"Shawn! Shawn!"
Shawn turned around and saw Daphne almost running towards him but trying not to look too obvious about it. Was she that hungry? he wondered. She reached for his hand and told him, "We've got to go. Now."
"What? Where do you want to go? I'm too hungry to go—"
"Shawn," Daphne said urgently, "I don't know the whole story about what you did but those thugs are right outside and they're coming in. We have to get the hell out of here."
Shawn saw that Daphne was right. He also saw that Baldy 1 and Baldy 2 had seen him looking at them and he could see them shouting at him though he couldn't hear them. Why do they bother to shout when they know they can't be heard?
"Yeah, we gotta move," said Shawn and with Daphne in tow, ran towards the side exit of the Starbucks outlet just as Grekov and Druganov ran through the front. Shawn could hear people exclaiming "Hey!" and imagined them shoving customers out of their way as they ran through the cafe. He wondered why those two just didn't exit from the front and run after him from there. Wasn't that easier than following him through the side door? No, wait, Shawn thought. Why would he want it to be easier for them? Shawn almost laughed but thought that Daphne would think laughter at a time like this maniacal and absurd. So he shut it and picked up speed.
"Are you ok, Daph?" he yelled to her behind him.
"Yes, I am, don't worry. Keep going!" Daphne yelled back, panting.
Shawn was not much of an exercise buff and he hardly ran or jogged but it was amazing what two scary ass men chasing you can do to your stamina. He did get a stitch or two (or a hundred) but he kept going. Now and then, he would turn around to check out where Grekov and Druganov were at. They were always a few steps behind them, not enough to touch them but not far away enough to stop to catch their breath either. Shawn was terrified that they might have guns with them but running zig-zag was not an option as the road was right there beside them and he didn't feel like dashing into oncoming traffic. That would just make the Russians' job easier.
He also looked back to catch glimpses of Daphne to make sure she was ok. She looked pained but would smile every time he turned around. He felt so bad that somehow, he had dragged Daphne into this but also glad because if he hadn't, God only knows what type of damage would have been done to him by now.
The Russians were relentless in their pursuit and yelled expletives at him and Shawn was glad they were in Russian so that passers-by could not understand them and laugh. Although once, he wasn't sure if it was Baldy 1 or Baldy 2 but someone yelled "dog faith!" at him which Shawn was pretty sure was supposed to be "dog face".
There were times when Shawn felt like his lungs were on fire. He prayed that the Russians would soon give up because he had not much left in him and Daphne echoed the same sentiments when she said, "Shawn—I can't—I can't do this—much longer."
Shawn glanced around and saw that he was now closer to Rockefeller Centre than Herald Square which had passed in such a blur that Shawn didn't even have a chance to ogle at Miranda Kerr or Alessandra Ambrosio or Adriana Lima or which other model it was in the latest bikini or lingerie on the banner of the huge Victoria Secrets store opposite Macy's. They had even taken to their chasers' tactics of shoving people out of their way. They had run so far so it was no wonder neither of them could carry on very much longer.
Then Shawn had a brilliant idea. But he needed to be sure it would work. If not, he'd just be running into a death trap, ensnaring Daphne along with him. He turned around to look at Daphne and assess the Baldies behind them who looked, well, pissed off as hell. Shawn turned back around, whipped out his cell phone and dialed the number of his favorite manager in the world.
***
Lucia Gomez was at the Marriott Marquis overseeing the work of a new part-timer, Stephen "Steel" Wattle. That was how he had introduced himself to Lucia at the interview. His saying his full name was out of courtesy because after that, he had said, "But you can call me Steel." And to prove his point, he flexed his arm muscles which indeed did look steely to Lucia and kissed them. First on the right, then on the left.
Not that Lucia was dying to call him Steel, but he did not look like a Steven or a Wattle either. Standing six feet tall with a thick, solid body and arms and legs to match it, he really did embody the characteristics of steel. So resignedly, Lucia nodded and took to calling him Steel during the interview, thinking that it was going to be a momentary thing because how could this hotel possibly hire him?
