She took a step toward the podium and raised the mic higher and leaned forward. “May I have your attention please? We’ve become aware of a security threat, and we need all of you to prepare to leave in an orderly manner. Your vehicles are being brought around so please—” Torie broke off at the sight of Noah propelling her dad into the room, a pistol jammed in his side.
Her gaze jetted to Joe, who’d seen them too. Noah marched her dad in lockstep to where she stood and jerked his thumb. “So you got away. But you’re too late. There’s no stopping this now. Get out of my way.”
Her dad was pale. Torie stepped away from the podium, and Joe and her aunt crowded beside her.
Joe slipped his arm around her waist, and she leaned into his strength. This was bad, very bad.
The door opened again, and ten security people were ushered in by a group of three men carrying large weapons. The security men were unarmed and their hands were zip-tied behind them. Torie thought the weapons might be AK-47s, though she was no gun expert. They looked big and dangerous.
“Over there.” One of the men gestured to a small alcove under the mezzanine. “Sit down and shut up.”
The security detail settled onto the floor. They seemed stunned.
Noah shoved her dad closer to the podium, then set the orange globe on top of it before speaking into the mic. “You’ve all sucked the blood of the common worker for far too long. Conceived right here in 1910, the Federal Reserve is nothing more than a cartel designed to make sure you continued to make money while the rest of us worked and slaved for you. You’re nothing more than slave owners keeping us all under your thumb. With your deaths, the world will sit up and take notice of the atrocities you’ve committed against humanity.”
At the word deaths the executives and politicians began to stir and talk among themselves.
An older gentleman held up his hand. “Sir, may I speak?”
“Your deeds have spoken for you.”
“Who are you?” a woman called.
He squared his shoulders. “I’m Noah Rogers. You bloodsuckers ran my business into the ground. I’ve tried to change things through the political system, but you’ve greased too many palms over the years. None of the Washington players are willing to give up the money pouring into their pockets. There’s no other way to stop the carnage except to shut you all down.”
Noah picked up the orange globe and thrust it into her dad’s hands. “All of us are prepared to die with you.”
Torie had seen a documentary, and she struggled for the name of the antidote it had mentioned. Could the men have taken it before they came here? What was it?
Atropine.
If Homeland Security knew, hopefully they were arranging for hospitals to be ready to treat everyone. If rescue got to them in time.
Noah’s gaze swept her way, then continued on to stare at the executives. “This globe is beautiful, isn’t it? Beautiful and deadly.”
Amelia came through one of the doors. She wore a flowing gown of dark blue, red, and yellow that made her almost look like Wonder Woman in formal wear with long gloves.
“Mom, I told you not to come in here. Get out!”
Amelia’s gaze locked on Torie’s dad, and she handed him something silver. “I had to be here to see justice done.”
Torie’s dad flexed his palm to look, and Torie saw it too—the Monopoly money bag token.
She was clearly part of this with her son.
* * *
Torie took another step closer to Amelia. “Can you live with the guilt that you’ve caused so many deaths in such a horrific way? Your son says everyone is prepared to die here today. Did he tell you that? Are you ready to suffocate when your muscles freeze and you can’t breathe?”
Amelia glanced at her son. “We aren’t dying. You all are. It’s about time the powerful know what it’s like to be helpless and at the mercy of other people.”
Some of the people sitting at the tables began to shout and stand. Gunfire erupted, and the air stank of gunpowder. A stately man in his sixties fell as the bullets struck his chest. Pandemonium erupted at the attack, and even Noah looked disoriented.
Joe leaped forward, and his arm looped around Amelia’s waist. He dragged her back with him as the older woman fought, in spite of being six inches shorter. He managed to get one of Amelia’s hands behind her and reached for the other one, but Amelia wrenched out of his grip for a moment until Joe seized her and managed to get his arm locked across her neck. He held her in front of him as a shield.
Noah gestured to one of his men. “Don’t just stand there—shoot him before he hurts my mother.”
Joe turned toward the gunmen with Amelia in front of him. He stared at each of the three men, then at Noah. “Throw down your guns or I’ll kill her. I can break her neck with one move. This is already over.”
Torie stepped to his side. “Homeland Security is already on their way. Your plan is over. You’ll never get out of here alive.”
Joe tightened his grip on Amelia’s neck, and the older woman began to sag as her air was more restricted. “Throw down your weapons!”
“Do it,” Noah said. “I don’t want my mother hurt.”
The big guns clanged to the floor, and one of the guests rushed over to pick up the guns. He found a pocketknife to cut the zip ties and freed the security guys, then handed them the guns. They cuffed the three terrorists.
“Let go of my mother,” Noah said.
Joe nodded and released Amelia. The older woman stumbled and nearly fell, but Noah grabbed her and guided her to a seat. He shot a poisonous glare Joe’s direction.
Even a man like Noah loved his mother. Torie should have felt sorry for him and Amelia, but she couldn’t find any sympathy. What he’d been prepared to do was horrible.
Joe grabbed a spare set of cuffs and seized Noah’s hands, forcing them behind his back. He snapped on the handcuffs but left Amelia’s hands free. She was still panting and didn’t seem to have the strength to fight anymore.
The fight drained out of Torie, and her knees felt weak. She sank to a chair at a nearby table and exhaled. Her hands shook as she reached for a glass of water.
Joe’s hands came down on her shoulders. “You okay?”
“All the adrenaline left me.” She tipped her head back and looked up into his face. “You were amazing.”
“I wanted to hurt her. I never would have guessed I could grab someone like that.” He leaned down and kissed her gently. “You figured it out, Torie. You saved all these people.”
“And you. If you hadn’t found the sarin gas, no one would have believed us.”
“We make a pretty good team.”
She leaned her cheek against his arm. “I guess we do.”
A shriek pierced the air, and she jerked around to see Amelia holding the orange globe above her head as she advanced on Torie’s dad. Tears mingled with mascara tracked down her face. “You’ve ruined my son! I hate you!”
Her dad held out his hands. “Give me the globe, Amelia. You don’t want to do this. If you break the globe, I’ll be dead, but so will Noah. And so will you. I’m sorry. I never meant to hurt him or you.”
Step by step he advanced until he was right in front of her. “Hand it to me carefully. You don’t want to be the one to kill your own boy. Easy.”