Page 124 of Dark Breaker

She takes it and points it at the floor like I instructed. She’s looking at it like it’s some kind of poisonous snake. Which isn’t all that incorrect.

I grab a coiled rope with a grappling hook at the end and throw it over my shoulder.

The cutting torch shuts off. I glance at the elevator: a freshly carved rectangular panel falls away as I watch, revealing armed men inside.

“Take cover!” I shove her toward the kitchen. I’m right behind her and we duck behind the closest wall.

Gunfire riddles the plaster wall next to my head and pieces break away.

I duck, then aim my rifle past the edge without looking and open fire. I grab a grenade, bite the pin out with my teeth, and toss it. The explosion rocks my apartment.

I grab Rosa by her free hand and lead her at a crouch across the kitchen to the doorway that opens to the family room. I aim my rifle past. I can see the breached elevator at the far side. Seems quiet. The overhead light inside it is flickering on and off.

As I watch, the elevator descends. No doubt to load up with fresh troops.

I lead her forward, through the family room, until I reach the wall adjacent to the hallway.

I peer past. I see four armed men lying on the floor. They’re limbs are in random positions. Dead.

Maybe not all of them: one man lifts a handgun toward me.

I immediately shove Rosa backward, narrowly ducking behind the corner. Bullets riddle the wall corner beside me.

I toss another grenade around the bend and hear a satisfying splatter following the explosion.

I peer past. “He won’t be bothering us anymore.”

Beyond the hole cut into the elevator door, I can see the carbon-fiber cables moving in the opposite direction: it’s coming back up. We don’t have much time.

I wrap my fingers around Rosa’s hand and lead her up the stairs to the private rooftop.

I hurry to the railing and slip my rifle over my shoulder via the strap. Then I lower the rope and grappling hook I carry on the opposite shoulder, and spin the hook portion, aiming at the opposite building twenty feet away. I release.

The hook hurtles across, bringing the rope with it, latching onto a balcony just across from me.

I haul myself over the railing and balance on the edge.

I beckon for Rosa to join me.

“You can’t be serious?” she says, looking down.

“Hey, it’s not so different from what you did with my amp cords when you ran away,” I tell her.

“Yeah but, at least then I had a fire escape underneath me,” she continues. “Here there’s nothing but empty air.”

“Stop looking down. Eyes up here.” I point at my face.

She shakes her head, then finally looks into my eyes.

“Trust me,” I tell her.

She sighs, then slips one foot over the railing, then the other, and stands beside me ten stories above the ground.

“Hang on tight.” I wrap my arm around Rosa’s waist, and she does likewise to me.

I fetch my phone and pull up a custom app I had made.

I hear footsteps behind us. Someone’s coming up the stairs.