Page 8 of The Plunge

Chapter 4

Keane

"What is the fuck is this?"

Tom is pointing at the limp body in my arms, his face distorted with stressed disgust. "Who the hell is she?"

I'm grinding my teeth as I look back and forth between him and the unconscious girl in my arms, her pastel-colored dress drenched in dark red. Her entire left side is covered in blood, spilling from a rather serious gunshot wound to her shoulder and running down her torso until it blends with the blood that is coming from another wound right above her left hip.

Two bullets crippled her perfect body.

Neither one of them was meant for her.

Why her of all people?

"She's coming with us," I say, the expression on my face allowing no objections.

"No fucking way!" Tom protests. He's quickly joined by Brad, who is standing farther away from us, busy retrieving the big backpacks stored up here for our escape. We're on the rooftop, sixty-three stories above the ground, and getting ready to make our escape.

"I don't know what the fuck is wrong with you," Brad yells over to me. "But that girl is not coming with us, end of discussion."

I grunt in response, casting a quick glance over at the paragliders Brad is unpacking. There are only three of them, two tandems because we wanted to make sure to get all four of us off the roof before the police came up here. The roof is only big enough for one wing at a time, forcing us to jump one by one, and if each of us had our own glider, the last person was very likely to be caught by the police. Our hope was to be able to use only two of those wings, both as a tandem, but we added a third just in case one of us was forced to stay behind. We know there's no time to waste. Once we're on the roof, we need to get down as quickly as possible.

Those are the orders.

Brad is already wearing his harness, and Tom was putting his on when I appeared on the roof.

But one is still missing.

"Where's Jered?" I ask, spinning on my heels with the girl still in my arms.

"He's not coming," Tom responds. "And neither is she!"

He comes closer in quick strides, pointing at the girl, who lazily opens one eye at just that moment, suggesting she may wake up soon.

Good. Having her unconscious would make jumping a lot harder than it has to be.

"What do you mean he's not coming?" I probe. "What happened?"

Tom's gaze darkens. "One of the assholes down there had a gun and shot back. One of the associates. He's out, but he took Jered with him."

"Fuck."

"You know how it is," Tom snaps. "We knew this could happen and—"

"Guys, we really don't have time for this!" Brad shouts from the back, waving frantically.

He's already strapped in, waiting for Tom to join him so they can make the jump we've practiced so many times before.

"Let's go!"

Tom hesitates for a moment, his eyes moving back and forth between me and the girl in my arms.

"Don't be a fucking idiot," he says, jutting his chin forward to gesture at her. "You'll get yourself killed if—"

"Go!" I cut him off. "You guys need to get off the roof."

He nods, throwing me one last warning look before he turns away and joins Brad. After he attaches his harness with a few quick and skillful motions, they start running toward the edge. We're up high enough to rely on the good wind in any case, but tonight the weather is in our favor. Their wing opens right away, lifting Tom and Brad off the roof long before they reach the edge where they would have been forced to jump.

---