Virtue Falls by Christina Dodd Read Free Book Online Page A

doors.
    Margaret’s cane was gone, she realized, knocked from her arm by the violent rocking. She couldn’t risk leaving the table. She wasn’t steady enough … yet she didn’t dare stay.
    If the deck fell, it was a long way to the ocean.
    Harold recognized her dilemma, but he couldn’t assist her; he was in the same trouble.
    Margaret aimed herself at the open door.
    Josue Torres suddenly stood between her and the resort. With the same charming, unruffled smile as before, he said, “I spy a chance to hold this lovely lady in my arms. If I may…?”
    He didn’t wait for her assent—as if she would deny him—but scooped her up and headed into the great room.
    Margaret looked back and saw the wine maker take Harold’s arm and help him inside.
    As they stepped inside the great room, the moose head over the fireplace crashed to the floor. The narrow side table fell over, taking the tall antique Chinese vase with it. The vase exploded; water and chiseled ceramic chips flew across the room. The smell of crushed lilies filled the air. Yet the resort rocked and rolled as one piece, all four floors moving like the forecastle of a sailing ship.
    Good damned thing, because the seismic retrofit of the resort had cost Margaret a fortune.
    The staff shouted instructions at the guests, yet like sheep in a farm truck, the guests milled around the middle of the room in panic.
    Margaret pointed Josue toward the Japanese gong bolted firmly to the wall.
    The clever young man understood. As the floor rolled beneath his feet, he staggered over and stopped by the velvet-wrapped mallet.
    The mallet flopped about like a dying fish, and it took Margaret two tries to grab the handle and unhook it. She slammed the mallet against the swaying gong, and above the cacophony of shattering glass and creaking timbers, the gong sounded loud and true.
    Desperate for leadership, the guests turned to face her.
    She shouted, “Follow the staff up the stairs!,” and pointed toward the great staircase.
    “No!” Aurora staggered out of the crowd. “This place is coming down around our ears. Outside!”
    Stupid and spiteful, with a grudge against Margaret for cutting her down to size.
    Margaret hit the gong again.
    And as she did, the earthquake at last began to die.
    She lifted her voice. “This building has withstood ice storms, raging winds, torrential rains, eclipses, bad portents.” Margaret smiled. “It will withstand this, too. If you would please follow the staff, they’ll take you up to a viewing window where you will be above the reach of the tsunami and can view its approach.”
    That got their attention. Most of them had not thought beyond surviving this moment.
    As if to give emphasis to the need to hurry, the earthquake roared back to life, buckling and rocking.
    The guests groped toward the stairs.
    Josue followed, holding Margaret in his arms.
    She considered telling him she could walk.
    But he seemed unbothered by her weight, moving with the ease of a healthy young beast. They moved to the second floor, then the third. The breeze off the ocean swept down the corridors; the windows had been shattered.
    At the third floor, the staff directed the guests toward the viewing decks, warning them to be careful of the broken glass.
    “Go up to the fourth floor,” Margaret told Josue, knowing full well some of the others would follow.
    Three of them did: Mason Turner and his parents, who seemed willing to accept Margaret’s authority. She could only hope her actions justified their faith.
    As they got to the top, the last of the swaying subsided.
    Josue put her on her feet and offered his arm.
    She took it and moved toward the door that led out to the narrow viewing platform.
    He stepped back. “I don’t want to go out there,” he said.
    Yes. This put them ninety feet over the water, and he was squeamish. It happened.
    “Stand where you are. You’ll be able to see.” She walked to the edge and grasped the railing tightly.
    Mason and