Chapter 233: Don’t Come In!

Jingwei watched the woman struggle as the man dragged her toward the hotel.

Her heels scraped through the ash on the driveway, and she caught his wrist with both hands, trying to pull it away from her mouth.

The man closing the gate glanced back at them, then leaned harder against the bars.

"Stop here," Jingwei told Zeyu, reaching for the exterior speaker. "Keep enough room in front of us to turn."

The mobile base slowed to a halt before the driveway narrowed. Jingwei checked the road behind them while Zeyu settled his hands on the wheel.

Nobody had followed them up the mountain, but he left the rear view open beside the image of the gate. The woman was still visible between the bars, her shirt pulled crooked at the shoulder.

"Take your hand off her mouth," Jingwei said through the speaker. He kept his voice level, watching the man holding her rather than the one at the gate. "We can see what you’re doing."

The man stopped dragging her.

For a moment, he stared at the mobile base as though trying to work out where the voice had come from. Then he lowered his hand, although his other arm remained tight around her waist.

"She’s upset," the gatekeeper called.

He wiped his forehead with the hem of his shirt, exposing a strip of peeling skin above his trousers. "Her husband went down to the city. She thinks every vehicle that comes up here has something to do with him."

The woman shook her head, and the man behind her jerked her back against his chest. Jingwei saw her mouth close before she could speak.

He shifted the camera slightly, bringing the hotel entrance into view, where two more men had appeared beneath the damaged awning.

"I asked him to let her speak," Jingwei replied. "You can wait until she’s finished."

The gatekeeper’s expression hardened.

He looked toward the entrance, apparently expecting one of the men there to answer for him, but neither came closer. Behind Jingwei, Shichen leaned forward far enough that his shoulder appeared beside the display.

"I know the one holding her," Shichen said quietly. "He worked here before we bought the property. He showed us where the grounds equipment was kept."

Jingwei looked at him briefly before returning to the screen.

The man wore loose shorts and a faded hotel shirt, its collar dark with sweat. A ring of keys hung from his belt, striking his thigh whenever the woman moved.

"Did he know about our rooms?" Hanchuan asked from farther back.

"He knew that part of the building was being closed," Shichen replied.

His voice had lost the warmth Jingwei had heard while he talked to Zhiyi on the drive. "He wasn’t supposed to be here after the staff left."

The woman tried to turn in the man’s arms.

He bent toward her ear, speaking too softly for the microphone to catch, and she went still. Jingwei had seen enough people frightened into silence to recognize the change.

Whatever she had run out to tell them, the man had given her a reason to keep it to herself.

"There’s no space here," the gatekeeper called. He hooked the chain through the bars, though he didn’t lock it. "Try somewhere farther down. We’re full."

Jingwei was about to answer when the former employee lifted his head. He stared past the gate, squinting toward the windshield, and his grip on the woman loosened.

His eyes moved from Shichen to Hanchuan before he spoke to the gatekeeper.

"Wait a minute," the former employee said. He pushed the woman toward one of the men approaching from the hotel. "Don’t send them away."

The gatekeeper turned, holding the loose end of the chain.

Jingwei watched the two men exchange a few hurried words before the former employee came to the bars. He tugged his shirt straight and attempted a smile, breathing heavily from the short walk through the sun.

"You’re the owners," the former employee said. "We’ve been wondering whether anyone was coming back."

Hanchuan moved close enough to use the microphone. His hand rested on the back of Jingwei’s seat while he studied the courtyard.

"Who are the people with you?" Hanchuan asked. "And why was she being dragged inside?"

"We’ve been keeping everyone together," the former employee replied. He glanced toward the woman, who now stood between two men beneath the awning. "People came up after the fire. Somebody had to take charge."

Jingwei could see other faces behind the lobby windows.

An older man stood with a towel pressed to his neck, and a child peered around his hip before someone pulled the child back. None of them approached the door.

The former employee lifted the chain from the gate and handed it to his companion. His smile had become easier now that he believed he knew who they were.

"Come inside," the former employee offered, pulling one side open. "We’ve kept the driveway clear. You can park under the trees at the back."

Jingwei followed the direction of his gesture.

Beyond the courtyard, the driveway passed between the building and a retaining wall. The trees above it were burned bare, and a delivery van stood across part of the far end. They would have to pass close to the lobby to reach it.

"We’re staying here," Hanchuan replied. He gave the open gate little more than a glance. "Bring the woman forward. She can tell us what she wanted."

The former employee’s smile faded. Behind him, one of the men took the woman’s elbow and began guiding her toward the lobby. She resisted, turning her face toward the mobile base, but she no longer tried to run.

"Her little boy’s inside," the former employee explained. "She should be with him."

Jingwei felt his fingers tighten against the controls. The man had spoken loudly enough for her to hear, and she had stopped resisting at once.

Beside him, Zeyu reached for the speaker.

"Then bring him out with her," Zeyu said. His voice was calm, but he had stopped looking at the gatekeeper. He was watching the doorway where the child had disappeared. "There’s no reason they can’t both come."

The former employee looked between the men inside the vehicle. For several seconds, he seemed to weigh another explanation. Then he stepped back from the gate and rested a hand on his keys.

"You’ve got cold rooms in there," the former employee said, nodding toward the hotel’s rear wing. "We’ve been sleeping on the lobby floor while those doors stay locked. Open them, and she can tell you whatever she likes."

The woman pulled free of the hand on her elbow just long enough to shout across the courtyard.

"Don’t come in!" the woman cried. "They’ve been waiting for someone who can open it!"

The man beside her caught her again, but Jingwei was already watching the lobby.

A third man had stepped into the doorway with the little boy held in front of him. One hand gripped the child’s shoulder; the other held a knife.