Chapter 9 - The Rooftop Standoff
Caleb stared down the barrel of Vanessa's silenced pistol.
He realized she had followed Julian to the warehouse, planning to execute everyone who knew her secret.
"You really thought a petty criminal and a hospital janitor could outsmart me?" Vanessa mocked.
Mia screamed from the catwalk above, clutching her chest as her failing heart struggled with the immense stress.
The sound of his sister in pain snapped Caleb out of his frozen state.
He dove behind a rusted piece of heavy machinery just as Vanessa fired two rounds that sparked against the metal floor.
"Police! Drop the weapon!" the tactical team commander shouted, bursting through the rear doors.
Dozens of laser sights painted Vanessa's designer coat in bright red dots.
Vanessa didn't drop the gun; instead, she sprinted toward a nearby service elevator and slammed her fist against the emergency control panel.
The elevator doors closed right as a barrage of police bullets chipped the concrete walls around her.
"She's heading for the roof!" a SWAT officer yelled, sprinting up the central stairwell.
Caleb ignored the gunfire and scrambled up the rusted iron ladder to the catwalk.
He reached Mia just as she collapsed onto the steel grating, gasping for air.
"I've got you, Mia," Caleb cried, pulling his frail sister into a tight embrace.
Julian was bleeding heavily from his shoulder, groaning in pain nearby.
"The roof," Julian gasped, coughing up a small amount of blood.
"She has a chartered helicopter waiting on the roof to take her to a private airstrip."
Caleb looked at the SWAT medics rushing up the ladder to take over Mia's care.
He knew if Vanessa got on that helicopter, she would disappear forever with the millions he needed for Mia's surgery.
Caleb left Mia with the medics and sprinted up the final flight of stairs to the roof access door.
He kicked the heavy door open and was immediately hit by the powerful downwash of a helicopter's spinning rotors.
Vanessa was fifty feet away, struggling to open the helicopter's side door against the harsh wind.
"Vanessa!" Caleb roared, sprinting across the tar-papered roof.
She turned around and raised her pistol, but the strong winds threw off her aim.
She fired wildly, missing Caleb by inches.
Caleb tackled her to the hard surface of the roof, knocking the gun out of her hand.
It slid off the edge of the building and fell ten stories into the river below.
Vanessa fought like a wild animal, scratching Caleb's face and screaming curses.
Suddenly, the helicopter pilot saw the approaching police officers storming the roof.
The pilot panicked, lifted the chopper off the ground, and banked sharply to the left.
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The helicopter's landing skid clipped the edge of a massive ventilation unit.
A massive piece of jagged metal sheared off the vent and swung directly toward where Caleb and Vanessa were struggling.
