Chapter 112 - The Blackout

Claire almost chokes on her panic. She stares at the phone in her hand. What in hell was that call about? She dials Gabriel's number, but it only rings and rings. Jesus, what happened to him? Her hands have started to tremble as she dials Miguel's number.

"Hey, there," Miguel's voice seems cold and distant, and there's club music in the background. "What's up, Claire? Boyfriend problems?"

"Miguel, listen," she mutters. "Can you hurry over to Gabriel's place? Like, now? Something strange happened."

"What? What do you mean?"

"He called me up. He sounded like he's struggling to breathe. Then the line went dead, and I could not get hold of him anymore."

"Jesus Christ," Miguel mutters. "But I'm outside the city. Might take me half an hour to get there. But I'm going there now. You go ahead. Call up his butler, that guy named Lopez? Or Dale. Anyone that can go to him the quickest."

"Yes," is the only thing she manages to say. "Please hurry."

She frantically dials Dale's number, but five rings and no one's answering. She tries calling up Lopez, who fortunately is on speed dial on Gabriel's desk phone. She bites her lip as the phone rings seemingly endlessly. After five rings, Claire decides a lot of time has been wasted. She bolts out the room, grabs her bag and almost half-runs out of there, all the while the image of Gabriel sprawled on the floor with no one to help him flashing on her mind.

She's already in the lobby and about to walk out of the main doors when she realizes she hasn't called up Dean, her chauffeur, who's probably in some diner having coffee, waiting for her call.

"Can I use your phone?" she says to the security officer manning the lobby's reception.

"Sure, Ma'am," the officer says.

Calling up Dean wasted a few minutes, as his phone only rang and rang, and the only reason Claire patiently waited is the fact he's the only way to reach Gabriel, and reach him fast. When Dean finally picks up, Claire almost yells at him. "The foyer, Dean, two seconds. Please hurry." She almost slams down the phone, earning her a curious gaze from the security officer.

"Any trouble, Ma'am?"

Only then does Claire realizes what a mess she is. She takes a deep breathe. What are the chances Gabriel is actually fine, or maybe his butler is already with him? "No trouble. Just…just need to see my…boss."

"Oh," the security officer's face lights up in recognition. "You're Mr. Tan's secretary! I should have realized it's you. You must be the latest in his string of hot…err, I mean, beautiful secretaries."

For a moment Claire is tempted to correct him. I'm the love of his life, not just his secretary, she wants to scream. But she takes a deep breath. And thankfully, her service Bentley screeches to a dramatic halt in front of the building. "Thank you for the call," she says to the security officer, before running out.

"Gabriel's place, and please get there the fastest without breaking any law."

"Yes, Ma'am," the chauffeur says. "Did something happen?"

"It's Gabriel," she starts to say, but the worry building up in her heart makes her stop talking. She looks out the window. She wants to blame herself. She didn't really have to go to the office today, did she? Those memos, she could have sent them tomorrow. Why did she have to leave him, alone, in his suite? Why did she ever believe in his outward show of strength and well-being? Now it turns out he's not yet well at all. She should have known—Gabriel has always been like that, always "I'm fine, I'm cool." Remember when he confessed just the other day in the rain? The gigantic ego, with his "I rarely get sick I'm like Superman" bluster? Now this.

Then she realizes they have not moved in minutes.

"What's the matter?"

"It's…" Dean, exasperated, gestures toward the scene in front of them: utter chaos. There's an upcoming intersection, and vehicles both big and small are in disarray right in the middle of it. "It seems the stoplight is not working, and there's no traffic enforcer in sight."

"Can we try some alley, some shortcut, perhaps?"

"There's a small side road some twenty meters ahead," Dean says, "but it's usually one-way only, and the traffic direction opposes us."

"Oh, God," she mutters.

"Maybe we can try," he says.

"Please, Dean," she says, then hesitates if she really say it to him. "This is a matter of life and death. Gabriel could be fighting for his life at this moment."

Dean's eyes bulge out of their sockets. "What? THAT's the emergency? Jesus. Let's go!" As though a higher spirit has suddenly overtaken Dean's whole being, he becomes aggressive, all his road politeness thrown out the window, banging the car horn like crazy at anyone in his path.

They reach the side street, and he's right—it's currently restricted to one direction, and one opposing them. Dean stops for a moment, probably calculating his chances. "I am going to break some laws, Ma'am, but I need you to promise me one thing."

"Everything you need, you'll get it," Claire almost shrieks.

"You'll pay for all the fines. I don't want to spend a night in jail, please."

"Done!" she says. "Let's go!"

Dean takes a deep breath. He just waits for the last vehicle to exit the side-street, then he rolls down his window, pulls something from the dashboard, and sticks it on the car roof. It's an emergency light, flashing red and blue. "Now we're an ambulance. And goddamnit, but I won't let Mr. Tan down if his life depends on us reaching him pronto!"

All the oncoming vehicles, seeing Dean's lights, stop and try to get out of his way. "National emergency!" Dean screams out the window. "National emergency! Get out of the way."

In the backseat, Claire is stunned—she never knew this side of Dean. He could really rise to the occasion whenever it has something to do with Gabriel. "Did Gabriel also save your life somehow?"

"That's right," Dean says, his eyes never leaving the road. "Saved me many times. Spent a lot of money just to save me, gave me new kidneys. Mr. Tan and me, we go a long way back," Dean says. "I would die for that man, Ma'am."

Claire says nothing. Lucille, Dale, Dean, Mrs. Gomez—these people who work for Gabriel are deeply loyal to him, like he's some kind of a "lord" or something. There is so much about Gabriel's past that she still doesn't know, but thankfully, whatever it is, it all seems good.

"What the…" Dean mutters, slowing down as he takes a right to the main avenue.

"What is it?"

"Look outside, Ma'am," he says. "It's all dark. The whole road is dark. The buildings are all dark. It seems the whole city is in a power blackout."

Claire follows what Dean is pointing at, and her heart sinks. The city has no power, and the timing could not be worse. She's now drowning in worry—the image of Gabriel sprawled on the floor in all this darkness flashes in her mind.

And adding to this pile of clusterfuck, the darkness has made the traffic even worse.

"How far are we still from Gab's place?"

"We're about a couple of blocks, Ma'am."

A couple of blocks. When she started working for Gabriel Tan, she used to walk eight blocks in the midday sun. "I'm going out," she says, opening the door.

"Out, Ma'am?"

"You take care and just get there when you can," she says, grabbing her bag. "I'm going to run. I'm not going to sit through this hellacious traffic and let Gabriel alone in there for a minute more."

And just like that, she's gone even before Dean could say a word.