“Screw that…”
“Bodie. I’ll be okay, just… Go.” She shoved the files at him. “And take these.”
“You hold onto them because you’re making it across.”
She sighed, tucked them inside her jacket. “Be careful.”
He nodded, then climbed up, testing out the first foot. His boots slipped on the rain-slick surface, some of the rust flakes falling into the gap. He glanced back, then took a step. The pipe groaned, sinking farther in the middle as he continued across, the far end slipping sideways a few inches before he leaped off the end, stabilized it.
Buck went next, arms out like a tightrope walker, virtually jogging across as if he didn’t believe in gravity. Was able to bend it to his will. He got halfway across when the skylight rocked open, the hatch bouncing off the far side as twin heads appeared above the roof line.
Rowan took a knee, calculated the angle, then fired off three rounds. She double tapped the jamb, grooved the third shot across one asshole’s jaw before the men flinched back. Let the hatch snap close above them.
Buck picked back up, jumping off the end a moment before the pipe cracked, dropping into a vee in the middle as the integrity failed, a few chunks vanishing into the darkness.
Rowan hit her comms. “Dalton? Pipe’s been compromised. I need a clear path down the drainpipe to that alley between the buildings.”
A pause, then a gruff curse. “Alley’s swarming with mercs, and I don’t have a clear sightline to eliminate them all. Crossing’s your only option. I’ll hold off the tangos trying to breach the hatch, but you gotta go now, Rowan.”
Bodie crowded the other side, face grim, muscles primed. He looked ready to climb back over, carry her across. “Rowan. Sweetheart, it’ll be okay, just go slow. I’ll grab you if it starts to give… Down!”
She dropped, hit the roof as two deep cracks split the air. Bodie yelled at her to move, his Sig sweeping the skylight, Buck picking off some asshole in the alley below.
She stood, startled when another shot ripped through the air, catching a guy trying to sneak out another hatch. Dalton. Keeping his word, though, she suspected more targets were already trying to access the roof.
The thought tempered the fear roiling through her gut, and she edged out onto the pipe, chest tight, the rain blurring the drop until it looked like a giant abyss. The metal pipe shrieked, a large chunk splitting off, crumbling into the void, but she kept moving, Bodie’s arm slowly drawing nearer.
Until the whole damn thing shuddered, broke. She dropped, nails scratching the rusted pipe, trying to find purchase when Bodie snagged her wrist, swung her against the wall. She hit hard, breath wheezing through her chest, but she didn’t fall, finally scrambling her way up and over the edge, Bodie holding firm until she collapsed on the roof. Offered up a prayer of thanks.
He dragged her against him, planted a hot, wet kiss on her mouth, staring at her as if he hadn’t thought he’d actually catch her, then pulled them both to their feet. “Stairwell. Run.”
She nodded, glanced over her shoulder when the skylight hatch creaked open, again, two men rolling out and onto the roof. They hoofed it to the edge, cursed, then dove for cover when a couple more shots echoed behind them.
Dalton kept the men at bay while her team raced across the roof, hit the access door to the stairway moving fast. The wood splintered, crashed against the wall, then bounced back, creaking in the wind as Buck barreled through, weapon raised, gaze focused down the stairs. He took them fast but controlled, stopping at the next level.
Dalton grunted over the comms, another shot ringing out. “I’ve got a tango on the adjoining catwalk. Can’t get a clear shot. Just the faint glow of a cigarette.”
“Copy.” Bodie shuffled to the front. “Remaining forces?”
“Too many to count, and there’s radio chatter. Reinforcements inbound. We need to wrap this up before we’re all out of time.”
“We’ll head for the rocks. Try the south courtyard all the way to the upper road. Double back for the vehicles. I’ll call it out so you can meet us there.”
“Not going anywhere until you’re clear, Bodie. Make peace with that.”
Bodie mumbled something about Dalton being too honorable — too damn selfless since returning — then showed the countdown on his hand. Buck tossed the door open when Bodie hit one, going low and left as Bodie went high and right, leaving her the center.
They poured out of the stairwell, catching that guard as he spun at the far end, smoke circling his head, the cigarette stuck to his lip. He fumbled with his radio, half-raising his gun as Rowan charged along the catwalk, driving her open palm into his throat, knee into his chest. He hit the grating, eyes rolled back, gagging from the force, his radio tumbling onto the slick concrete below them. He tried to roll, only to have Bodie step up — down him with a couple kicks to the head.
He tossed the guy’s weapon aside, then kicked at the drop ladder to the main floor. It rattled, rasped against the steel runners before screeching to the concrete floor below. Buck swung onto it, slid down just hands and feet on the outside of the rungs, Rowan following suit. Bodie brought up the rear, forever guarding their six.
They landed in some kind of processing room, with conveyor belts and other machinery snaking across the floor. A motion sensor blinked off to their left, tripping a single fluorescent light that flickered at half-strength on the other side of the room. Bodie waved them toward a door beneath it, staying low, when two armed men materialized out of the shadows.
Muzzles flashed in the dim light, a spray of semi-automatic fire chewing up one of the belts. Buck muttered under his breath, grabbed another canister, then tossed it, covering his head as it clicked across the concrete floor, exploded.
The room washed into white, everything tilting left and right as the noise rattled Rowan’s skull. Bodie wrapped his arm around her waist, half-carried her across the room, seemingly unaffected by the mind-numbing effects. They fell through the door and into a small courtyard, smoke pouring out with them.
Dalton shouted something in the comms, his words lost to the ringing sound pounding in her head. The way the stone pavers kept rolling beneath her feet. An alarm on the side of the building chirped to life, a rotating red light pulsing in the fog like a heartbeat.
