and he enjoyed pricking it from time to time. She always responded to the bait.
“I have never raped or pillaged in my life,” he said.
“I don’t doubt that. I’m just pointing out that generalizations can be limiting.”
“Sort of like saying all blondes are bimbos.”
“Exactly.”
He closed his eyes and wondered what she looked like. “You’re a blonde and you’re definitely not a bimbo.”
“I don’t think that’s a compliment, so I’m not going to say thank you.”
He chuckled. “All right. You win. We’ll read the biography. But it had better be interesting.”
“You’ll love it,” she promised. “I’ll go to the bookstore—”
A sudden, loud shrieking sound cut through her sentence.
Stone straightened and clutched the receiver. “Cathy? What’s that noise?”
“I don’t know.” He could barely make out her words over the noise. “I think it’s the fire alarm. Hold on.”
There was a click, followed by silence. Even as tension filled him, he reminded himself that she was on the seventh floor of a locked building. There was a security team on duty. She was perfectly safe. But the tightness in his gut changed from pleasure to uneasiness.
Less than a minute later, she returned to the line. “I’m not sure what it is,” she said, obviously worried. He could still hear the alarm in the background, but it wasn’t as loud.
“I can’t get the security people on the phone,” she continued, “But according to the system panel, the smoke detectors have been triggered.”
“Did you call 911?”
“No. It’s probably nothing.”
“Call them right now. Better that they come out on a false alarm than something happens and they’re not there. Put me on hold again—I’ll wait.”
“I don’t think—”
“Cathy! Do it.”
“All right. Just a sec.”
This time she was gone longer. When she returned, her voice was thick with panic. “Stone, there’s smoke in the hallway. I went and checked before I called the fire department, and it’s creeping up from the elevator shafts. I don’t know what to do.”
He cursed under his breath. “How far are you from the emergency stairs?”
“They’re at the other end of the hall, but they’re locked. I don’t have a key.”
“What? They’re supposed to be open at all times, aren’t they?”
“Yes. But there were a few break-ins over the past couple of months, so they started locking the stairs at night. Someone from security rides up with me in the elevator when I come on my shift and they check on me several times in the night. When my shift is over, I’m escorted back downstairs. It’s never been a problem before.”
She’d never been trapped in a burning building before, either.
“It’s going to be fine,” he told her with a confidence he wasn’t sure he believed. “The fire department will be there shortly.”
“Stone, I’m scared.”
