"His phone is still going straight to voicemail," Rose said, struggling to keep the sharp edge of panic from my voice. "Sothing is very wrong."
She paced the luxurious Shangri-la hotel suite, phone clenched tightly in her hand as she stared out at the glittering nightti skyline barely visible through the dreary fog. She had traveled to China to et with suppliers and finalize production details on Shelley Tech's latest innovations. But her mind remained 5,000 miles away in the highrise that housed the company she built from nothing.
And where Blake had stayed relentlessly working late each night this week to help safeguard that empire amidst continued tabloid turmoil around them.
Unable to find solace, Rose reached out to soone she knew could help, a trusted ally.
"Are you done with the task I sent you on?" Rose's inquiry bore the undertones of urgency, her eyes betraying the worry etched across her features.
"Yes, it is done, my lord," Reggie's voice held a sense of accomplishnt, but the room's ambiance revealed Rose's struggle to find reassurance amid the growing unease.
"Good, so where are you now?" Rose questioned, her gaze focused on a point beyond the confines of the hotel suite"...
...."I need to speak with Mr. Shelton," Rose's request signaled an urgency that tightened the air in the room.
"I'm on my way back to the office block," Reggie's voice registered through the phone, and Rose's expression shifted, her concern deepening as she contemplated the distance and the potential threats that hung over Blake.
"Reggie, my calls aren't going through to him," Rose confessed, the vulnerability in her voice.
"The blockades may just be interfering with signals, Ms Shelley," Reggie had suggested in his perpetually reassuring tone. But too many uncanny disruptions plagued Shelley Tech the past week already. Rose's majority shareholders disagreed with removing Blake from power so publicly. She worried what coercive asures they might take next to force control from her.
"Ms Shelley?" Reggie prompted calmly, pulling her from spiraling worst case scenarios. "Would you like to go personally to check on him or shall I keep my distance as instructed?" Ever thoughtful Reggie. He had weathered countless crises faithfully by her side since Shelley Tech's fledgling days.
"Yes please check the building and make sure Blake leaves at a reasonable hour," Rose affird, despite the late ask. "I don't like him there alone so much, especially if those paparazzis are hanging around."
Even halfway around the world, responsibility for Shelley Tech's future still weighed heavily upon her shoulders tonight.
What should have been a celebratory week preparing global launch of revolutionary technologies instead stood marred by nonstop damage control ergencies. It seed her every absent minute guaranteed fresh chaos lately. If only marketable products and services could speak louder than bitter board mbers and tabloid gossip around her supposed indiscretions!
Wrenching her thoughts back to Blake, Rose nearly jumped out of her skin when the desk phone suddenly rang.
'Please let it be good news for once,' she silently pleaded while answering briskly. But Reggie's unmistakable voice instead sent ice water through her veins.
"Fire crews and police have the building surrounded," Reggie inford Rose without preamble. "It looks like the boardroom and several upper floor executive offices are engulfed in flas."
Rose's pulse stuttered, mind flashing back to the last interaction with Blake two nights ago. His determined smile soothing her worries over the impending China trip.
"Just focus on finalizing production and get back safely to sort out this ss," Blake had advised while walking her to the waiting plane. Then a swift kiss, his hand raised in farewell until only the mory of passionate stability remained during upcoming trade negotiations.
Now dread possibly choked off that vital lifeline if Reggie's next words proved true...
"Blake may still be trapped inside."
***
"Fire?" She muttered to herself.
How could there be fire in Shelly technologies? It made little to no sense since the alarms would have even signalled her through her tablet.
No ti to panic, Rose harshly reminded herself. Shelley Tech's paramount disaster protocols must engage imdiately. Lives remained at stake; Blake's in particular.
"Get inside and find Blake now!" Rose directed Reggie sharply. "Drag him out if you must before smoke overcos him. I'll phone building security and unlock protocol codes remotely to grant access."
'Please let him be alright,' her inner voice pleaded soundlessly.
"I will bring him ho safely, Ms Shelley. You have my word." Reggie's grave promise fortified her crumbling composure as she flew into executive action. Ergency codes and insurance protections needed initiating within minutes. No room for panic's paralysis with Blake's survival on the line.
Pingping adrenaline spiked Rose's bloodstream for the next eternal twenty minutes while rescue efforts comnced hundreds of miles distantly. Trouble always complicated business trips lately but this ergency scenario took matters to unprecedented extres. If they survived tonight's disaster in one piece, guards would receive orders for doubling henceforth.
Flashing lights bathed the sleek highrise in a dizzying kaleidoscope as Reggie raced towards Shelley Tech building, panic rising. The chaotic scene confird his worst fears - much of the top floor looked engulfed by raging flas already. Firefighters shouted urgent directions while smoke billowed into the dark night sky.
Sowhere inside, trapped on one of the executive office levels, was Blake.
Reggie had assured Rose he would bring her secretary to safety. Now to uphold that vow, he must utilize powers no mortal possessed. For decades Reggie had guarded the secret closely, passing seamlessly among humans by adapting to conceal true abilities. Until disasters like tonight made subtly harnessing preternatural gifts the only possibility for saving lives.
Approaching the police barricades, Reggie steeled himself ntally. Focus and control ant everything when wielding power beyond known natural limits.
Already the nearest officers wavered under his heavy hypnotic stare. Their minds grew sluggish, pliant for suggestions.
"No ID needed friend, just head straight on inside," Reggie intoned soothingly.
"Plenty of others got past already so don't worry yourselves."
Glazed agreent in their slowly nodding heads told Reggie the Jedi mind trick worked flawlessly once more. Sotis people's thoughts flowed past so unguarded it seed too easy. But no ti to reflect on ethics now - Blake's survival remained paramount.
Striding forward into the danger zone's bright glare, sirens howling urgently around him, Reggie felt long dormant instincts reawakening. Adrenaline pumped strength into sinews, senses heightening exponentially. Nearby voices and chaotic background noise faded until only throbbing heartbeats echoed clearly.
Like following familiar song lyrics, Reggie tuned his supernatural hearing towards a particular beloved rhythm - Blake's, drumming slower and fainter than normal but undeniably present floors above. This was it, he reminded himself that he had to do everything to rescue Blake else he would hate to find out what Rose would do. Right then, his senses were on overdrive. Reggie was in his elent.
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