Chapter 19 - The Leap of Faith
Vance didn't hesitate for a single second.
He sprinted toward the shattered window, ignoring the blood soaking his shirt, and launched himself into the storm.
I watched him clear the terrifying gap and crash violently onto the flat rubber roof of the adjacent building.
He rolled gracefully, absorbing the impact, and immediately turned back to provide cover fire.
I turned back to the server room, reaching out my hand to David.
"Come on, David, jump!" I ordered, despite every terrible thing he had done to me.
I refused to let a man burn to death in a cage, even if he was a monster.
David looked at the terrifying drop, then looked back at the titanium gates.
The breaching charges were blinking rapidly, completely glowing with fatal red light.
"I can't!" David screamed, falling to his knees and covering his head in absolute cowardice.
He was entirely paralyzed by fear, unable to take the leap that would save his life.
"Maya, you have to move right now!" Vance roared from the neighboring roof.
I knew I could not drag a grown man across a terrifying ten-foot drop in a freezing storm.
I took three rapid steps back, took a deep breath, and sprinted full speed toward the shattered window.
I launched myself into the freezing air just as a massive, deafening explosion ripped through the fiftieth floor.
The shockwave hit me in mid-air, violently propelling me forward like a ragdoll.
I slammed brutally onto the wet rubber roof, the wind completely knocked out of my lungs.
Searing pain shot through my ribs as I tumbled across the rough surface, sliding to a painful halt near the edge.
Vance rushed over, grabbing my jacket and pulling me away from the terrifying drop to the street below.
We lay on the freezing roof, panting heavily as the freezing rain washed the soot from our faces.
I looked up at my towering corporate headquarters.
The entire fiftieth floor was completely engulfed in massive, roaring orange flames.
The titanium gates had been blown completely off their hinges, and the server room was utterly destroyed.
David was gone, consumed by the massive explosion and the ruthless cartel he tried to manipulate.
The fire alarms blared into the night, mixing with the rapidly approaching sirens of the city fire department.
I lay on my back in the freezing rain, staring up at the dark, stormy sky.
The thirty million dollars was gone, my father's dark legacy was permanently burned to ash, and my company was in ruins.
But as I lay there bleeding and freezing, I started to laugh.
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It was a quiet laugh at first, but it quickly grew into a full, completely unhinged roar of absolute victory.
I had lost absolutely everything, but for the first time in my entire life, I was entirely free.
