Page 69 of Spymaster

“Can you climb over it?” he asked, as he relayed the instructions to Chase to back up.

The gate area was covered by a metal roof. It was likely meant to serve as a space where deliveries could be made and inventoried without threat of the elements. Jasinski examined the space, but wasn’t hopeful.

The gate came up nearly to the underside of the roof. There wasn’t enough room to squeeze in between. There wasn’t enough room to go under it either.Think, she challenged herself once again.

The only thing in the gangway besides her and the locked gate were stacks of plastic crates used to haul beer bottles. They were her only hope of getting out.

She was halfway through stacking them when Harvath materialized and began yanking on the gate. It didn’t budge for him either.

“Hurry,” he said, as he disappeared from view.

Hurry?she repeated to herself.Did it look to him like she was taking her time?

Starting with the highest column—the one that would allow her to hop onto the roof—she stacked the crates in descending columns, forming a makeshift staircase.

It didn’t have to be pretty, and it wasn’t. It only had to work. Fortunately, many of the crates were already stacked up against the wall. All she had to do was drag them out and get them into place.

With the last one set, she began her rickety climb. But no sooner had she begun than there was an angry voice from behind her in the gangway.

“Stop!” it demanded. The voice belonged to Nikolai.

When the lights went out, he must have come looking for her, and now he had found her, trying to escape. Running down the gangway, he charged toward her, shouting and cursing in Russian.

She tried to move faster, but the crates were unstable and wobbled on the uneven cobblestones of the alley. The quicker she moved, the more unbalanced everything became.

The Russian had reached her staircase now and was kicking and ripping away the crates like a madman.

He reached for the last stack of them a fraction of a second before she leaped onto the roof. Jasinski knew she was going down before gravity had even taken hold of her.

But before she could fall, she felt something grab her arm. Looking up, she saw Harvath, who had climbed onto the roof from the street.

“Give me your other hand,” he said.

Reaching toward him, she did, and he pulled her the rest of the way up.

“We’ve got to move,” he said, pointing to the other side of the roof and the sidewalk below it. “Hurry up and jump.”

Jasinski moved as quickly as she could to the opposite edge, lay down on her stomach, hung her legs over, and dropped to the pavement.

Looking through the gate, she could see that Nikolai had already run back inside. He would be on the sidewalk in seconds.

“Get in the car,” Harvath ordered as he jumped down. “I’ll catch up with you.”

She did as he instructed and her door wasn’t even closed before Chase peeled out. Out the rear window, she could see Harvath running up the street in the opposite direction.

“Where’s he going?” she asked, as Chase pulled a hard right turn.

“He changed his mind. He’s disabling their vehicles. We’re picking him up at the next corner.”

Accelerating up the street, Chase barely tapped the brakes to take the next turn.

When they got to their rendezvous point, they could see Harvath running toward them, with the Russians in hot pursuit.

“Reach behind you and open the rear passenger door,” said Chase.

Unbuckling her seat belt, she leaned back and threw the door wide open. Seconds later, Harvath leaped in.

“Go! Go! Go!” he commanded, slamming his door shut.