Chosen Girls

Chapter 2

2

7 DAYS REMAINING

Alice Parks knew it was wrong to hide in room 718 of the Pittsburgh International. But tucking herself away inside the slatted beech closet was hardly the stuff of empowered life choices.

So there she was, watching a stocky black guy in a beige suit make out with a raven-haired girl in a short red dress. They ground against the opposite side of the door. Alice's unease in tight spaces was bad enough. The man's pungent cologne made it worse.

Daylight broke in sideways through the slats, framing Alice's brown eyes, dark brown hair and lightly freckled skin in a pale glow. She withdrew deeper into the closet, wincing at every sloppy grunt and moan.

She watched on as they moved to the freshly-made bed. Crisp white sheets pulled tight enough to bounce a quarter on. As they undressed, Alice slid the closet door open an inch on its rollers and noticed a mirror angled toward the bed. She slid the door open another two inches and aimed her palmcorder at the mirror. She pressed record and zoomed in to get a better view. All she needed was a few seconds of footage. Visual confirmation. Facial recognition. And penetration. Penetration paid.

The man stepped out of his pants, climbed onto the bed on his knees and entered the woman from behind. She pressed her hands flat on the bed sheets, her long hair draped over one shoulder. Her lips a red mess.

As the pair faced the mirror, Alice zoomed in on the man's face, then both faces together in one shot. Up close, she recognized him. He was ex-Steelers running back Chandler Dwayne.

If she bypassed the client and went direct to the news networks, Alice could have earned a small fortune. She entertained the thought for all of a second. No, she had morals. Scruples. Standards. They weren't particularly high, but they were hers.

As Alice shifted her position to bring more naked flesh into shot, she knocked into a wooden hanger on the closet rail. It swung wildly, crashing into the others. Alice jumped at the sound. Her hand slipped on the edge of the closet door. It rolled all the way open and she fell onto the soft, nickel-gray carpet.

Dwayne stopped mid-thrust, eyeballs ready to pop out of their sockets. "What the f**k?"

"What the f**k?" the young woman screamed.

Alice crawled out of the closet and jumped to her feet, palmcorder still in hand. She shrugged and smiled meekly, before flying out of the hotel room door into a long, empty corridor. Dwayne burst out of the door in pursuit. He pulled up a pair of bleached-white boxers as he ran, his feet thumping heavily on the carpet.

Alice reached a set of elevator doors and rattled a button. She was in luck. A set of steel doors opened and she jumped in, hitting G.

Chandler Dwayne charged at the elevator, but the doors closed before he could even wedge in a hand. The elevator was backed with glass, so she had a clear view of the spiraling white balconies of each floor of the hotel and the limestone lobby below.

The elevator stopped a few floors down, the doors pinging open. Alice cursed her luck under her breath, gripping the palmcorder tighter. She saw the next elevator along dropping into view on her right. It was only a level further up, with Chandler Dwayne standing inside, raging at her through the glass. It was a race all the way to the bottom. The slowest race on record, as each elevator filled up with guests.

Alice pushed to the front of the elevator. As the green digital display above the doors slipped from 1 to G, she looked across and saw Chandler Dwayne raring to go.

Alice's elevator won the race. The doors pinged open and she bolted across the limestone lobby floor. Dwayne yelled at her to stop in a deep, Texan accent. He powered after her as if she were the ten-yard line. Like his kids, sponsorship deals and financial future depended on it.

Alice flew out of the automatic doors at the front of the hotel and hit the busy downtown street. She took a right, dodging sidewalk traffic.

Dwayne was hot on her tail. He'd lost some of his running back speed but none of his aggression.

Alice started to think she might make it. That is, until the toe of her right sneaker caught the edge of a wayward paving stone and sent her sprawling. The palmcorder spun out of her hand and smashed into pieces on the sidewalk. Yet, there was hope.

The SD card lay intact on the side of the road. Alice reached out, only for the tire of a squad car to screech to a halt and crunch the card under its tread.

Alice dropped her head to the pavement.

As Dwayne caught up to her, a pair of city cops jumped out of the squad car and attempted to bring him down. Alice leapt to her feet and scurried across the street. Dwayne was dragged to the concrete as a pair of beat cops joined in the struggle.

It took four cops in total to drag Dwayne to the ground. He pointed and shouted in Alice’s direction as he was restrained. She slipped around the nearest street corner and dumped the broken palmcorder in a trashcan.