We were more than a thousand fucking feet off the ground!
It was Tyler who answered, his harness already in place. “You won’t be. Alec will carry you down.”
“What? How?”
“Does she ever stop asking questions?” Jamie piped in, sounding way too amused. I was starting to think there was something seriously wrong with all the guys in Alec’s team—it was probably why they all got along so well. They were all nuts.
“No,” Alec and Tyler answered at the same time.
Before I had a chance to defend my curious mind, Tyler was shoving a harness in my face. He made me put it on while I continued to protest the next phase of their crazy exit strategy. They all just ignored me.
The harness was like something you’d expect to wear when bungee jumping—tight around my thighs, making my beautiful dress bunch up, and with straps over my shoulders.
“She’s ready,” Tyler announced.
“No, I’m not!” I protested, but Alec spoke over me.
“Ready.”
“Ready,” Jamie parroted.
They all moved in unison, like a well-oiled machine.
While I continued my stream of protests, Alec attached my harness to his, then attached his to the rope. I kept arguing that I couldn’t do this, had no idea what I was doing, was scared, all while following their quick instructions. Before long I was holding on to Alec in a piggyback position.
When he swung his leg over the railing, I squeezed my mouth and eyes shut, my heart jumping into my throat. The wind whipped the soft tulle of my skirt around my legs, which were clenched tightly around Alec’s middle.
He didn’t give me any warning or ask if I was ready. He just pushed off the wall, and we went plummeting. My eyes flew open, and my stomach joined my heart in my throat as I released a high-pitched, breathy scream. Sleek glass sailed up as we went down. The sound of the rope feeding through the device attached to Alec’s harness was almost drowned out by the wind.
We jolted to a stop, and Alec propped his booted feet against the building. I took a breath.
“Evie.” He spoke just loud enough to be heard over the rush of the wind. “We’re trying to get out undetected here. This is a stealth mission. I need you to keep your mouth shut.”
I was about to snap back at him—even if we were flying down the side of a building in a life-and-death situation, I was not about to let him get away with telling me to keep my mouth shut—but without waiting for a response, he pushed off again.
Again fear wrapped its cold claws around my throat. But I stayed silent. I focused on my dress whipping almost painfully around my naked legs, on the harness digging into my skin, on a little mole on Alec’s neck I’d never noticed. I made a mental note to give that a proper look when we weren’t running for our lives. Fear of skin cancer never leaves you after you’ve lived in Australia.
After several excruciating seconds, movement to my left and above us caught my eye.
Jamie and Tyler came sailing down the side of the building, overtaking us in seconds. Alec cursed and picked up speed. At first I thought he was just being competitive, but then I saw Jamie pull out his gun.
Jamie and Tyler took several shots in quick succession at the glass just below them. They holstered their guns, swung out wide, and threw themselves at the glass. It shattered around them as they disappeared into the building.
With one more gut-wrenching drop, Alec lowered us to the same spot, and Jamie and Ty pulled us in.
“What’s going on?” I demanded as soon as we were out of the screaming wind.
“They made us,” Tyler explained as he detached my harness from Alec’s. “They were keeping all the people upstairs hostage, but as soon as someone spotted us coming down the side of the building, they pulled everyone to come after us. We think they’re after you. Some of our people made it upstairs, and the hostages are saying they’re looking for a girl.”
My heart sank. Of course they were looking for me. More people were getting hurt because of me.
“We have to move,” Alec growled, loosening his harness. I just stood there, trying not to let the despair take over.
“They’re trying to get to us, but our guys are heading them off where they can. It’s pandemonium out there, and we need to use this opportunity to get out another way.”