132.

  I turned, ready to run.

  "Don't leave the box, you idiot!" Hex snapped in my ear. I snarled another curse, turned, and grabbed the black box, shoving it into my bag. I then reached in and pulled out the few bits of gear I had brought with me. I pulled my balaclava down over my face, took off the glasses, and shoved them in my bag.

  "Put them back on," Hex snapped at me. "I won't be able to help you if I can't see.”

  I rolled my eyes and put the glasses back on top of the balaclava. I took out my wrist rocket and tucked it into my belt, put a few Bang Rocks in my pocket, and then took out my single Zap Knuck, sliding it onto my fist and activating the Rune. I didn't have much weaponry, but it would have to do.

  I ran out of the secure server room back into the formerly dark network room that I had wriggled into. The lights were all now blaring. To my left the door exploded open and six security guards came running in.

  "Looks like you're gonna have to fight your way out of this one," I heard Hex say in my ear.

  "It's your turn to shut up and let me work," I growled.

  The guards stood in surprise, blinking for a moment, and that was all the chance I needed. Keeping the towering servers between us, I skirted around one, pulling my Wrist Rocket out and loading a Bang Rock in with one smooth motion. I popped up from behind the server and fired. I didn't want to hurt these guys too badly, they were just working stiffs doing a poorly paid security job, so I aimed at his stomach, hoping just to knock him flat and not break anything.

  The Bang Rock exploded, throwing the guard backwards into another, both of them sandwiching into the wall behind. Then the guards charged at me with small batons. I ducked one and was hit by another across the thigh. It stung like hell. I spun on him with my naked fist and punched him in the mouth before turning and laying into another one with a stiff right hook to the gut, activating the Zap Knuck as I did. Jolts flew through the man's body, and his face went red as he crumpled to the floor, his body shaking.

  I took two more nasty blows from those wicked little batons before I decided my sympathy had run out for the security guards. I kicked one just above his knee, his leg sliding out from underneath him, and caught him with a nasty left hand into the temple. He stumbled and fell to the floor. There was one more guard in front of me. The unfortunate sod took a Zap Knuck straight to the chest and keeled over backward. I leaped over his fallen body and flew out of the room.

  "Well, damn, that was impressive," Hex said, and for once he didn't sound sarcastic.

  I ignored him. My senses were fully in fight-or-flight mode now, and I had to get out of this damn building. Alarms were blaring everywhere. I ran to the elevator and pushed the button, but nothing happened.

  "Security alarms on," Hex said in my ear. "Elevators won't be working. They'll be going into lockdown protocol.”

  "So what does that mean?" I said.

  "That means you're not going out the way you came in. The doors will be barred shut.”

  "What kind of crazy corporate building has a lockdown procedure?" I said.

  "One that's a front for a shady criminal organization," Hex said, as if I was slow.

  "So where do I go?" I said breathlessly.

  I could hear the heavy thud of pounding feet closing in on me.

  "Only one way to go," Hex said. "Up.”

  I didn't like the sound of that, but I didn't have a choice. I turned and sprinted to the stairwell, kicked open the door and ran up the stairs. I was on the 14th floor of a 30-floor building. I had 16 floors to charge up, and I managed to get up about six before I felt like I was gonna be sick.

  "Come on, gutter boy," Hex said in my ear. "Don't you do any cardio?”

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  "Shut…" I panted.

  The door suddenly burst open in front of me, and three men came flying out, batons raised. They didn't hesitate; they began laying into me the second they saw me. Instinctively, I threw my forearm up, not remembering I didn’t have my forearm guard on. The blow to my arm was bone rattling and my whole arm felt like it went numb. I cried out and backed towards the steps. My heel hit the step, and I fell backward, my lower back jarring painfully against the edge of one of the stairs.

  One of the guards took his chance and lashed out with his baton, hitting me across the forehead. There was a sickening thud as skull met metal, and there was a gush of wetness sprouting around my face. I snarled in a desperate half conscious haze, raised both my feet, and donkey kicked him in the torso, sending him backward. Grabbing hold of the one to the right, I zapped him in the tender part of the inner thigh until he shrieked and leaped away. The last one looked at his two fallen comrades and turned around just in time to catch a foot in the chin. I saw teeth go flying as he fell backward. I turned and scampered up the next flight of steps on all fours.

