Take My Breath Away

As soon as Erica opened the fire door, several pairs of eyes looked in her direction.

She closed the door behind her as if nothing happened. A waiter came over immediately and asked politely, "Excuse me, can I help you?"

Erica was dumbfounded for a moment, then flashed him a charming smile. That was when she remembered she wore a mask and he couldn't see her face. "Room 205, please!"

The waiter led her to Room 205. When they passed by Room 206, three bodyguards in black snapped to attention and looked alert.

After entering Room 205 without incident, Erica was relieved by the voices of her henchmen greeting her one by one.

Taking off her hat and mask, Erica asked the people in the room to have a seat. Once everyone did as they were bidden, she asked softly, "Found anything yet?"

"Not yet. I heard them talking about a dock, but we don't know the location or what's going on there. Check out the photo, Erma." One of her minions handed his phone to Erica.

Erica enlarged the pic he took, the result of clandestine activity. She looked at it, but didn't recognize anyone. When she was about to give the phone back to the man, her gaze fell on a particular woman in that photo.

"Wait. Who's that?" She immediately enlarged the photo and re-centered it. Erica looked carefully at the woman holding a man's arm. The woman looked familiar, but she just couldn't figure out why.

She spent more time looking at it, and the longer she stared, the more the woman resembled Noreen.

She gave the phone back to the man, took out her own and called Chantel. "Hey, it's me. You busy now?" she asked.

"No, I just finished a shoot. I'm on my way back." Chantel leaned against the back of the seat wearily. She'd taken on too much work to handle. Fortunately, the day after tomorrow was her day off. She could visit her son.

"Any idea what Noreen is up to, by chance?"

Hearing her mention Noreen, Chantel shook her head and said, "When we humiliated her on the cruise ship, Noreen and I have become mortal enemies. I haven't even so much as bumped into her in forever."

She really hadn't given her a second thought. She had no clue what TV shows she was on or interviews she gave.

"Here's the thing—I ended up at that bar thanks to the intel my brother gave you. Our people snapped a pic of the group. One of them looked like Noreen, but I'm not sure. She wore shades, and it was dark out. I figured you might have more

rds and head to the bar to protect Erica.

When Sheffield found Erica, Chantel had just hung up the phone. She confirmed to Erica that Noreen was in that establishment.

When Sheffield swaggered into Room 205, Erica looked at him in astonishment. "Sheffield, why are you here?" she asked.

He sat leisurely on the sofa and said, "Your husband called. From thousands of miles away, he gave me this bodyguard duty! I must have done something pretty bad to Carlos and Matthew in the previous life!"

Erica rushed over excitedly and asked in a quiet voice, "Does he know?"

Raising his eyebrows, Sheffield nodded, "Of course. And he was pretty pissed. Rika, do you know how dangerous those guys are? They kill with impunity."

Those people ran in the shadows, while Erica and Chantel were the army of light. And no one knew who was running the show as far as the thugs were concerned.

But Erica wasn't dumb. She explained to Sheffield, "I haven't done anything yet, have I? I just want to make sure if it's them. If it's true, I'll call the police or Matthew as backup."

She knew what she was doing, and what kind of danger she was in. That was why she had people in place downstairs, to help her beat a hasty retreat if necessary.

Sheffield looked at Erica up and down and said, "You look like a killer. I thought you came here alone." He made a gesture of rubbing his neck.

Erica was amused. "Have you ever seen a killer in sportswear?"

"No, I have never seen him before." Sheffield's phone rang. It was Matthew.

He answered the phone and called out in an exaggerated effeminate voice, "It's dear Matthew."