Page 16 of The Girl He Wanted

"Stop, Jack!" she called out, hoping to make him pause if only for a moment or two.

But he didn't slow down. Instead, he turned around and looked at her with a wild expression on his face. "You'll never catch me!" he shouted before leaping off the roof and disappearing from sight.

Paige gasped in sudden horror, unable to believe what had just happened as she ran to the edge of the roof. Had Reynolds really just thrown himself off the roof rather than be caught? She looked over the edge, fully expecting to see Reynolds lying on the ground, dead. Instead, she saw him already running across an adjacent, lower, roof.

Paige knew what she had to do if she wanted to catch him, but the thought of it was still enough to make her hesitate. It was a long way down, and if she got this wrong, there was no way that Paige was going to survive. Paige took a couple of steps back from the edge, preparing to make the same leap that Reynolds had.

"Paige, wait!" Christopher called out.

Paige took a couple of steps and then threw herself forward, out into space. For a moment, Paige felt as though she was flying through the air. The wind rushed past her, whipping her hair across her face. She worried in that moment that she might have misjudged it, that she might plummet to the ground below.

Then she hit the roof of the building on the far side, her legs buckling beneath her. Paige rolled to take some of the impact, coming up onto her feet again. She briefly glanced back and saw Christopher approach the edge of the roof as she had, then fling himself across the way Paige had.

He was stronger than Paige was, but also more heavily built, so he didn't leap across the space between the buildings as gracefully as Paige had. He fell short, hands grabbing for the edge of the building, and Paige's heart was in her mouth as she grabbed his wrist, hauling with all her strength to try to make sure that he didn't fall.

Christopher's weight was too much for Paige to bear, and she almost lost her grip, but adrenaline gave her strength. She held on, determined not to let him fall. Christopher's fingers scrabbled wildly at the rough surface of the roof, finding no purchase at first.

Then she saw him get a firmer grip, one foot hooking up onto the lip of the roof, ready to haul himself over. Paige dug her feet into the surface of the roof and yanked with all her strength, hauling Christopher up and over the edge of the building. He landed on the roof with a grunt, rolling over onto his back.

"Are you ok?" Paige asked. He could have been hurt or killed, trying to follow her like that.

"I'm fine, thanks, Paige," he gasped, his chest heaving as he struggled to catch his breath. "Now go! Don't lose him!"

Paige hated the thought of leaving before she knew for sure that Christopher hadn't been hurt, but she was an FBI agent, and her suspect was getting away. Already, Paige could see Reynolds running along the slope of a brick-built outbuilding, doing a front flip off the end as if this were all some kind of performance rather than a desperate attempt to flee.

Paige set off, renewing her pursuit. She was quickly gaining on Reynolds, her anger fueling her determination. How dare he put her and Christopher's lives in danger like this? She was going to catch him and make sure he paid for what he had done.

Reynolds reached the edge of this roof, and there were a couple of metal bars bolted into place between it and the next rooftop. Reynolds crossed them quickly and with agility, feet splayed out to the side like he was walking a tightrope. He’d clearly done it many times before.

Paige realized as he did so that someone had put all of this in place to allow access between the various rooftops. Had it been Reynolds, looking for a quick escape? No, Paige didn't believe that, but shedidbelieve that if there were a group of parkour practitioners from the climbing club, they might have crafted a course that let them travel from roof to roof around the industrial district of the town. Maybe the businesses below let them do it, or maybe they simply didn’t know.

It meant that Reynolds would know his way over the rooftops well. Paige followed, trying not to look down as she made her way over the pipe. She could feel it wobbling beneath her in spite of being fixed in place. It felt like an eternity before her feet found solid ground again.

She followed after Reynolds, and now, she could see that the climbers had fixed a kind of metal framework atop this next roof. Reynolds was already clambering through it with rapid agility, taking twists and turns so that Paige was forced to follow through the structure in a crouched position.

Paige was quickly realizing that Reynolds was not just a simple suspect but a skilled athlete, with a talent for moving quickly and gracefully through any terrain. She was impressed but also angry that he had put them in danger like this. She wasn’t going to give up. She would follow him wherever he went now. Just the fact that he had run made her almost certain that he was the killer, and Paige was determined to bring him down.

Finally, they both reached the end of the metal framework, and Reynolds leaped down onto another roof, landing in a crouch. Paige followed suit, feeling the impact in her knees as she landed.

But Reynolds was already on the move again, darting between air conditioning units and solar panels to avoid being caught. Paige ran after him, only catching glimpses of him as he moved ahead now. He was clearly trying to break line of sight so that he could take off at a new angle, confusing her.

Paige could feel her arms straining as her heart pounded in her chest with the effort of the chase. She was determined to catch him, but she knew she was getting exhausted. Reynolds seemed to have endless stamina, moving through the structure with ease as if he had done this a million times before. Paige, on the other hand, was struggling to keep up.

The only good news for her was that Reynolds was running out of places to go. The course the climbers had set up between the buildings was starting to curve back around towards the climbing gym, and if they went back there, Paige was confident that she would be able to catch up to Reynolds before he got out through the building. There were too many people there for him to move this quickly.

He seemed to have realized the same thing, though. She could hear Reynolds's footsteps pounding on the roof, his breathing coming a little harder now from the exertion. Maybe Paige had overestimated him before when she’d thought he had endless stamina, but it would be hard to take advantage of that. She was still a long way behind him.

Paige took a deep breath and pushed herself harder, her muscles screaming with the effort. She could see Reynolds ahead of her, his form growing smaller as he ran towards a spot on the side of the building where fire escapes zig-zagged down its side.

Paige realized that Reynolds was trying to escape down the fire escape, so she had to get there before him. She gritted her teeth and pushed herself to the limit, her legs pumping furiously as she closed the distance between them.

Reynolds was there, though, running down the fire escape. Paige had to follow in his wake, her feet barely touching the stairs as she hurried after him. Surely, she would be able to catch up to him.

But as she descended the fire escape, Reynolds seemed to gain even more speed. He was moving so quickly that it was as if he was flying down the metal stairs.

Paige's breath was coming in quick gasps as she tried to keep up with him. She could see the ground coming closer and closer, and she knew that she had to catch him before they reached it.

But Reynolds was still one step ahead of her. As she reached the bottom of the fire escape, she saw him darting across the street, narrowly avoiding a car that was speeding towards him. Paige could hear the car screech to a halt, and she quickly ran across the street herself, trying to catch up to Reynolds.

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