Chapter 23

It was about an hour after lunch had finished and about a half an hour into the afternoon's video shooting that Jay caught the 'Pop ... Pop ... Pop-Pop-Pop ... Pop' sound as he walked down the second-floor hallway with Shaniqua, and then another lone 'Pop.' From ahead of them, they began to hear muffled shouts and screams ... that became un-muffled when one of the studio room doors opened and three people came running out in what appeared to be blind panic, two women going away from him and Shaniqua, and one man coming toward them, but almost oblivious to their presence. Shaniqua tried to move out of his way, but Jay blocked him, almost being bowled over, as he yelled brusquely, "What's going on?"

The man gulped air and shook Jay's grip off as he gasped, "Gun!" and pulled away to dash in obvious fear down the hallway toward the direction from which Jay and Shaniqua had just come.

Hearing the word that the man had said, Shaniqua got a shocked look on her face and gasped, "Belton!" and began to run toward the studio room which seemed to be the source of the tumult. Jay tried to grab her to keep her from running into a shit storm, but she had already left him behind in her haste.

Jay pulled up to the doorway and looked inside cautiously to see Shaniqua crying and bent over a bleeding, but conscious and angry Belton, holding his thigh and cursing. She was crying out and clutching him, while Belton was grimacing more in aggravation than in pain. Jay only took one step inside and saw the carnage there.

On the bed, the naked young white wife, the one that Belton had pointed out that morning with the wimp husband and the small mixed-race child, stared sightlessly at the ceiling with a bullet hole in her chest. Lying just off her torso, but with his lower body still between her thighs, was an unmoving naked black man, with two bullet holes in his back and a large blood seepage spreading now beneath his chest and into the covers on the bed. The smell of smoke from several expended rounds of ammunition permeated the room's air, along with the obvious smell of bladders and bowels voided during the last moments before death.

Jay's eyes widened and his respiration picked up as his 'fight-or-flight' adrenalin mechanism began to kick in. To one side, the still photographer lay, conscious and obviously breathing heavily with only a little bit of blood on her clothing down near her right side shirttail--evidence of a simple graze. Near her feet--face down--lay the white wimp husband, obviously dead with half of his scalp gone and a handgun near his lifeless right hand.

The husband had evidently killed his white wife and the black actor with whom she was fucking for the scene, and had then begun to shoot indiscriminately at others in the room, finishing with a shot to his own head. Jay managed to think, 'I guess the poor guy had been humiliated enough; well, he's out of his cuckold misery now!' through all the other multitude of thoughts that were running through his head at the moment.

As Jay backed out of the room, he saw others moving frantically along the hallway now, some with cell phones. One or two stopped briefly at the doorway to take a picture with phone cameras; some folks just wanted to capture the gruesome image for some sort of sick or ghoulish reasons. Jay hoped that someone was calling 9-1-1; and just as he thought that, he knew that he had to get his teammates and himself out of here. Otherwise, with the investigation that was sure to follow, their presence would become a part of the public record. And Irina Mirkova had given STRICT instructions for them all to avoid ANY form of official scrutiny during the engagement.

Looking back down the hallway toward his and Catherine's room, he saw Catherine and Kende approach together hand-in-hand. The hallway had already pretty much cleared of people and they were by themselves at this moment. Catherine had that adoring look on her face again as she walked next to Kende, looking up at him as they walked together. 'She must have located her dream guy again, ' thought Jay, feeling strange that at this time of crisis he should feel irritated and jealous in any way. But he felt more determined and full of purpose right now than jealous or angry.

As the couple reached his location, Jay was suddenly aware of the stroller with the child sleeping peacefully just inside the now-propped-open doorway; somehow oblivious to the turmoil around him. The little boy was still wearing winter outer garments that had been unzipped to allow him not to overheat in the building.

Picking up the child from the stroller, Jay did not ask; he just thrust the child into a surprised Kende's arms, as the child began to come awake and become somewhat frightened at being in the arms of a stranger. "Here! Get this kid out of here. His old man just shot his wife and himself, along with some others. The kid's now an orphan and needs to be gotten out of this mess pretty damned quickly, or else he might get hurt in the panic."

"Shot?" shouted a now obviously very afraid Kende. "Oh, my God! I've gotta get out of here! I can't get involved in anything like a shooting! Shit!" He almost dropped the child in his own personal panic of self-preservation.

Jay got a very angry expression on his face now and pushed the child more firmly into Kende's arms as he said with a tone of real authority toward the older and much larger man, "Look here, Asshole. This kid needs one of us to keep him safe and get him out of here until we can find someone to take care of him long term. You just got volunteered!

"The rest of us need to get out of here without getting ourselves hurt or caught up in any of the rest of the shit that's sure to fall out of this. Clear?" Kende's panic was not so deep now, but he just nodded and turned and began to walk fast and then run with the child toward the south end of the hallway, leaving the two college students standing there together.

