Page 50 of Remington’s Mate

“But he’s right behind us!”

“Who?”

At that moment, Titan slammed the front doors open with a mighty ‘boom!’ and stepped inside, snarling. He was wearing nothing but his buckskin pants, and had matted his hair to look as crazy as possible.

The security guard’s mouth dropped open.

He tried to run, but Kitty clung to him, pretending to be hysterical and making sure she was a dead weight.

Brandon stepped in front of Titan and took an ineffective swing at him. Titan picked him up and tossed him over the security desk. Brandon rolled to the floor and checked the monitors.

Sutcliffe was in the security office.

Smith and Jones were in the elevator, weapons out. The numbers above the door read sixth floor. Seventh floor.

With a terrifying roar, Titan bore down on the security guard and punched him in the side of the head. He dropped to the floor, unconscious.

Brandon grabbed the desk phone and dialed Jaeda’s office. When she picked up, he started talking before she could get a word out. “Smith and Jones on the way up with guns. Get to the roof; Remy’ll fly you out.”

Just then, all the security monitors went blank. Fucking Sutcliffe. He’d cut the system so there’d be no record of what happened to Jaeda.

Brandon and Kitty ran for the stairs, Kitty grabbing the guard’s ID. “Squatch, head out before somebody calls the cops. Get out of sight.”

“Will do.” The big man turned and ran from the lobby, while Kitty slammed the guard’s ID against the card reader by the stairwell door and pushed it open. Together, they began to run up the steps.

As soon as Brandon hung up, Jaeda grabbed her purse and bolted for the door. Cursing her damn high heels, she ran down the hallway, reaching the door to the stairwell just as the elevator dinged.

She wrenched off her shoes, dropping one as a bullet buried itself in the doorjamb.

Dammit, she’d barely even heard it. They were using silencers.

She ducked through the door, pushed it shut and jammed the toe of one of her shoes underneath, like a doorstop. It wouldn’t hold them long, but maybe just long enough.

At least she was only two levels down from the roof.

There was a keypad on the roof door, so random employees couldn’t get out there and smoke. Luckily, Remy had hacked the security override codes days ago and given them to her to memorize.

As she keyed in the code and pushed the door open, she could hear Smith and Jones pounding up the stairs. Wincing at the gravel under her feet, Jaeda ran for the nearest HVAC vent and ducked behind it. She scanned the sky for white wings, but she didn’t see Remy.

She gave a short, sharp whistle. Still nothing.

She pulled her Mace and her Taser out of her purse, wishing like hell she had a gun. This was the last time she ever went to work without being armed.

Smith and Jones kicked the roof door open. Jaeda peered out from behind her vent. There was Smith, edging into view, keeping the left side of the roof covered. Jones was just behind him, covering the right.

Jaeda waited for the right moment and ran for another vent, dropping and rolling the last few feet. A bullet whizzed through the air and ricocheted off the vent.

The vent was a big one, tall enough for her to stand behind. There was no more cover between her and the roof edge.

She needed to get out of here now. But if Remy flew down, they’d shoot him for sure, and they’d both be dead.

Where was Brandon?

The two men converged on her position. She heard a faint quiver of steel as Jones put his hand on the vent.

Jaeda slammed her taser against it and discharged. The electricity arced through the vent. Jaeda heard a strangled cry, and then the thud as a body slid to the ground. She whirled to the other side, Mace ready for Smith.

There was an earsplitting screech overhead. Remy! Jaeda heard the soft ‘whump’ as Smith fired his silenced weapon. Remy dodged. Jaeda sprayed a cloud of Mace into the air towards Smith, and bolted for the edge of the roof.