Page 32 of Damien’s Mate

It ended about ten feet from the ground, but that was close enough to drop if he dangled from his hands.

His knee wasn’t going to like it, though.

“I’ll go first,” he said. “Lay down cover fire if we need it. And my weight will anchor the ladder for you.”

“I’m perfectly capable of climbing down a ladder, hooman.”

“Congratulations. Just don’t slip and knock me off on your way down.”

He slung the shoulder strap of the money bag across his chest, so it hung down his back and left his hands free. Then he climbed over the balcony railing and started down.

Once he put some distance between himself and the balcony, he could feel Lila join him on the ladder. He didn’t look up; he was too busy watching for Rostov’s guys. With any luck, half of them were coming inside and the other half guarding the entrances, ignoring the balconies.

Or not. There was a shout, and a shot came out of nowhere. Fuck. Damien returned fire in the shooter’s general direction, but he couldn’t see him.

There was another shot—a damn close one. Lila started shooting, and Damien descended as fast as he could. He couldn’t afford to drop from too high—if he messed up his knee and couldn’t walk, they’d kill him right here.

Lila was almost down to his level. “Drop off,” he told her. “I’ll cover you.”

“Fuck that shit,” she said. She already had her knife out, and in seconds she’d cut through the ropes holding the ladder together. The two of them plummeted over ten feet to the ground. Damien tried to take Lila’s weight, but they both hit hard.

The only piece of luck was that he managed to take most of the weight on his right foot and roll in that direction, saving his bad knee.

Lila crawled to her feet, leaning on Damien.

“You okay? Can you run?” he asked.

She nodded, but she’d gone deadly pale. Dammit. Had she reinjured something?

They headed for the street. The overgrown shrubs hid them from Rostov’s men, but fighting their way through the thicket of branches slowed them down. He could hear Rostov’s guys closing in from both sides. If they didn’t catch them in the yard, they’d get them going over the wall.

Then there was a squeal of tires, and more cars pulled up—dark SUVs with North Side Hauling stickers on the side.

Louie Rizzio and the deadly cavalry had arrived.

In moments Rizzio and his men were out of the cars, shooting at the Russians. Damien heard Rizzio bark, “Find Fernandez and the girl. If they have the book on them, kill them and take it. If not, bring them to the warehouse.”

That was Rizzio for you. No gratitude. Now both sides wanted them dead.

Rostov’s guys had pulled back to battle with Salzano’s people. There were sirens in the distance—in a minute this place was going to be swarming with cops, and then Damien and Lila would have to explain the ledger, the money, and the damn artifacts.

They had to get out of here. James’s SUV was out of reach—Rostov’s guys were back there. Their only chance was to get to the street and jack a car before anyone shot them. He could hear people still beating the bushes for them.

Damien stole a look at Lila. Her eyes were glowing a feral green in the darkness. Wow. He halfway wanted to see her change forms, but he couldn’t even imagine what that would add to this cluster fuck.

She panted, “Can we just give them the damn book?”

Damien snorted. “Which ones?”

“Either ones. Why should we care? Let them fight each other for it.”

Oh, hell.

“You’re a genius,” he told her.

Damien grabbed her hand and headed for the corner where the side wall met the front. At one point they had to freeze in the shadow of a rhododendron while a shooter passed by barely three feet from them. After that, it was clear sailing to the wall.

Damien said, “Climb over and get ready to run.” He gave Lila a boost, and she hoisted herself to the top of the wall, staying low so she wouldn’t be silhouetted against the sky.