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“I’m alive.”
“Where are you?”
“Just follow the fucking trail of casings!” I jumped to the next building where bullets suddenly sprayed straight up. “Shit!” I took in my surroundings and calculated my options. I knew I needed to head east toward the building where Lexi was supposedly last spotted.
Zip, zip, zip!
I ducked low and studied the skyline then picked up the pace once I spotted the Christ of the City statue. The statue was our landmark if we got split up or lost on this mission. I suddenly found myself teetering on a ledge, and the tips of my boots tilted forward as my brain fought to catch up. I started to lose my balance, so I pushed hard with my feet to propel myself off the ledge toward the next building. I dropped fast, but my fingers snagged the edge of the roof as my body slammed into the side, nearly knocking the wind out of me.
“Shit, Beckett,” Keith’s voice fought the fog from my head, “I just saw that jump!”
I managed to haul myself up, roll onto my side, then leapt to my feet. I zigzagged a few meters as I got my sense of balance again and kept going.
It always amazed me what the human body could do when adrenaline pumped through the veins.
“Ahh!” someone yelled from behind me, and I whirled around to see a man running at me with a machete. I didn’t have a moment to think. He jumped me, tumbling us both to the rooftop. His weapon went flying as we rolled over and over, until I felt the safety of the rooftop disappear under me. The man’s wild eyes held mine as we dropped like rocks through the air. I knew I was going to be the one to break his fall, as I was on the bottom.
Suddenly, one of his legs snagged a pole, and his body jerked up away from me. I had a tight grip on his shirt, and the momentum yanked me upward and slowed my fall. With arms spinning, I loosened my knees as I dropped the last several feet to the ground. A cry for help found my ears, but as quickly as it registered, it was gone. On impact, I tucked and rolled until I came to a stop.
Holy shit. My head spun with the possibility that I could have just been spattered on the pavement.
“Could you be any more of a showoff?” Moore stuck his hand out to help me up.
“Fuck you,” I grunted through a smile, glad to accept his help to stand.
“I feel like I just witnessed an audition for the next Bourne movie.” Mark’s low voice behind me had me turning to find Blackstone had seen my dramatic fall.
“You good?” Cole came closer.
“Trust me, that’s nothing for him,” Moore answered for me, but I gave a nod and did a quick check to make sure I was.
“That’s fucking sick.” John admired the dead guy dangling by his leg from the pole.
“Lucky bastard. Could’ve been you up there.” Mike shook his head.
“All right, let’s move out,” Cole whispered. “They know we’re here. Let’s get going. We need that building cleared.”
“Copy that.” Mark followed Cole, but I stopped and glanced behind me. My sixth sense was niggling.
“What?” Moore hit Keith on the back to stop. “What are ya feeling, Beckett?”
“Something’s bothering me.” I scanned the area.
“Like?” Keith came closer and joined me in searching the shadows.
“I don’t know.”
“Okay,” Keith cleared his throat, “let’s stay hyperalert.”
“Copy that.” It took everything in my power to turn my back and follow the team. Something pulled at me to go the other way.
I hated that I ignored my gut.
One more street, and we made it to the building. With little hope, we cleared the shitty, rat-infested building and came up with nothing more than an old box of crackers and some wire. There were no signs of Lexi ever being there. No signs of blood, nothing. The sad reality was we were back at the start, with no leads.
“All this means is we go home and try again.” Cole moved over to Keith, who had leaned against the wall as he took a moment for himself. “This is what we do, what we know happens. This isn’t over, buddy.”
“I know,” he nodded, and I glanced over at Moore, who looked just as defeated as we did. You didn’t have to know the one you were looking for to feel how fucking heavy the situation was. We all knew that not finding Lexi tonight meant she’d spend another night with those monsters.