  "This is madness," I groaned. "You couldn't think of a better way for me to escape?”

  "I mean, your escaping isn't really mandatory," Hex said.

  "What do you mean?" I snarled.

  "Nothing," Hex replied innocently. "By the way, I would watch out…"

  Before he could finish his warning, the door burst open on the next landing. But this time, it wasn't white-shirt security men waving batons; it was four completely black-clad men in balaclavas holding submachine guns. My eyes widened as I saw them, and they didn't hesitate. They raised their guns and fired. It was only sheer dumb luck that saved me. My toe caught the last step up just as they fired. I fell flat on my face and the guns chattered right above my head, filling the entire stairwell with the echoing rattle of gunfire.

  Firing automatic weapons in some cramped confines was insanity. Bullets ricocheted everywhere. I didn't see it happen, but one of the men slumped to the floor, a ricocheting bullet had blown a hole in the side of his face. The other three immediately stopped firing, and I did the only thing I could think of. I reached into my pocket, grabbed a Bang Rock, and threw it upwards towards the fluorescent LED light on the landing. The light exploded and near darkness swallowed us.

  I wiped blood from my balaclava and pressed it against the Cloaking Charm. It went up in a whoosh, and suddenly I was gone.

  "Where is he?" one of the men shouted.

  "Move! Get those torches on," another shouted.

  "Don't fire! Do not fire!" the third shouted, and then I punched him straight in the temple with the Zap Knuck. The hallway crackled with blue power, and I was on the other two. They were well trained and didn't panic. One of them covered up instinctively, using the submachine gun to protect his face, but I still managed to zap him hard in the tricep. He cried out, and his arm went limp, but his partner was on me in a second, guided by the brief light from the crackle of energy. He leaped at me, wrapping his forearm around my throat, yanking me backwards hard enough that I heard vertebrae pop in my neck. I grabbed hold of his arm with my free hand and kicked off the wall, throwing us both backwards. I used that momentum to reach up with the Zap Knuck, hitting him square in the forehead. He shrieked and let go of me instantly. I turned and kneed him straight between the legs. He let out a brief groan and crumpled to the floor.

  The Cloaking Charm disappeared, my concentration faltered enough for it to just dissipate, and the final man standing raised his gun. I threw myself at him. There was a chatter of gunfire, and I felt bullets whiz behind my cheekbone. Then I closed the distance and zapped him until he fell. I looked around the landing. There were no more attackers, so I turned and sprinted up the stairs.

  I noticed Hex was silent. Whether it was because of what he’d just seen or because he’d abandoned me, I didn't know. But if I was on my own, I needed to keep moving.

  I thundered up the next three flights of stairs, and I could hear running boots and shouting below me. There were men chasing me up the stairs now. I chanced to glance over the railing and saw more black-clad figures marching up the stairs with more weapons. There had to be at least 12 or 15 of them. Where the hell had they kept these guys? I shook my head, forcing the fatigue out of my limbs, and kept going. I couldn't maintain a run now, my legs felt swollen and stiff, but fear kept driving me upwards.

  Three more floors. I heard Hex's voice crackling in my earpiece.

  "Come on, keep moving!"

  I was sucking wind hard now and had to pull my balaclava over my mouth just so I could breathe properly. Sweat dripped down my body, and by the time I got to the last flight of stairs, I was dragging myself upwards, my legs barely responding anymore, and the armed men were gaining on me.

  "Come on, you're nearly there! Move, move, move!" Hex cried out desperately.

  I could see the fire escape door. I staggered towards it, stumbled over the last step and grazed my knee painfully. Pulling myself up, I slammed into the fire escape door, pushing it open and tumbling out into the cold night air. I was 30 stories up, the entirety of New London draped out before me, but I couldn't appreciate the spectacular view. I was too exhausted and dizzy. I scrambled on all fours. I looked left and right.

  "What now?" I panted.

  "Look up," Hex said.

  As he said it, I heard the whirring of small blades above me. I looked up and saw a drone, about the size of one of those Galápagos tortoises, flying towards me. I could hear the boots crashing behind me. I staggered towards the drone just as the men burst through the door.

  "Stop him!" someone yelled.

  "Fire!" another one cried out.

  With the final dregs of energy left in my body, I ran at the edge of the building and leaped.