He stumbled backward, and his spine smacked the wall behind him. Barely able to draw a breath into his constricted lungs, he frantically patted his jacket and then his pants pockets for his cell phone. Nothing.Damn. He must’ve left it in the car. He never left his phone. Never...
The thick blackness surrounded him. Squeezed him so that he jerked at his bow tie, clawing at material that seconds ago had been perfectly comfortable.
Air.
He needed air.
But all he inhaled, all he swallowed, was more of the obsidian viscosity that clogged his nostrils, throat and chest.
In the space of seconds, his worst, most brutal nightmare had come to life.
He was trapped in the dark.
Alone.
And he was drowning in it.
Two
Blackout.
Malfunction. Doors locked.
Remain calm.
The words shouted in anything but calm voices outside the bathroom door bombarded Isobel. Perched on the settee in the outer room of the ladies’ restroom, she hunched over her cell phone, which had only 2 percent battery life left.
“C’mon,” she ordered her fingers to cooperate as she fumbled over the text keyboard. In her nerves, she kept misspelling words, anddamn autocorrect, it kept “fixing” the words that were actually right. Finally she finished her message and hit send.
Mom, is everything okay? How is Aiden?
Fingers clutching the little burner phone, she—not for the first time—wished she could afford a regular cell. But with her other responsibilities, that bill had been one of the first things she’d cut. Constantly buying minutes and battling a battery that didn’t hold a charge presented a hassle, but the prepaid phone did the job. After seconds that seemed like hours, a message popped up on the screen.
He’s fine, honey. Sleeping. We’re all good. Stay put. It’s a blackout and we’ve been advised to remain inside. I love you and take care of yourself.
Relief washed over Isobel in a deluge. If she hadn’t already been sitting down, she would’ve sunk to the floor. For the first time since the world had plunged into darkness, she could breathe.
After several moments, she located the flashlight app and aimed it in the direction of where she believed the door to be. The deep blackness seemed to swallow up the light, but she spied the handle and sighed. Without ventilation, the area was growing stuffy. The hallway had to be better. At the very least, she wouldn’t feel like the walls were closing in on her. Claustrophobia had never been a problem for her, but this was enough to have anyone on edge.
She grabbed the handle and pulled the door open, the weak beam illuminating the floor only feet in front of her. As soon as she stepped out into the hall, the light winked, then disappeared.
“No, not yet,” she muttered, flipping the phone over. But, nope, the cell had died. “Dammit.”
Frustration and not-a-little fear scrabbled up her chest, lodging there. Inhaling a deep breath and holding it, she forced herself to calm down. Okay. One thing her two years in Los Angeles had granted her was a sense of direction. The ballroom lay to the left. Follow the wall until it gave way to the small alcove and the side entrance she’d exited.
No problem. She could do this.
Probably.
Maybe.
Releasing that same gulp of air, she shuffled forward, hands groping until they knocked against the wall. Step one down.
With halting steps, she slid along, palms flattened, skimming. The adjacent corridor shouldn’t be too far...
Her chest bumped into a solid object seconds after her hands collided with it. A person. A big person, if the width of the shoulders and chest under her fingers were anything to go by.
“Oh, God. I’m sorry.” She snatched her arms back. Heat soared up her neck and poured into her face. She’d just felt up a man in the dark.
