Chapter 6 - The Fall
They plummeted down the dark shaft.
The thick steel cable burned through the leather of Vincent’s gloves.
He squeezed his hand tighter, using pure friction to slow their terrifying descent.
Twenty seconds.
Emma buried her face in his neck, screaming as the wind rushed past them.
Vincent braced his boots against the concrete wall of the shaft to brake.
Sparks flew in the darkness.
They passed the twentieth floor.
The tenth floor.
The pain in his shoulder was excruciating, threatening to dislocate his arm.
Five seconds.
Vincent let go of the cable on the second floor.
They fell the remaining fifteen feet.
Vincent twisted his body in mid-air, taking the entire impact of the fall on his own back.
He hit the roof of the stationary elevator car with a sickening crunch.
The breath was knocked completely out of his lungs.
One second.
A massive, deafening explosion rocked the entire building.
Concrete dust rained down the shaft as the thirtieth floor blew outward into the Manhattan sky.
The shockwave rattled the elevator car, but the thick concrete walls of the shaft protected them from the fire.
Vincent lay on his back, gasping for air.
Emma slowly lifted her head from his chest.
“Are you alive?” she whispered, terrified.
Vincent coughed, tasting blood in the back of his throat.
“Yes.”
He slowly sat up, checking Emma for injuries.
She was covered in dust, but she was unharmed.
“You saved me,” she said softly.
Vincent looked at her, his heart pounding a frantic rhythm.
“I made a promise.”
He forced open the escape hatch of the elevator and lowered them both into the first-floor lobby.
The building was a chaotic mess of screaming residents and falling debris.
Vincent carried Emma out into the pouring rain.
Sirens wailed in the distance, growing louder by the second.
He couldn't stay here.
The police would ask questions he couldn't answer without exposing Emma to the criminal justice system.
He flagged down a passing cab and threw a hundred-dollar bill at the driver.
“Drive,” Vincent ordered.
He looked down at Emma, who was shivering in her red coat.
“We need to find a safe place,” Vincent said.
Emma looked up at him, her gray eyes suddenly very serious.
“I know a place.”
“Mommy told me if we ever needed to hide, we should go to Uncle David’s house.”
Vincent frowned.
“Who is Uncle David?”
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Emma reached into her pocket and pulled out a small, waterproof card.
“He's a policeman.”
