Chapter 10 - Rooftop Chase
The shattering crash of the bedroom balcony glass echoed through the safe house like a gunshot. Without a second thought, I sprinted out of the master suite toward the shattered sliding door, pulling a heavy fire extinguisher from the hallway wall bracket.
Stepping out onto the third-floor balcony, the cool night wind whipped my hair across my face. Below, the courtyard was a chaotic sea of flashing red and blue police cruiser lights. Four armed state troopers had the perimeter locked down, their tactical rifles aimed directly at the roofline.
"He went up the external maintenance ladder toward the roof! Cut off the stairwell exit!" Detective Maya Torres shouted into her radio, standing beside a cruiser with her service weapon drawn.
I looked up, tracing the rusted iron fire-escape ladder clinging to the side of the brick building. Without pausing to second-guess myself, I hoisted my skirt, gripped the rungs of the ladder, and began climbing upward into the dark night sky.
By the time I hoisted myself over the gravel parapet of the rooftop, the crisp wind was howling across the open expanse. In the center of the roof, Victor Vance was frantically trying to pry open the maintenance hatch leading to the lower floors, cursing under his breath as his lockpicks failed him.
"End of the line, Victor!" I yelled, stepping forward across the gravel with the heavy fire extinguisher clutched in both hands like a club.
Victor spun around, a desperate, feral look twisting his rugged features. He pulled a compact Beretta pistol from his jacket waistband, leveling the barrel straight at my chest in the moonlight.
"You should have stayed in the bathroom, Nora! You just don't know when to keep your nose out of other people's business!" Victor snarled, his finger tightening around the trigger.
Before he could fire, a sharp crack echoed across the roof. A bullet sparked off the concrete inches from Victor’s boots.
"Drop the gun, Victor! Federal agents! Make one move and you're dead!" Maya Torres shouted, vaulting over the rooftop edge with her service pistol locked dead onto his chest, followed by three heavily armed tactical troopers.
Victor glanced from Maya’s steady gun barrel to the sheer three-story drop behind him. Realizing he was completely cornered with zero escape routes, his shoulders slumped in defeat. He tossed the pistol onto the gravel bed and raised his hands slowly into the air.
"Smart choice," Maya hissed, motioning for the troopers to move in. "Cuff him!"
May you like
As the heavy steel cuffs clicked around Victor’s wrists, I exhaled a long, shuddering breath, lowering the fire extinguisher to the gravel roof. The final hired gun of the Mercer empire was down, and we had finally broken their circle of intimidation once and for all.
========================================
