“Roof!” I shouted to Cole as I realized we were boxed in. He nodded and jerked to his feet and began firing as I covered the shooter in the gallery.
“Jonas, go!” Cole yelled. Jonas hesitated but then he was moving as Cole and I held the shooters back. Cole followed quickly and then I threw myself over the table and ran up the stairs after them. Cole had overtaken Jonas on the stairs and led the way up to the roof. Bullets began flying again as both shooters followed us up the stairwell and I knew there would be a point where both Cole and I would be out of ammo.
I followed Cole and Jonas out onto the roof and saw Cole running towards the edge. I held my breath as I watched him jump to the neighboring roof. As soon as his feet hit the ground, he turned and began firing in my direction but I knew he wasn’t aiming at me, he was covering me.
Jonas had slowed when he saw Cole leap to the next building so I grabbed his arm to get him moving again and yelled, “Don’t think about it! Just do it!”
I couldn’t gauge the exact distance between the two buildings but I knew it had to be at least several feet. Add in the height factor and I knew Jonas had to be terrified but he didn’t slow down. Just like with Cole, I felt a surge of fear go through me as Jonas jumped. My feet left the edge of the roof just as Jonas was landing on the other side. He hit the ground hard but scrambled to his feet.
“Fire escape!” I shouted and turned to help Cole hold the shooters off until Jonas reached the fire escape.
“I’m out!” Cole yelled as he fired his last bullet.
I threw the rifle bag at him and said, “Go!”
Once I was sure Cole had made it to the fire escape, I followed so that I could cover them if there was anyone waiting for them in the alley below. My revolver was somewhere at the bottom of the rifle bag but I knew Cole wouldn’t have time to search it out.
A glance over my shoulder showed the shooters hadn’t followed us so I hurried down the fire escape. We’d lucked out because my car was parked at the end of the alley. I tossed Cole the rifle as I pulled the keys from my pocket. I could already hear sirens in the distance so I was hopeful that the shooters had given up and were making their escape.
Once we were inside the car, I tore out into the street as Cole began watching the cars behind us. Traffic was heavy enough that the likelihood that we’d be followed and shot at while on a busy Brooklyn street were slim, and I eased my foot off the gas so I wouldn’t draw any unnecessary attention to us. I glanced at Cole who seemed to be relaxing as well as the immediate danger subsided. When I looked in the rearview mirror to check on Jonas, I saw him sitting frozen in the backseat, his eyes staring at nothing in particular.
“Jonas, are you hurt?” I asked.
Jonas didn’t respond so Cole leaned between the seats and cupped Jonas’s chin in his hand.
“Jonas,” he said gently.
The tone seemed to snap Jonas out of it and his eyes settled on Cole as if seeing him for the first time. “Are you hurt?” Cole asked.
Jonas shook his head.
“There’s blood,” Cole pointed out as his fingers skimmed a large stain on Jonas’s shirt.
“It’s…It’s not mine,” Jonas managed to say. I knew he was in shock but was helpless to do anything about it.
“Were you hit?” Cole asked me.
“Grazed,” I said with a nod. The burning pain in my arm continued to build as I felt blood trickling down my arm. “They could be tracking us,” I murmured. “I’ve got extra ammo in the trunk,” I added.
I felt Cole’s eyes on me and then saw him take his phone out of his pocket and turn it off. “Jonas, I need your phone,” he said softly as he turned his attention to Jonas. Jonas still seemed out of it but he complied and handed his phone to Cole without question. Because he trusted him…
“Now yours,” I heard Cole say.
I had no doubt that he wouldn’t have been okay with me keeping the phone after I turned it off, so I handed it over without argument. After all, I had no plans to call anyone since my trust in my own team had been shot to hell the moment I’d realized I’d been set up to take out an innocent man.
“We need to check the car,” I said. Cole didn’t respond but he didn’t argue when I pulled over at a gas station. I got out and began going over the car looking for any tracking devices. Cole worked the other side and we met up at the front of the car.