Page 156 of Strays
We stop at the frame. It’s just a pack doing private security, the same kind of work we might’ve ended up doing ourselves if we’d lost the trial today. From the panic edge in their scent, they’re probably Tier-Five. Tier-Four at best. But I can’t afford sympathy or species solidarity. Not right now.
They’ll expect us to breach fast. I’m sure they’re positioned, weapons drawn, ready to storm fire us as soon as we burst through the door. And we need the human alive to get information, so have to be careful. The balcony is our best chance.
I glance at Jay; one look is all it takes. He nods, breath steady and shoulders loose.
He shifts toward the door, voice calm and cold: “Let the woman go. We don’t need you, just her.”
His tone carries just enough steel to sound real and just enough indifference to keep them guessing.
I turn to Shane and tilt my head toward the far end of the hall. He falls in beside me. We move low and fast, boots silent against tile, cutting through the central stairwell and heading down, then out the door.
I look up, scanning balconies, counting windows and glass doors. Then I find it. Third set of pillars from the west side: same faint scent trail from the pack and the woman.
Jay’s voice carries through the walls: “No reason to die for a human. Hand her over, and this ends clean.”
The balcony’s stone column is smooth but not impossible. The corner seams catch just enough boot tread. I test the weight, then grip the vertical edge with both hands and climb.
At the top, I cling to the balustrade like a shadow, just my hands gripping between the stone spindles, the rest of my body hanging like a vine. If one of them looks out through the glass door, all they’ll see is the curve of stone. Maybe a fingertip.
Shane climbs right behind me and stops two feet below, holding position.
I pull up just enough to scan the room from my angle. It’s easy to see them through the glass door of the balcony. They are facing the room’s hallway door, backs exposed to us, rifles up, bodies tense, but I can’t see the woman. She’s either on the floor, hidden by the bed, or in the closet.
Jay’s voice floats up again, steady and measured, hooking their attention. “We don’t want to kill you. But if you don’t give her to us, we may have to.”
One of the aegis snaps at him, “Back off or we shoot.”
I move. Hands sliding along the cold stone, shifting grip one pillar at a time like a monkey in a cage. I angle toward the far side of the balcony, away from the glass door’s line of sight. There’s a section of wall there that can give me solid cover.
Shane joins me seconds later, mirroring my movements to the opposite side. When we’re both in position, I nod once and we pull up in sync, climbing over the railing.
Jay keeps talking. “I’m giving you a way out. This doesn’t have to end ugly.”
Shane positions himself to the right of the glass door, I to the left. We raise our rifles in tandem. Breaths synced. Sights locked.
Inside the aegis shift, one leans toward the door, distracted. Exposed. The other two flank him, all eyes forward. That’s the moment.
Four shots tear through the glass, shattering it in a spray of fragments: two from me and two from Shane. Three heads jerk forward, the center one hit twice. Bodies drop and the woman screams.
Jay is already moving. He slams the bedroom door open just as Shane and I push through the rain of broken shards, stepping into the room from the balcony.
I spot the woman on the floor, just beside a bed so massive it’s almost the size of our nest. I step toward her. She’s pale, shaking, with tears streaking through her makeup.
“Where is he?” I ask.
“At his office,” she gasps. “At his office. Please. Please — I swear.”
Jay’s voice cuts in, clean and cold. “Where?”
She swallows hard, shoulders trembling. “Harrison,” she cries. “Corner of Bayliss and Mercer. Old warehouse with black windows.”
I crouch in front of her. She leans back.
I don’t raise my voice. “What’s he doing there? Who’s with him?”
She jerks her head side to side, fast and desperate. “Nobody! He’s alone! He’s just packing.”
So he’s moving again. As expected.
