2: 2
Less than five minutes later, the elevator doors slid open.
Emma Lambert, the lobby manager, came hurrying down the hall with a female doctor carrying an emergency kit, two security guards trailing behind them with a stretcher.
Watching her plan fall apart, Marina rushed forward and threw herself in front of Room 302.
"Wait! You can't go in!" She flung both arms wide, blocking the doctor.
Manager Lambert's face went blank with confusion.
"Miss, didn't you say someone was bleeding badly? Let the doctor through, quickly!"
"The doctor doesn't know emergency care!" Marina gritted out, jabbing a finger at the woman.
"Jill Lambert isn't just bleeding. When I went in to check on her just now, her neck had gone stiff. She must have broken it in the fall!"
She whipped her head around and shouted at me.
"Mr. Delgado, I heard you earned an advanced international first-aid certification overseas! If someone who doesn't know what they're doing moves her, she could end up paralyzed from the neck down, or dead!"
Alma chimed in right behind her.
"Yes, yes! Mr. Delgado, this is one of your own employees. Can you really stand there and let her spend the rest of her life bedridden? You have to go in and direct this yourself!"
To force me into that room, they were willing to invent something as outrageous as a broken neck.
Hearing "broken cervical spine," the doctor hesitated too, and turned to look at Manager Lambert.
Manager Lambert spoke up, clearly uncomfortable.
"Mr. Delgado... maybe, since you know what you're doing, you could go in and lend a hand?"
I ignored her and walked over to the single armchair by the window and sat down.
"They say something and you just believe it?" I crossed my legs and looked at all of them.
"If it really is a broken neck, then moving her is the last thing anyone should do. Call 911, get the emergency center on the line, and have a proper orthopedic paramedic come out."
"I'll sit right here and wait."
"Tonight, no one gets me to step one foot through that door except a doctor or the police."
Seeing how firm I was, Manager Lambert didn't dare push it and quickly pulled out her phone to dial 911.
Marina panicked outright, cold sweat beading on her forehead.
If 911 actually showed up, not only would the plan be finished, the false alarm would be exposed for certain.
Watching the standoff, Lucas turned and walked over to the vending machine and bought a bottle of water.
With his back to the crowd, he twisted off the cap, his fingers moving just slightly, then put on a peacemaker's smile and came toward me.
"Come on, Saul, don't get so worked up. The staff don't know any better. Don't take it to heart."
He held the water out in front of me.
"Here, drink something, cool off. Leave the rest to me."
The comments blew up all at once.
【Heads up! Don't take it! Don't take it!】
【The old fox spiked the water! It's a high-concentration, powerful hallucinogen!】
【One sip and you'll lose your grip on reality. He'll use it as an excuse to help you back to your room and shove you straight into 302!】
If it weren't for these comments, given how much I trusted Lucas, I'd have drunk it without a second thought.
I looked up at him. His face was all sincerity, but there was something urgent hiding in his eyes.
I reached out and slowly closed my hand around the bottle. The corner of Lucas's mouth twitched up before he could stop it.
The instant he was about to let go, I let my fingers slip on purpose.
The bottle hit the floor and splashed up Lucas's pant leg, soaking his leather shoes through.
"Oh, sorry about that." I pulled out a tissue and wiped my hand.
"Slipped right out of my grip. Lucas, when did your hands get so soft? Can't even hold on to a bottle of water."
The smile on Lucas's face couldn't hold. The corner of his eye twitched twice.
"It's fine..." He forced out the two words.
【He's rattled! The drugging failed and Lucas just signaled Marina!】
【Marina's going to try the rough way now! She's going to throw herself at you and rip your clothes to fake an assault!】
Almost the instant the comments flashed past, Marina shoved Alma away from the door and came charging out, hair wild and loose.
"Boss, I'm begging you!" she screamed, hurling herself straight at me.
Using the momentum of the lunge, her hands went right for the collar of my shirt, trying to tear the buttons clean off.
I'd been ready for it. I planted both feet and shoved off hard, sliding half a meter to the left, chair and all.
Marina caught nothing but air. Unable to stop herself, she slammed full force into the hard baseboard of the hallway wall.
