“Yer time’s comin’, soldier boy.”
Drake gritted his teeth. They were on the final rooftop now. Behind him, Kinimaka, Smyth and Komodo ran hard as they simultaneously battled the last six remaining Yakuza warriors. The soldiers were matched blow for blow, the survivors seemingly the toughest of the gang, barely acknowledging the damage they took. Hayden ran with a slowing Mai. Drake could only imagine the pain his girlfriend must be in — the bullet wound hadn’t fully healed. Ahead, Dudley and his boys were reaching the end of the last roof.
This chase certainly couldn’t go on forever. It was coming to do-or-die time.
Drake glanced back as Yorgi gave a yell, stumbling and sprawling head-first. The Yorkshireman was surprised — he’d thought Yorgi the most likely to embrace all this running and jumping shit — but the Russian recovered fast and was soon swallowed by Hayden’s pack.
“Where are those aresholes going to go now?” Dahl panted, eyes forward.
Dudley skidded to a halt as the roof ended, then without a second’s pause simply jumped. Drake felt his breath catch, but refused to pass judgment. He’d seen a lot of strange things in this world but a vanishing act still remained on his “less likely” list. This theory was tested as all three remaining Irishmen also leaped into mid-air.
Alicia turned to Dahl. “Had to open your big mouth, didn’t ya?”
Dahl started to protest, but it was a weak effort, probably because he agreed with her. Drake slowed as he approached the edge, unsure what to expect.
He peered over the side, taking it in, mindful that their quarry might have secreted a weapons cache along their escape route earlier.
“There you go,” Alicia grunted.
Drake checked their rear. The following pack were taking flight, crossing over to the last roof, battling on the way. Thinking fast, he spoke into his comms.
“Do we have time to stop and get rid of the Yakuza?” The running fight could be ended in minutes, he was sure.
“No!” came back Hayden’s instant, highly-stressed reply. “The Z-boxes are crucial to the safety of the world. Somehow, one of us has to take it away from Dudley!”
“It’d be bloody easier if—”
“No!” Hayden said again, cutting him off for what seemed like the first time ever, so abruptly he winced. “At all costs! The boxes are all that matter.”
Drake bit his lip until the blood flowed. “I don’t like this.” Below, Dudley and friends had jumped down to the top platform of a fire escape and were even now clattering down its metal skeleton. His gut told him taking five minutes to stop the Yakuza was the correct thing to do — but Hayden was their established and readily accepted boss, and the Z-boxes were apocalyptic dynamite.
“C’mon,” Alicia said by his side. “Let’s just go. Orders are orders, right?”
Drake nodded abruptly, shaking the indecision and accepting the greater good. Alicia, Dahl and then Hibiki hopped over to the fire escape. Drake followed.
Damn you, Dudley. Where’s that box?
Hayden approached the last gap between roofs with a sense of utter relief. The white dress she’d chosen for tonight’s occasion, as well as being totally ruined, was simply too tight. Flecks of blood and streaks of dirt stained it like exclamation marks of horror. From the pitched battle inside the hotel to the chase down the stairs to the leaps across to the rooftops, Hayden had fought gamely, taking some Yakuza out and slowing many others, saving Komodo’s life once in the process. The big soldier hadn’t needed to thank her, it was what they did for each other every single day. Karin’s constant updates filtered through her comms, warning them about hazards ahead and the status of the Hong Kong police and potential hiding places for Dudley. The English girl was clearly following their every move, knowing when they were approaching leaps.
Hayden hitched her skirt as she ran, making the last jump with an inch to spare, throwing everything in to it. One thing she knew, Mai Kitano was having a much worse time of it. The brawling, the running and hard jumping — the roll at the end — would be aggravating if not reopening her bullet wound. Not only that, she was a constant target of Hikaru and the remaining Yakuza and no matter what Hayden and the others did to deter the gangsters they always came back to zero in on Mai.
Now her dress tore down the side; not a bad thing since it helped free up her limbs a little more. Sakurai — she knew their names by now thanks to the constant shouting — sprawled beside her, the rough surface of the roof scoring his palms. Hayden kicked him in the side of the head. Sakurai rolled away and came up fighting, blocking Kinimaka’s path now and trading blows. Hayden struggled to her feet and helped Komodo tear Mai from the hands of Hikaru and Eto. Smyth bloodied their faces and then, at Hayden’s urging, they were off again, trying to stay on Drake’s heels, to keep sight of Dudley and locate that Z-box.
The edge of the roof came up fast. Hayden already knew what to expect; Drake had shouted it through the comms. She slowed and then jumped once more, arms tucked in and knees high, hitting the top of the fire escape and letting the balls of her feet take the force of the impact. The flimsy structure shuddered, not from her landing but from the amount of people already scurrying down it. Dudley’s crew were near the bottom, pulling up in surprise as they realized the steps ended ten feet off the ground. Drake, Dahl and Alicia were a minute behind them. Hayden started to descend as the fire escape swayed away from the wall, making its moorings squeal.
Bad omen, there’s some heavy artillery about to hit this thing! She was thinking about Komodo and Smyth and, in particular, Kinimaka. Mano would never forgive himself if he accidentally took an entire fire escape down.
Karin’s voice burst through the comms. “The alley below you leads across Gloucester Road and then Hung Hing Road. Then there are causeways, slipways and part of the harbor. Dudley could be trying to reach a boat.”
Drake came back instantly. “Then why the hell did he lure us out in the first place?”
“Just saying.” Karin sounded affronted.
“Possibly hoped the Yakuza would kill us off,” Hayden said as she descended. “Or—”
“Or he has a surprise waiting. Dig in, guys. This is gonna get even hairier.”
Hayden kept her eyes below and on the guardrails as Dudley made the first leap to the ground, hitting lightly and rolling. Luck was not on their side as the Irishman jumped up unhurt, drawling and shouting at his pals to move. As one the next three leaped into space, shouting at the tops of their voices and whooping it up.
All three landed undamaged.
Hayden concentrated on her descent. Above, the entire structure groaned as everyone jumped on. Komodo ran last, now guarding Mai from the Yakuza pack, and took a moment to grab a leaping gangster by the scruff of his neck just at the moment he landed.
“Morino, isn’t it?” Komodo growled. “Why don’t you people just fuck off?” And he launched the man over the side of the fire escape, waiting to give a limping Mai chance to begin her descent. The following Yakuza also waited, milling like a wolf pack waiting for their kill to weaken.
Drake’s bunch leaped off the fire escape, hitting the concrete and rolling to safety. Hayden arrived at the base next, the ten foot drop below suddenly looking much more daunting than it had on the way down.
Kinimaka puffed hard behind her. “Just go. The jump will give us a breather.”
She smiled as the frontrunners chased up the alley toward the wide road and glaringly bright lights at its end. Then she leaped, keeping her balance as she flew, concentrating on the landing. A hard impact, a roll, a few scrapes, and she was up, backing away from the spot she thought Mano might land. Above her the entire metal structure was now pulling away from the brick wall, twisting and grinding, minutes away from destruction.