Two days later, Lucia's boss had informed her that Stephen "Steel" Wattle had been hired.
So here she was, watching Steel carry a broken cabinet made of solid mahogany all by himself out of a hotel room he was cleaning when she got the call.
"Watch the door frame Steph— uh Steel!" she yelled as she swiped her phone to answer Shawn's call. "Hello? Shawn? I'm kinda busy right—wait what? Why are you painting? Whoa ok slow down, querido. You want me to what? Uh, ok. Like now? You'll tell me what's going on then? Shawn, is that the Russian yelling—"
But Shawn had hung up. Lucia felt perplexed at what he wanted her to do but she had no time to question him before he put the call down. She walked out of the room, found Steel flexing and studying his arm muscles and told him that she had something to take care of and that when he was done, he could take a break to moisturize those muscles.
***
Good. Lucia had said she'd help him even though she had a million questions. So now it was settled. Shawn knew that he was headed back to the Marriott Marquis. He was so close, on the other side of Times Square. He needed to turn left around that corner and head to Planet Hollywood. Daphne must have realized exactly what he was up to as she said, "Shawn! We're at Times Square. We're—going to the—Marriott aren't we?"
"Yes, Daph!" Shawn yelled back over his shoulder. "Nearly there, trust me! Just a little bit more. Come on, let's put some space between us and those goons!"
So with a last burst of energy, they sprinted towards the direction of the Marriott Marquis. In less than a minute, Shawn saw the building emerge just in front of the corner and he turned back to grin and wave at the Russians. He knew he probably shouldn't antagonize them but he really couldn't resist.
Then there it was; looming above them. Shawn had never been so glad to see the hotel in his life. And soon enough too because he and Daphne could not have run any further. From behind him, he heard Daphne exclaim thankfully, "Yes!" and together, they raced up the steps of the Marriott and into the opulent lobby.
***
Steel didn't want to moisturize his muscles like what Lucia had told him to do. He didn't think that moisturizer was for men. Instead, he followed Lucia down to see why she had rushed off the way she had. From her phone call, Steel had gleaned that Shawn might be in trouble. He liked Shawn as Shawn was always so nice to him since Steel had started work here and he was very funny too. And if Shawn was in trouble, he wanted to help him out. So he ran down seven flights of stairs thinking that he might see a whole scenario with Shawn in a lot of shit, only to find Lucia doing a strange thing to the elevators.
***
Lucia couldn't believe she was doing this. Nope, she was not being paid enough to stand around looking like an idiot. But that's exactly what she was doing. See, Shawn had told her to keep one of the three elevators in the lobby consistently open. That was it. And he sounded like he was in a rush. He had said to do it now. So each time, Lucia stood at the base of the elevator and pressed the button. Then, she would stare at the empty, open elevator and when it started to close, she would press the button again and the entire cycle would repeat. She could not constantly hold on to the button because an alarm would sound and people would stare and she would look like the biggest idiot in the world.
This cycle had been going on for five minutes. Once, an elderly couple who had just finished checking into the hotel walked over to the lift lobby only to find Lucia seemingly holding it open for them. The old lady smiled at Lucia and told her husband what great service this was. Lucia was just glad they had witnessed this serenity in the hotel before the storm came. Before Shawn whipped through it like the mother of all storms. She had no idea what Shawn was going to do once he reached but she knew it wouldn't be good.
And Lucia was right. A few minutes after she had started the elevator cycle, she saw Shawn and that girl (what did she say her name was?) come racing through the large, glass doors and run right towards her. Three seconds later, she understood what (not who because she didn't consider thugs human) they were running from. She saw the bald Russian men she had faced off just yesterday dashing through the doors as well. They were red in the face and were also out of breath like Shawn and Daphne but the difference was that these Russians had such angry expressions on their faces that Lucia got frightened for just a second. She now understood why she had to make sure an elevator was on the ground floor for them just so they could ditch these men and stay on a particular floor of the hotel until they left or, Lucia thought, escorted out of the building by security.
