Page 109

CHAPTER 107

YUKI WAS CONFUSED by the roaring sound. She knew everything about this building and couldn’t figure out what the rumbling could be. Credendino was on his feet, with his briefcase in hand.

He yelled at her over the noise. “Yuki! You and Gaines get the hell out of here!”

“What’s happening?” Yuki called back. But no one was listening to her.

Judge Walden shouted, “Court is adjourned. Everyone take the stairs and vacate the building!”

A guard came toward the counsel table, on his way to detain Dario Garza.

Panic erupted as something enormously heavy thumped onto the roof. Yuki looked up and saw the plywood ceiling start to splinter. The sounds were unmistakable now. A helicopter had landed on the roof of the Judicial Building, which had not been built to bear the weight of an aircraft.

Yuki crossed her arms over her head, and Nick Gaines guided her toward the courtroom’s side door, which was blocked by terrified jurors trying to get out.

Just as the logjam at the door began moving, the chopper broke through the ceiling of the makeshift courthouse, the body of the helicopter crashing to the floor, shattering the titanium blades and causing the floor to shimmy and buckle underfoot. And now the walls were vibrating.

Gaines was doing his best to hold on to Yuki as the motion toward the side door propelled them forward, causing her to stumble in her high-heeled shoes. Gaines put his arms around Yuki’s waist and lifted her until she was wobbling on her feet.

“Hold on to me, Yuki. No. Leave the shoes.”

Now gunfire came from the helicopter. Guards and court officers returned fire.

Nick had gotten her to her feet when the helicopter’s engine finally cut out. The silence lasted for only a second, before being filled by the sounds of gunfire and the warbling shrieks of sirens coming through the gates.

Inside the courtroom, agonized wails could be heard from a man who was lying across a young man’s body, crying out in Spanish.

“Son, son! Speak to me! Please. Damn it, boy. Speak!”