Aegis Security 03 - Extreme Measures by Elisabeth Naughton Read Free Book Online

going to be in here any second.”
    They. Whoever the hell was after her. Which, considering her associations, were likely al-Qaeda terrorists. Holy hell, he’d dropped himself into a fucking nightmare.
    Way to go, dumbass.
    He stumbled to his feet and brushed off her hand still pulling on his arm, hating the fact her touch ignited heat all along his skin, even now when he knew what she was and they were about to be overrun.
    Shit.
    Eve twisted the skirt to the side so the slit he’d cut hit at her thigh and rushed to the window. She muscled it open with arms that flexed to show she still worked out. A lot. Her shirt hung open at the front, but she didn’t seem to care. “There’s a fire escape. Did you check the surrounding area?”
    The drugs had obviously worn off. She was thinking clearly. Why the hell wasn’t he?
    He reached to the small of his back for his SIG and hobbled toward the open window. Before she got both legs onto the fire escape, he grasped her arm at the biceps, dragging her attention his way. “Don’t get any funny ideas, Eve. We’re not done.”
    “No, we’re not, are we?” Her eyes sharpened, but she didn’t try to wrench her arm from his grip. “Just try to keep up, Archer. If you fall behind, I’m not coming after you.”
    She scrambled out on the fire escape, feet bare, shirt flapping open, that damn slit in her skirt showing a distracting amount of thigh. Zane followed and pulled the window down behind him, hoping to give them a few minutes’ head start at least, and called himself ten kinds of stupid. What kind of dumbass thought he could intimidate someone like Eve into talking? Now he was stuck looking at her toned legs and those amazing breasts all but spilling from her bra, and he was still nowhere closer to knowing who she really worked for.
    The door crashed open into the loft at his back, the sound pushing him into overdrive. One glance down and he realized the goons had men on the ground, heading their way fast. He shoved Eve toward the roof. “Haul ass, dammit!”
    Zane grabbed the railing, pulled himself onto the roof of the warehouse after Eve, and squinted into the Seattle early evening sun. Eve stood still, looking around for an escape. He rushed by her, snagged her arm, and yelled, “Move!”
    They skidded to a stop at the far end of the roof. Across the thirty-foot distance, the other building mid-construction stood like a steel skeleton against the setting sun. If they could get to it, they could escape. The problem was, it was too far away. A tower crane, bolted to the ground, sat between them and the construction site, the crisscrossed bands of metal that made up its tower a good five or six feet out. They could jump for it, but then what? Odds were good the thugs on the ground were already heading to this side of the building.
    He glanced up at the arm of the crane, pointing away from the construction site, sticking halfway out over the water of Puget Sound.
    Voices grew louder on the fire escape behind them. They had seconds to decide. Zane looked north, to the ConEx containers piled high beyond the construction site at the Port of Seattle, then to the huge shipping cranes and the miles of water. They were out of options. He pushed Eve toward the edge of the roof, hoping they could reach the ground before the other men barreled their direction. “How are your Superman skills?”
    Eve’s eyes grew wide. “Oh my God, you’re kidding, right? You’re going to get us both killed.”
    “I don’t see any other alternatives, do you?”
    “Holy crap.” She wiped her hands on her skirt and then pushed that mass of blonde hair that didn’t match her coloring back from her face. “This is the dumbest idea you’ve come up with so far.”
    He eyed the thick metal bars of the crane’s tower, set at a diagonal. If they jumped and couldn’t grab hold or if the metal sliced their hands and they slipped, they’d fall to their deaths.
    Shit, she was right. This was a