Page 69 of Wild Oblivion

The sheriff groaned. "What about Emily?”

“She’s fine.”

He breathed a little easier. “Okay. Tango One will be inposition shortly. They'll drop a harness down. Looks like that's the only way out.”

"Hurry up. I don't think this structure is too stable.”

I ended the call and told Emily about our planned method of extraction.

"This might be a good time to tell you about my fear of heights."

I chuckled.

"It's not funny."

"I’m sure it's not," I said, raising my hands in surrender. "But you don't have any other choice, unless you want to stay up here until the building collapses.”

"I think I'll pass on that.”

The thump of rotor blades drew near.

I stood up, walked to the window frame, and waited for them to lower the harness. They hovered overhead and dropped it down.

I grabbed onto the frame and leaned out the window to grab the rope and pull the harness in. I secured Emily in the harness first. Once I was sure it was snug, I escorted her to the window frame.

She cringed as she peered out over the ledge. "Oh hell no!"

"No choice.”

She winced, and terror twisted her face.

The building jittered and groaned again. A slight shift, and the hairs on the back of my neck stood tall.

We didn’t have long.

Emily closed her eyes and stepped into the abyss. She swung from the window frame, and the helicopter pulled away slightly. The wench engaged and pulled her up. Deputies waited for her and pulled her into the cargo area when she reached them.

Once she was safely aboard, they dropped the harness back down.

The building rumbled again. The floor shifted. Concrete snapped and cracked.

This thing was going down.

36

Istrapped in, then swung out the window. The rescue team would extract the office worker's body later. Priority one was to get the living out of the building before it collapsed. Which it did the minute I swung free.

It crumbled and imploded on itself in a plume of dust as the helicopter lifted me out of harm's way. Not a moment too soon.

Steel and rebar creaked and groaned.

Onlookers below shrieked in horror.

The winch pulled me up, and I climbed into the cabin with Emily, then disconnected the harness.

The pilot banked the craft around and headed toward the station.

"Thanks, guys," I said. "That was a close one."