Catherine, at that point, showed the strange desire of humans to want to see the horror, regardless of any future consequences--such as later nightmares, PTSD or other mental problems, and things of that nature. She tried to squeeze past Jay to look at the carnage inside the room.

But Jay grabbed Catherine's upper arms firmly in both of his hands and pushed her back away from the open doorway. She looked at Jay suddenly with alarm and anger on her face. He frowned and held her firmly as he shook his head. Her expression softened a bit and she looked down in resignation as Jay turned her away.

Catherine now let Jay lead her away and went with him only as far as their room, with Catherine only now beginning to register her own fear. Jay quickly swiped his key card in the lock and let Catherine precede him into the room as he reached for his cell phone and pushed a preset number in his phone's address book.

"Jay?" came Erin's voice as she answered. "What is going on upstairs? Are you and Catherine okay? I hear people running and I see..."

"Erin! Just shut up and listen," Jay interrupted. "Sorry, but some guy just shot and killed his wife and then himself. But before he killed himself, he shot some other folks. Some are dead--but some are just wounded, like Belton. Shaniqua's with Belton and it looks like he is okay; just needs a bit of first aid." He was breathing more normally now, despite his pounding heart, but Jay seemed to be keeping his head as he processed what was going on, what needed doing, and he continued.

"You need to get Delmar and get your bags quickly. We have to be clear of this place before the authorities get here, or else we violate Irina's rule about becoming public items of interest."

Erin's was quiet for a few seconds and then her voice came back, now measured and controlled. "Right, I have Delmar here with me. Where's Catherine?"

Jay looked toward the bed where Catherine was frantically tossing her things into her bag. "She's here with me, getting her shit together as we speak. Get Clinton to shag ass over here with the limo and we'll meet you and Delmar at the south end of the hotel. Got it?"

"Sounds like a plan. See you in a few," Erin said as she closed out the connection.

Jay and Catherine had to fight through a growing crowd of panicked people, mostly the folks who had come to be in the movies, rather than Eastern Empire Pictures staff, although there were several of those as well. He and Catherine struggled heavily along with the flood of people as they were the only two with their suitcases in their hands. They carried the bags rather than rolling them in the tossing of the mob.

Catherine was now only barely holding herself together emotionally with a lot of effort. Horrible things were happening around her and she felt like she had no control over anything. But the feeling of Jay's tight grip on her arm just above her elbow caused her also to feel like she had an electrical connection to his strength somehow. This was what was allowing her to have sufficient calm to keep her mouth shut during all of this and just follow Jay's lead.

Surprisingly, they made it down the stairwell to the exit door and went out, moving near the south side of the building. Jay had to remind Catherine to put her jacket on against the outside cold--'Spring' Break sure carried a different feel in New York State as opposed to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, or someplace like that, Jay thought as he donned his own windbreaker. Catherine was still shaking and just responding to his voice commands. Her brain still had not yet wrapped itself completely around the horror and the resulting drama that were going on around her.

Jay was looking for Erin and Delmar when he spotted Kende. The man was gently handing off the now-crying and very scared young child to a woman who Jay recognized as one of the Eastern Empire Pictures support staff. Kende turned toward Jay and jogged over quickly.

"Hey, Man. I'm sorry about losing it in there. Thanks for getting us moving or else we might have gotten caught up in the mess and not have a way to get out before the cops show." Kende handed Jay what appeared to be a business card and said, "Call me if you ever need anything. I mean it." And then he turned and ran toward a green Buick at the back of the parking lot. He evidently had brought no bags with him; or else he was abandoning whatever he had brought.

"Jay," Catherine said to him softly. As Jay turned, he saw Catherine pointing to Erin and Delmar as they emerged with the next group of panicked people. Erin's face showed that she had seen him and then she focused on something over his shoulder.

Looking around to catch a glimpse of what Erin was seeing, Jay saw Clinton pull the limo up to the back side of the parking lot where he could pull out easily. The big car could force its way out of the driveway entrance or, if the other cars blocked that route in the crush of folks attempting to flee the place, Clinton could roll over the curb, over the grass and sidewalk, and directly into the street if necessary, since there was no ditch on this stretch of road.

Grabbing Catherine's arm, Jay urged her to move toward the big car as he carried his bag with his other hand. He glanced around to ensure that no one was going to try to hinder their movements out of the area.

The four Sigma Lambda Tau team members simply tumbled themselves into the limo and just held their bags in their laps as Clinton yelled at them to hurry. As soon as Delmar, the last of the four, was in, and before the door was even closed, Clinton was peeling out of the lot, moving away from the old hotel-turned-porn-movie-studio, just as the first faint wailing of distant sirens became audible. Clinton immediately slowed once he was clear of the hotel's proximity so as not to attract any unwanted official attention.

