Chapter 2 - Free Fall
The momentum sent Nora swinging out into the empty void over Lake Shore Drive. Below her, the abyss yawned, a dizzying drop into wet asphalt and rushing yellow cabs. The wind caught her coat, threatening to twist her sideways, but she kept her arms locked, shielding her swollen belly with every ounce of motherly instinct left in her body. "Again!" Adrian screamed from the open window below, his muscular frame strained against the harness anchor inside the office. "Push off harder!" High above, Julian pressed down on the handles of the ratcheting shear. The inner core wires began to snap one by one with sharp, high-pitched metallic pops that reverberated through the structural cable. Nora felt the line give a sudden, horrifying inch. "He’s breaking it!" she screamed, her voice drowned out by the thunder overhead. She planted her feet against the wet masonry a second time and shoved outward into the sky.
As she swung back toward the thirteenth floor, Adrian reached out into the rain. His fingers brushed against the fabric of her coat sleeve, but the slick, rain-drenched material slipped right through his grasp. "I can't reach her!" he yelled back to Daniel. "I need more slack!" "If I give you more slack and the line snaps, the weight will drag us both out!" Daniel shouted back, bracing his boots against the baseboards inside the room. "Give me the slack!" Adrian demanded, his eyes fixed on the terrified woman swinging in front of him. Upstairs, Julian set his teeth and clamped down with full force. The final strand of the heavy steel cable snapped with a sound like a gunshot. Nora felt the sudden absence of tension. The world went into weightless motion as gravity took hold, pulling her straight down toward the pavement below.
She dropped four full feet before Adrian, lunging out of the window frame to the absolute limit of his tether, managed to catch her right wrist in a vice-like grip. The violent impact jerked his shoulder out of its socket with a sickening pop, but he refused to let go. "I got you!" he roared through the blinding rain. Nora screamed as her remaining momentum slammed her hip hard into the bronze window casing. Daniel plunged forward, grabbing the thick material of her coat and the waistband of her maternity pants. "Pull!" Daniel yelled, his face turning red with exertion. Together, using every ounce of leverage they possessed, the two men hauled Nora’s trembling body over the windowsill and dragged her onto the plush Persian rug inside the office.
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Nora collapsed onto her side, immediately curling into a protective fetal ball around her belly. Her chest heaved as she sobbed hysterically. "My baby... please God, my baby..." Margaret Sloan rushed over with a stack of clean towels from the adjoining private bathroom, kneeling beside her. "Don't move, dear, don't move. You're safe now." Adrian fell back against the wall, clutching his dislocated shoulder, his breathing ragged as he stared down at the woman he had just saved. His eyes drifted to her face, then to her belly, a strange, overwhelming chill running down his spine that had nothing to do with the freezing rain. "Call an ambulance!" Daniel shouted into his radio, locking the heavy casement window back into place. "And lock down the private executive elevators! We have a severe assault on the roof!"
Before the dispatch could respond over the radio, the heavy mahogany door of the office shuddered under a violent kick. "Nora!" Julian’s voice shouted from the hallway, laced with pure panic and frantic rage. "Open this damn door!" Daniel pulled a collapsible baton from his belt, expanding it with a sharp flick of his wrist. "Get behind the desk," he ordered Margaret and Adrian. Adrian ignored his popping shoulder, standing firmly between Nora and the entrance. "Who is that?" Adrian gritted out, his knuckles turning white. "That’s Julian Ashford," Margaret said, her voice shaking as she clutched a set of legal files to her chest. "And if he’s here, it means he knows you’re in this room."
