“I’d hurry up, ladies. We’re not out for a Sunday stroll,” Marcus muttered as shouts erupted behind them. Dani looked back just in time to see another car careening into the parking lot, followed by a panel van from Nick’s Plumbing and Works. The driver of the van seemed to be holding something resembling a pipe.
Down the street, the squeal of brakes and the smoke of tires being forced beyond their endurance signaled the rest of the party.
“What are the odds that those are people really eager to plan a wedding?” Dani asked of no one in particular.
The group exchanged glances and, bypassing the girl with the hand stamp entirely, they reached for the doors and flung them open. A single glittery balloon escaped over their heads. The air filled with the high-pitched chatter of thousands of feminine voices and the sickly-sweet smell of roses. Lots and lots of roses.
“My heavens,” Maria said, speaking for them all. “We’re in bridal hell.”
Chapter Fourteen
As the car careened into the parking lot, Luke decided that he had gone insane. The police were coming, he could hear the sirens. Presumably, the FBI was on its way, too. And likely the car that was spinning in the middle of the freeway had friends nearby.
Cars were abandoned with open doors in the middle of the parking lot. More vehicles arrived, swerving to avoid the pedestrians and tearing off those doors and bending the vehicles they collided with into strange pretzel shapes. The noise was incredible. The convention center was now playing host to an impromptu demolition derby.
He spotted the remains of Edwin’s rental car. It had lost most of the driver’s side paint, door handles, and front fender. The grill was missing, the bumper was firmly tucked up under the front wheels, and the tire on the passenger side was most notable by its absence. The fact that a man dressed in overalls was banging away at the windshield with a lead pipe was a little confusing.
There had to be dozens of people in the parking lot who had come to the bridal show. Women, dressed in shimmering pastels, walking with older versions of themselves, talking in loud, shrill voices with phones whipped out to record the moment. It was eerily familiar, giving a strange sense of déjà vu until Luke remembered the crowd in front of the house they’d left only an hour or so before.
Since when has every moment of the day become something to post on Facebook? he wondered as the car came to a stop as close to the main building as they could get. Which wasn’t really close at this point.
The problem was, near-hysterical brides-to-be and their entourages weren’t the only ones in the parking lot. A dozen or so men were piling out of cars, looking nothing like anything you’d expect at a wedding outside of a security detail, even if half of them wore suits. Of course, there was a huge difference between a tuxedo and what screamed, ‘I am a government agent’ but then Men in Black really hadn’t been all that far off. Metal flashed in the sun. These men were armed and dangerous.
As one, they all looked to the car as it came rolling to a stop. Thomas and William stepped out first, both doors opening in unison, as though they’d choreographed the moment. Not a show of solidarity so much as a jockeying for who was top dog, ending in a tie.
In the moment of clarity, Luke held out hope that this could be resolved peacefully. Until Edwin screamed “Elaina!” and bolted for the front doors.
It was like they had been standing and waiting for a battle cry, and for some reason Luke’s mother’s name was all they needed. The men in suits charged the doors, and the pale, frightened faces of the men standing in pressed uniforms of the hired cops ran from the onslaught.
It was the Visigoths attacking the gates of Rome, the Orcs breaking into whatever the hell the name of that place was. It was a siege the likes of which had never been seen before. A handful of women coming out dropped bags stuffed with samples and fled, leaving a trail of chocolates and flowers in their wake. The hardier souls stopped to record the moment for all posterity. A few rounded on the men, screaming defiance, punctuated with handbags to the head. Several such men stumbled and fell, regained their feet, only to look around in confusion, as though unsure who was the enemy.
Luke found himself praying that everyone would keep their arms under control. This didn’t need to turn into a bloodbath. He launched himself from the car, unsure of what exactly he was going to do, but knowing that if this horde was heading inside then so was he, for Dani was in there somewhere.
The security guards hadn’t fled the scene entirely, they’d merely retreated. The defenders slammed the doors shut, and Luke could see frantic activity behind the small windows of the doors. He imagined they were struggling to lock down the crash bars to prevent further entry. The invaders took no notice and rammed the doors, pounding with fists and open palms and kicks.
William simply strolled to the box office and motioned for Luke to follow him.
“Sixty,” the woman behind the counter said by way of greeting, laying five-dollar bills into a neat pile, “sixty-five, seventy...” The next bill was upside down and she took time to straighten it properly. “Seventy-five, eighty...” She looked up, perplexed. “Where did she go?”
“Five, please,” William said as the sound of trash cans being slammed against the locked doors reached his ears. He turned to Luke. “There have to be a dozen entrances and exits,” he said, rolling his eyes.
As the machine rolled out five tickets, a hand reached past him and grabbed the coupons. Whoever was making off with the tickets had a good grip and ran, the roll of tickets spinning behind him.
Luke’s fist shot out and caught the man behind the head. He tripped, fell over a trash can, and bolted.
William looked at the stream of tickets and dug into his wallet. He dropped two hundred-dollar bills and grabbed the bulk of the tickets.
He then walked stiffly into the back of the crowd. The screaming, armed throng grew quiet and actually parted for him. Luke was astounded, and kept as close behind his father as possible. William walked in total silence. Even the man hitting Edwin’s rental car paused to watch.
William strode to the window. Luke could see the frightened face of a security guard who was on a cell phone. Behind him, Luke heard an officer saying into his phone, “Sir, we ARE the police, please open the doors!” Apparently the cavalry had caught up.
William looked the young man behind the window in the eye and held up one fist. As he opened it, the length of tickets spilled out. The door opened.
“So that’s how you get that job,” someone said. Luke couldn’t tell who.
The guards looked at each other and opened the doors. The men shuffled past, a few having the grace to look sheepish. William strode through with Luke in his shadow as the horde broke through the gates and faced a room awash in pink.