Chapter Thirty
For a few seconds I just stood frozen, petrified. Kane still held me tightly, protectively. His heartbeat was much louder now, with my ear to his chest. A fast, deep drumming sound.
Then I pulled away. “Where are we?”
“I don’t know,” Kane said. “Something went wrong. The dragon sensed the spell, he tried to pull us down. I took us as far as I could, but—”
“I have eyes on you!” Harutaka shouted, and I winced in pain. “You’re in the damn greenhouse on the top of the mansion!”
A sudden loud, sharp noise screamed around us, the wail of a siren going off.
“Sinead, we need you to pick us up,” I said, praying she was still on the chat.
“Turning the car around!” Her voice crackled above the sound of the car engine screaming. “I’ll be there in ten minutes.”
“Make it five, or we’re dead.”
“Get the hell out of there, guys,” Harutaka said.
The night was flooded with lights as spotlights were suddenly lit. Enormous beams of light moved, searching. Somewhere in the distance, I heard men shouting. Below us, the dragon roared again. The cacophony in my ears was hard to bear.
We ran out of the greenhouse, the cold night wind momentarily taking my breath away. It was difficult to spot the roof’s edge in the dark, and I had to crouch as I ran, my hands before me, my eyes straining to see. I reached the edge of the roof and spotted our rope, dangling down the wall, where Sinead and Isabel had left it after climbing down.
“Not there,” Harutaka said. “That way is full of guards. And you’ll never get out the front gate.”
I looked around us. The roof spread in every direction, a mess of pipes, wires, and antennas. “Which way, then?”
“You have to go to the rear of the house. If you climb the wall there, you’ll drop not far from Newton Street. Go to the western wall. There’s a drainpipe alongside the wall. Only one guard is currently there.”
I knelt by the rope. It was taut and quivering violently. Someone was climbing it. Leaning over the edge, I could spot the burly shape of a man, pulling himself up clumsily. I tried to untie the rope, but the weight of the man climbing it made it impossible. I unfurled my hand, and it burst into flames. I gripped the rope and it caught fire immediately, breaking, snapping and peeling my skin as it slid across my palm. It flew over the edge of the roof, its tip still burning. I heard shouting from the men below, and a loud crashing noise as whoever had climbed the rope fell to the ground.
“I have eyes on four men running up your way inside the mansion. They’ll be on the roof in a few seconds,” Harutaka said. “Get to the drainpipe, now!”
I ran, Kane by my side, jumping over a small chimney, and again over a discarded bucket, then whipping my head down to avoid a stretched wire.
“I’m about to kill the lights in the entire mansion,” Harutaka said. “It’ll buy you a few seconds until they figure out what’s going on. But after that, they’ll reset the system, and I’ll be kicked out.”
“Don’t do it yet,” I said, my voice shuddery as I leaped over a small platform. “I want your eyes. Sinead, what about the car?”
“I’m almost at Newton Street, but it’s a long street,” Sinead said. “Where should I go?”
“Stop fifty yards after the turn to Doublet Hill Road,” Harutaka answered. “I’ll guide Lou and Kane there.”
“On it,” Sinead answered.
We reached the edge of the roof, and I peered over. A long stretch of dark lawn stood between the mansion and the western wall; I estimated it to be about twenty or thirty yards. Behind the walls, I saw the shadowy outlines of the trees that surrounded the mansion. Newton Street was just beyond the trees, but I couldn’t see it in the dark. Looking down, I spotted the drainpipe Harutaka had mentioned, running along the wall.
“The guards are in the greenhouse. I’m killing the lights,” Harutaka said. “Lou, your hand!”
Damn! It was still burning. If Harutaka killed the lights now, I would be the only thing visible on the roof. Silhouettes of men moved urgently inside the greenhouse. I clenched my fist, breathing deeply, thinking of Tammi’s chiming laughter. The fire died.
“Do it!” I barked.
Almost instantly, we were drowned in darkness. I heard multiple shouts as men scrambled to figure out what was going on.
I grabbed Kane’s arm. “The pipe is here,” I said in a low voice. “Go.”
“You first.”
“Don’t go gallant on me, you idiot. If you fall, I don’t want you taking me with you.”
He hesitated, then crouched, following my guidance. He grabbed the drainpipe and began sliding down.
I heard the greenhouse door opening, the guards pouring onto the roof, shouting blindly, searching for us. I counted seconds, giving Kane time to reach the ground. One… two… three.
Then I vaulted over the wall and slid down.
It turned out I had overestimated Kane’s ability to go down quickly. I hit his body as he was climbing down, about one floor aboveground. He tumbled down with a shout, and I jumped after him, landing on the soft grass.
“Are you okay?” I asked in a low voice.
“I think so,” he groaned.
“Sinead, how are we doing with the getaway car?”
“On my way!” she shouted, the engine of the car roaring in the background. “Just one minute!”
“I doubt we have that long,” Harutaka said. “A guard is on his way to the server room. He’ll reset the system.”
I helped Kane stand up. “Come on.”
We ran to the wall, Kane limping.
“They just reset the system,” Harutaka informed us. “I don’t have eyes on you anymore. The lights will probably turn on in about… twenty seconds. And the security cameras.”
A car screeched somewhere beyond the wall.
“Give me a lift,” I said to Kane.
He hesitated for a moment, then interlaced his fingers to create a human ladder. I put my leg in it, and he gave me a boost up. I scrambled, my fingers feeling the edge of the wall, then pulled myself up. I vaulted over the iron poles at the top, landing on the other side, in the midst of bushes and trees. I could spot the dark shape of the road through the thick foliage.
I bolted to it, stumbling over a gnarled root, crashing into a tree trunk, careening to the road. The car was about dozen yards away, its lights bright. I waved at it, and its tires screeched as it drove over to me. Sinead and Isabel leaped out of the car.
“Rope!” I shouted.
Sinead popped the trunk, took out a coil of rope, threw it over to me. I ran back through the trees, breathing heavily. Heaving, I slung the rope over the wall, and it tightened as Kane gripped it and began climbing.
Lights flooded the mansion again. Sinead and Isabel were by my side, helping me pull the rope. Kane’s face appeared over the wall, and he struggled to climb up. From behind, I heard people shouting.
He leaped over the wall, and his shirt snagged one of the iron spikes. There was a loud tearing sound, and he collapsed to the ground. Isabel and I grabbed him, hauling him to the car. Sinead held the door as Isabel and Kane crawled inside, then she slammed it behind them.
I opened the front passenger door just as Sinead slid behind the steering wheel.
“Buckle up!” she barked at me, and slammed her foot on the gas pedal.
With a lurch, our car hurtled into the night.