Enemy Invasion by A. G. Taylor Read Free Book Online Page B

provided no purchase, so Hack pressed his back
against the glass and slid along towards the corner of the building. His plan was to walk round to the other side, hopefully out of the immediate view of the guards, and then try to climb down.
This was easier said than done, what with the force of the wind at this height, which threatened to catch him and sweep him off the side at any moment. Centimetre by centimetre, he edged his way
along to the comparative safety of the other side of the building...
    Inside the conference room, one of the guards kicked the door open. Taking a quick glance over his shoulder, Hack started moving faster as the man entered the room and swept his gun around. He
was almost two thirds of the way to the corner when the guard spotted him.
    Sacrificing caution, Hack ran the remaining few metres as gunfire split the air. The windows behind him exploded. Hack made the metal support at the edge and threw himself round as glass
splinters flew. Somehow he managed to keep his balance, but then a powerful crosswind hit and he staggered back, feet on the edge of the ledge. He caught a glimpse of IFC plaza, over three hundred
metres below. Turning from the vertigo-inducing sight, he grabbed the support and pulled himself against the building. He looked at the ledge along the other side of the building and tried to get
his feet moving, but they just wouldn’t obey.
    Another volley of bullets ricocheted off the metal.
    “I’m not a thief!” Hack screamed. “You’ve got the wrong guy!”
    He was answered by more gunfire.
    Holding on for dear life, Hack looked at his feet and wondered just how far the drop was to the level below.
    “It’s too far to jump,” a voice said at his side, as if in answer to his thoughts.
    Hack turned and saw a blond-haired kid just a little younger than himself leaning casually against the glass right beside him. In shock, Hack’s grip on the support loosened. He took a step
back—
    And fell off the side of the building…
    Hack tried to scream, but found it impossible as he fought to get air into his lungs. Two seconds after going over the ledge, he passed the fiftieth floor of Two IFC, picking up speed as he
went. His arms and legs flailed uselessly as he spun round. The side of the building raced past like a track and the illuminated plaza rushed up to meet him at terrifying speed. His mind was filled
with the awful certainty of death approaching.
    Four seconds down, passing the thirtieth floor, Hack finally managed a scream that came out as a strangulated gurgle.
    A second figure blinked into existence directly beside him…
    Hack recognized the face of the boy from the ledge as he reached out to grab his arm…
    The world disappeared. For a split second, they were nowhere at all. So, this is what it’s like to be dead, Hack thought.
    Then reality rushed back as he and the other boy rematerialized less than a metre above the ground. Hack slammed against the concrete of IFC plaza, every bone in his body jarred by the impact,
and lay still for a second. With a groan, he looked over at the body of the blond kid, lying beside him on the ground. They should have been dead – pulverized by the fall – but somehow
that hadn’t happened. Around them, people were murmuring and pointing. Someone ran over and crouched beside him.
    “I’m okay,” Hack said, pushing himself into a sitting position. He looked up at the skyscraper and shook his head at the hundreds of metres he’d just fallen. “Somehow I’m okay.”
    “They’re calling an ambulance,” the woman reassured. The other kid snatched Hack’s wrist and they disappeared again…
    Teleporting back into existence on the far side of the plaza, hidden in the shadows of a tree. Hack yanked his arm free and rounded on the kid.
    “Will you stop doing that?” he snapped, still aching from the impact.
    “Sorry,” the boy said, sitting heavily on a low wall in the semi-darkness. It was clear from the look on