Chapter 6 - The Free Fall
The deafening roar of the helicopter blades made it impossible to hear anything else.
The spotlight blinded me, but I could see the silhouette of the gunner taking aim.
"Jump!" Roman screamed, grabbing my waist.
I did not even have time to process the command before he pulled me off the edge of the sixty-story building.
My stomach dropped into my shoes as we plummeted into the empty abyss.
The wind tore at my hair and clothes as we fell toward the adjacent building's lower rooftop.
Titan leaped right after us, his massive paws spread wide in the air.
We crashed violently into the decorative rooftop pool of the neighboring hotel.
The icy water knocked the breath out of my lungs, but it broke our fall.
I thrashed toward the surface, gasping for air as Roman pulled me over the tiled edge.
Titan paddled furiously, hauling his heavy body out of the water and shaking off the chlorine.
"Move, before they circle back," Roman choked out, clutching his ribs.
We dragged ourselves into the hotel's maintenance stairwell, shivering uncontrollably.
I noticed Roman was bleeding heavily from a deep gash on his side, likely from a stray bullet or the fall.
"You are hurt," I panicked, tearing a piece of my ruined shirt to press against the wound.
He winced but kept his hand over mine to apply pressure.
"I will live," he muttered, locking eyes with me in the dim stairwell.
For a second, the distance between us vanished, and I felt the heat of his skin against my freezing hands.
We snuck through the hotel laundry room, stealing dry staff uniforms to blend in.
Slipping out the back exit, we hotwired a catering van parked in the alley.
As Roman drove us toward the docks, he turned on the radio to check the news.
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The broadcast made my blood turn to ice.
The news anchor announced my name and face, branding me a dangerous terrorist who had bombed a pet store and kidnapped billionaire Roman Calder.
