Chapter 3 - The Escape down the Service Shaft
"We can't go out through the main lobby," Patricia said, her mind racing as she shut off her two-way radio, severing her connection to the front desk. "The elevators require an executive keycard, and the main stairs are monitored by security cameras at every landing."
"Is there another way out?" Melissa asked, scrambling to her feet despite her bruised legs. "The fire escape?"
"The fire escape exits onto the private courtyard," Patricia shook her head. "It's gated, and the security booth sits right at the driveway. If Thomas went to Sterling, they’ll have guards posted at every public exit within two minutes."
Patricia walked over to the corner of the suite where her cleaning cart was parked just inside the doorway. She pulled off her forest-green apron, threw it into the cart's laundry bag, and opened the bottom cabinet where she kept industrial chemical refills, extra rags, and her heavy brass master key ring.
"When you work as a maid in a twenty-story luxury hotel for five years," Patricia said, pulling a long, heavy iron key off her ring, "you learn that the guests only see ten percent of the building. The rest belongs to us."
She grabbed Melissa’s arm, leading her past the master bedroom into the suite’s private pantry. Hidden behind a heavy oak door that matched the kitchen cabinetry was a plain, unpainted grey door marked: SERVICE UTILITY ONLY — AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL.
Patricia slotted the iron key into the lock and turned it. The door clicked open with a dull thud, revealing a narrow, dimly lit concrete stairwell smelling of concrete dust, machine oil, and cold air.
"This is the old laundry chute and freight access shaft," Patricia explained, pulling a flashlight from her pocket. "It leads straight down to the sub-basement boiler room, right next to the trash compactors and the delivery bay."
Suddenly, the heavy front door of Penthouse 402 shattered as a master key override was engaged from the hallway outside.
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"Check the bedroom! Search every corner!" Thomas’s rage-filled voice roared from the living room, accompanied by the heavy, rhythmic footfalls of at least three large men. "Find them! If that maid escapes with the ledger, none of us are leaving this city alive!"
"Go! Move!" Patricia pushed Melissa into the dark stairwell, slipped inside behind her, and locked the utility door from the inside just as heavy footsteps sprinted into the pantry.
