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I laugh. I have to admit it’s easy to get along with him. Growing up in a household full of sisters offered a completely different dynamic, but if I ever had a brother, I imagine Ben would fit the mold perfectly.
“Okay, okay,” I tell him. “I’ll be more careful starting now.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I swear I see something glint through one of the penthouse’s many large windows. At first, I think it’s a trick of the light. Maybe the sun is refracting off a neighboring building or maybe it’s one of those distant helicopters I’ve seen flying around New York to report on daily traffic. I’m inclined to ignore it, except—
I see it again. And this time, it’s more than a glint. Something solid and fast whizzes straight past the window. My brain has trouble identifying the object. Maybe it’s a bird? But what’s the strange whirring sound following it wherever it goes?
“What is that?” I mutter to myself, approaching the balcony in confusion.
Ben frowns, appearing just as concerned. “Let me check it out.”
He takes the lead, leaving through the large sliding door adjacent the living room that opens onto the penthouse’s impressive balcony garden. I haven’t spent too much time out here—I didn’t realize I had such a terrible fear of heights until this exact moment—but it’s nonetheless impressive. Were I not so concerned by the strange buzzing noise zipping around over our heads, I might’ve taken my time to appreciate the view.
“Holy shit,” Ben says around a gasp as he points upward.
I squint against the bright blue sky. Above us as clear as day…
“Is that adrone?” I exclaim.
I’m no tech expert, but I can tell this must be an incredibly advanced model given its sleek design and speed. Its four legs are spread out in a cross pattern, its rotating blades moving so quickly they’re barely even a blur.
“Luka!” I shout over my shoulder. “Luka!”
I hear the scramble of footsteps trudging down the steps. My brother-in-law was clearly in the middle of sleeping, his hair messy and shirt wrinkled. Luka rubs his eyes with a wide yawn.
“What the fuck’s going on?” he asks, frazzled.
“Is that yours?” I reply quickly. “The drone, is it one of your little gadgets?”
Luka’s eyes widen when he sees it outside. “No, it’s not mine. I don’t use shit like that.”
A cold dread sweeps through me. If it doesn’t belong to Luka, whodoesit belong to? A million and one questions hit me all at once. Is someone spying on us? What is it doing all the way up here?
“It’s taking pictures of us!” I say, alarmed.
Ben moves to pull out a gun from his shoulder holster. “I’ll shoot it down.”
“No, wait! If you miss, someone could get hurt. And if you hit it, the drone could still crash into someone.”
“Then what am I supposed to do?”
I glance at Luka. “Can you hijack the controls from here?”
“Maybe, but it might fly off before I get a chance.”
Reacting purely on instinct, I shrug off my cardigan and hold it open between both my hands. “Ben, get ready to shoot it down.” With a nod, he draws his weapon and aims. “Do it!” I shout.
Ben sets off a single shot, successfully hitting the drone in one of its arms. It sputters and tilts, struggling to keep itself up now that it only has three working hover blades. The drone begins to lose altitude, but I manage to lean over the balcony’s high railing and catch it in my cardigan-turned-net. The blades get caught up in the yarn, effectively burning out the motor.
“Careful!” Luka shouts as he pulls me and the drone back to safety. We both end up falling on our asses, but I’m thankfully able to keep my catch from being crushed.
My breaths come hard and my heart pounds loudly in my ear. “Wow. I didn’t expect that to work.”
“Are you alright?” Ben asks me as he helps me stand.
“I think so.”
Luka is quick to check on the drone, doing his best to untangle the blades to get a better look. He frowns as he works, yanking off the top of the device to get a good look at its internal hardware. I’m not sure what he’s able to discern, but whatever it is, it’s not good.
