Chapter 8 - THE FALL AND THE FLIGHT
The screech of metal on metal was deafening.
Nora leaned over the edge of the shaft, screaming Adrian’s name as the elevator plummeted into the darkness.
But it didn't fall to the basement.
Three floors down, a massive, bone-jarring CRUNCH echoed up the shaft. The elevator had slammed into the heavy steel maintenance brackets on the forty-second floor. The emergency catch had held.
Nora gasped, clutching her chest. He was alive. He had to be.
But she didn't have time to check.
The stairwell door on the forty-sixth floor burst open.
Vivienne stood there, her emerald dress ruined with soot, a suppressed pistol in her hand. She had abandoned Marcus to finish Adrian while she came for the prize.
“End of the line, Nora,” Vivienne sneered, raising the gun. “Give me the micro-film.”
Nora pushed Leo behind her, backing slowly toward the massive floor-to-ceiling windows of the forty-sixth floor. Beyond the glass, the lights of Manhattan sparkled, oblivious to the nightmare unfolding above them.
“You’re pathetic, Vivienne,” Nora spat, clutching the micro-film in her fist. “You have millions, and you’re willing to murder a child for more?”
“It’s not about money, darling. It’s about legacy,” Vivienne said coldly. She cocked the gun. “Drop it on the floor, or I shoot the boy first.”
Nora’s heart hammered against her ribs. She looked at the gun. She looked at the heavy brass fire extinguisher sitting on the wall next to her.
She looked at Leo.
“Close your eyes, baby,” Nora whispered.
Then, Nora didn’t drop the film.
She threw it.
She hurled the tiny roll of micro-film not at Vivienne, but directly toward the open elevator shaft.
“NO!” Vivienne shrieked.
The heiress lunged forward, diving desperately toward the shaft to catch the evidence before it fell.
It was the opening Nora needed.
She grabbed the heavy brass fire extinguisher and swung it with all her might.
The brass cylinder connected squarely with Vivienne’s jaw. The heiress crumpled to the floor instantly, the gun skittering across the marble tiles.
Nora didn’t stop to check if she was breathing. She grabbed Vivienne’s gun, grabbed Leo’s hand, and sprinted for the stairwell.
They ran up the last two flights of stairs, bursting through the heavy steel door onto the roof.
The cold night air hit them like a physical force. The deafening roar of a helicopter engine filled the space. The Blackwood Meridian chopper was sitting on the helipad, rotors spinning, ready for takeoff.
The pilot, Carter, saw them. He waved frantically from the cockpit.
Nora ran toward the chopper, lifting Leo into the back seat and strapping him in.
“Where’s Mr. Blackwood?” Carter shouted over the rotors.
“He’s trapped on forty-two!” Nora yelled back. “We have to get the police!”
Suddenly, the roof door exploded open.
Marcus stumbled out onto the roof. His suit was torn, his face battered, but his eyes were filled with murderous rage. He raised his weapon, aiming directly at the helicopter.
Nora raised Vivienne’s gun.
She had never fired a weapon in her life. Her hands were shaking violently.
Marcus smiled, a chilling, bloody grin. He knew she wouldn't shoot. He adjusted his aim toward the fuel tank of the chopper.
Before he could pull the trigger, a dark figure emerged from the stairwell behind him.
Adrian.
He was covered in blood, his left arm hanging uselessly at his side, holding a heavy steel pipe from the elevator shaft in his right hand.
With a primal roar, Adrian swung the pipe, striking Marcus in the back of the knees.
Marcus collapsed, his gun firing harmlessly into the night sky. Adrian didn’t stop. He brought the pipe down on Marcus’s hand, shattering his wrist. The gun slid across the concrete.
Adrian kicked the weapon off the roof, then collapsed onto his knees, completely spent.
Nora leapt out of the chopper, running to Adrian and throwing her arms around him.
“You made it,” she sobbed.
“Stubbornness,” Adrian breathed, flashing a weak, bloody smile. “Runs in the family.”
Sirens began to wail in the distance. Dozens of red and blue lights were converging on the Vesper Crown building below.
Nora helped Adrian into the helicopter.
“Where to, sir?” Carter shouted.
Nora opened her hand.
She hadn’t thrown the micro-film down the shaft. She had thrown a small, rolled-up piece of her torn apron.
May you like
The real micro-film sat safely in her palm.
“Take us to the FBI field office,” Nora said fiercely. “We have a delivery to make.”