But she realized that even if Shawn and that girl pressed any button in the elevator, it would take forever for the elevator to register the floor and then eventually close its doors.
Steel was among the many, watching this commotion. The loud thuds produced by all of them on the marble flooring echoed throughout the usually quiet and respectable lobby and came as quite a shock to guests and hotel staff alike and they all stopped and stared. The Russians still calling out expletives to Shawn and maybe Daphne did not help the situation either.
Steel realized what Lucia had which was that Shawn and Daphne were not going to make it out of the elevators alive because the Russians would step into the elevator after them. He looked around, wondering what he could do to cause a distraction because it looked like Lucia had just frozen in place, too shocked to do anything logical.
He saw that along the walls, the hotel had mounted brass candlestick holders, very much like the ones from his favorite Disney movie, Beauty and the Beast. They were not lit as they were for decoration only. Without really putting much effort into it, Steel managed to break the holders whole from the wall. Good, he thought as he assessed them. They were very heavy and they'd do the job nicely. Then, he flung it one by one at where he thought the Russians would be two steps from now and he ducked behind the wall. He heard two sickening thuds as the candlestick holders collided with something hollow. That would be the Russians' heads, he thought and he peeked a little from behind the wall. It wasn't the first time he was throwing heavy objects at people. His aim was spot on. The candlestick holders had smacked the Russians' heads hard and even Druganov went down for a few seconds before shaking it off. Grekov went down, not moving.
But a few seconds were all Shawn and Daphne needed. As they ran past Lucia and into the elevator, she suddenly unfroze as she realized that Shawn and that girl could not go anywhere without her keycard. "You'll need this," Lucia said and scrambled to undo her hotel keycard from her chain.
"Thanks so much for everything, Lucia," Shawn said earnestly. "And tell Steel that I love him. I'll see you around." Shawn flashed the keycard and pressed the nineteenth floor. The elevator door closed just as Druganov smacked it hard with a meaty fist, the hit reverberating within their elevator, reminding Shawn and Daphne what could have happened to them had they gotten caught.
Throughout the ride to the nineteenth floor, Shawn and Daphne wheezed heavily, caught their breaths and also laughed. They laughed a lot. They turned to each other with huge smiles on their faces, so glad that they had escaped God knows what that the Russians had planned for them.
As the elevator made a 'dng' sound and opened its doors, they sobered up. They walked a little shakily and took deep breaths until they reached the room.
For Daphne, she had known the moment she saw Shawn take the route through Times Square that this was going to happen. They were going to end up here because it wasn't safe for Shawn right now to be, well, here. Now. In the far reaches of her mind, she was still very curious as to what Shawn had done to evoke such wrath in those men. And she was curious about what he had gotten himself into. But now was not a good time to ask.
Shawn would miss some people here dearly. He didn't have any siblings or parents. Or rather, no people that he felt deserved the title of parents. But he didn't want to think about that now. That was why he would miss Lucia so dearly. He didn't realize he would come to think of her as an older sister (sort of) to him who tried to keep him in check now and then. He wondered when he would see her again or if he ever would. He'd miss Josh of course. His crass humor, their nights at bars with fake IDs (since they were not twenty-one yet), gaming, laughing at weird people in class or on the streets, plans to screw homework and watch a movie instead but end up doing the work and watching the movie at the same time, waking up in the middle of the night to share a bag of chips and a bottle of beer and stories of how he tried hitting on girls which almost always ended up bombing hard. Yes, he would miss that a lot.
But when he turned to Daphne and smiled and took her hand which she had offered and swiped the door of Room 1942 open, he couldn't help but feel anticipation and excitement about what could possibly be waiting for him on the other side.
And as he stepped into the room with Daphne, one thing hit him more than anything else: that it just felt absolutely right, disappearing into the past with Daphne and not looking back.