First Date- a Novella by Thomas A Watson, Christian Bentulan, Amanda Shore Page B

Then, he pulled his backpack off, tossing it beside it. Sliding them to the end near Mr. Barron’s chair, he pulled off his jacket and hung it on the chair.
    Ginger was pulling a bottle of water out of the refrigerator and heard Teresa suck in a breath and turned around to see Daniel standing without a shirt and suspenders holding his pants up. His muscles rippled under his skin. “Yeah, I’ve seen him before at the dojo, and I have to admit he makes my mouth water,” Ginger whispered at Teresa.
    Joe dropped to the table as Daniel pulled on a black tank top with a skull wearing a green beret on the front. “Gary’s coming,” Joe said, jumping off the table.
    “Surprised his big, stupid ass could figure out how to,” Daniel said, looking around. “Guys, we need weapons if we are to leave here.”
    Putting down her bottle of water, Ginger moved over beside one of the lamps that ran along the wall. A brass pole ran from a wide, black base up to a frosted glass shade. Looking at the pole, she saw it wasn’t a single piece. Grabbing the lamp pole, she tilted it and used her foot to yank the plug from the wall.
    Hearing grunting, she looked up to see two legs drop out of the ceiling. “Help me,” Gary cried out in a sobbing voice.
    “We just dropped down, Gary,” Joe said, moving over to see what Ginger was doing.
    With a startled cry, Gary let go and really dropped down, landing hard on the table and falling off. He landed hard on his back. “You fucking left me,” he cried out, trying to stand up and groaning from the pain of his landing.
    “Yeah, so what of it?” Daniel asked, staring at Gary with a blank face. “You were getting money from wallets; how does that help the rest of us?”
    “I’m saving it so they don’t lose it,” Gary snapped, wiping his face.
    Daniel grinned and looked around. “You pissed your pants, Gary.”
    “No I didn’t.” Gray pouted, and everyone snickered. “I’m warning you,” he said, glaring around at the group. No one, not even Teresa or the teenager Holly, looked away.
    Hearing glass break, everyone turned to see Ginger twisting a brass pole that supported the lamp. Opening the pack with the tool belt, Daniel dug around and pulled out some heavy wire cutters. Walking over, he cut the wire that led through the pole to the lamp housing.
    “You better be glad I unplugged it, or you would’ve gotten shocked and had to postpone our date,” Ginger said, grinning at him as she unscrewed the sections of the pole.
    “I saw it was unplugged, hot stuff,” Daniel said and leaned over, kissing her with a peck on the cheek. Handing the cutters to Joe, Daniel walked off as Ginger smiled after him.
    As she worked, Daniel unpacked the bag of supplies, laying them out. When she was done, Ginger laid down three heavy, shiny, brass pipes. Two were the same length—around two and half feet—and the other was barely two feet long. Grabbing the two longest ones in each hand, Ginger twirled them around. “A bit heavy and long, but I can use them as batons.”
    Looking along the wall, Daniel saw five more lamps. “Take ’em apart,” he said, waving his hand. “I’m going to look for more weapons.” He walked over and grabbed Ginger by the hand then led her to the end of the room to the door that led to Mr. Barron’s office. The other door on the wall with the lamps led to the hallway to the other executive offices.
    He walked in and pulled Ginger close. “You and I can leave now,” he said in a low voice. “We have mountain climbing experience, and so does Malik.”
    “Daniel, if we just hang that hose out, all of them will fall and get hurt or killed.”
    “The longer we stay here, the harder it is going to be to leave,” he said, grabbing her hand. “I’m sure our reservation’s been canceled though.”
    With a startle, Ginger jumped back. “You think this is happening in other places?”
    “Oh yeah,” Daniel said, letting her hand go and stepping over to the wall