"That was Larry on the phone just now," Erin said as she put her Smartphone away. "He said that Arch and Dana would handle any questions the authorities had, along with the other Eastern Empire Pictures staff. They had enough witnesses there, along with Belton and the still photographer--they will both recover pretty well, thank God--to give them enough information on the murder-suicide at the studio.

"Larry also said that Shaniqua had run back to their room and flushed Belton's stash of pills down the toilet as well. With all the correct permits in place, despite what some might see as the unsavory but legal nature of the video work going on, and with all the drugs flushed away, there should not be too much of a problem for Eastern Empire Pictures."

Erin paused before continuing. "Larry could not guarantee that about the other amateur participants, as he had no control over any contraband they may have brought onto the premises." She then took a sip of coffee.

"I saw Larry in the upper hallway before Delmar and I got to our room to get our stuff," Erin continued. "He was yelling at us to go on and get out. He said that we could consider our engagement complete, even though we were leaving a day early. At that point, he ran down toward the stairway and Delmar and I just went inside the room and tossed our stuff into our bags and got the hell out of there. I think I might have left my good curling iron in the bathroom, though."

They were all five, including Clinton, sitting at a small table in a diner along U.S. Highway 4 near Fair Haven, just over the Vermont line from New York State. Catherine was still shaking a bit and was holding Jay's hand in a death grip. The rest of the team had not yet completely gotten over the shock of today's events, but were beginning to calm down a bit.

Delmar spoke up and said, "Hey, Jay-dude, Erin says that you were some kind of 'L-L-Cool-Jay' back there. She said that you really kept your head and got control of the situation like some sort of Bruce Willis character or something." He laughed self-consciously at his own poor attempt at humor and took a sip of water.

Erin nodded and said, "Jay, you did good back there. You got the alert to me quickly, along with the necessary information, and got yourself and Catherine out of there as well." She smiled and reached out a hand to touch his arm. "I was also impressed with how you got that poor little toddler out of harm's way too. That took some real courage and real thinking on the fly."

Catherine had been gazing at Jay's face with an unreadable expression up till now. She broke into a smile and said softly, "He really was wonderful; wasn't he!" She finally let go of his hand and wrapped an arm around his upper arm, pulling herself closer to him as she did.

Jay was looking at the table. With one arm captured by Catherine, he pulled the other hand up, only then realizing that he still had Kende's card in his hand, crushed in his grip. Laying it on the table and pushing it flat, he read it and laughed suddenly. The others looked at him strangely.

Jay looked up and said with a rueful grin, "Kende Massingi, African chieftain, great warrior, and porn star, huh?" Looking at Erin, Jay shook his head and said, "Would you believe Kenneth Massengill, analyst with Lawson, Lowe, and Prentiss; a venture capital firm in New York City? I guess even some folks in the area of high finance sometimes like to experience their own sexual fantasies."

Looking now at Catherine, Jay saw the initial shock on her face being replaced by a slight frown, and then a smile as she looked into his eyes. She shook her head and, letting go of his arm, began to eat her French fries and the grilled cheese sandwich on the plate before her.

Thursday evening--Brooke and Jeremy.

Tommy Onagawa had instructed the house staff to heat the water in the hot tub on the lower floor to an almost unbearable level for human skin. The jets were not to be used, though, as the participants in tonight's activities would simply enjoy the heat and the peace and the pleasant naked company of each other.

The eight occupants of the hot tub were glad that the tub itself was capable of accommodating up to twelve people. This gave them some leeway in movement. That leeway was exercised about every four minutes for Brooke and Joyce initially, and about every six minutes for Jeremy and Derek and Peggy as well, so that they could cool off and rinse in the cool water of the nearby shower periodically. Melanie only exited once for a break of a few minutes before settling in to enjoy the relaxation in the hot tub with Tommy and Mr. Kitagami, both of whom only exited the tub once for relief as well.

After everyone settled in to a point where they could all finally tolerate the hot water, Tommy explained the concept of Sento--the Japanese bath house. He described the traditions and the customs in the construction and in the use. He described bath house etiquette, all of which seemed sensible to the non-Japanese listeners in the tub with him. Melanie asked about the rule concerning no tattoos in the more well-to-do establishments.

"Oh," replied Tommy, "that is to keep the Yakuza gang members out. Polite society in Japan does not want to associate with those thugs; especially when naked together in the hot bath or the sauna."

After about an hour of soaking and indulging in pleasant conversation, nature began to establish itself. After all, the water could not remain overly hot forever, and the bodies of all in the tub had begun to acclimatize to the warmth. The men could also not go all night without the beauty of the naked ladies in the hot tub affecting them sexually. Erections began to arise and the ladies became acutely aware of them in the clear water.