Chapter 16 - THE VERTICAL CLIMB
The elevator cab dropped violently beneath their feet, plunging into the darkness below.
Leo leaped forward, grabbing hold of the thick steel ladder attached to the wall of the elevator shaft.
Lily screamed as she dangled from Leo's back, her arms wrapped tightly around his neck.
Far down in the darkness below, a massive explosion boomed as the elevator cab slammed into the pit.
A plume of hot smoke and fire rushed up the shaft, brushing past their wet shoes.
"Hold on to me!" Leo screamed over the howling wind in the shaft.
"Don't look down! Just keep looking up!"
With his muscles burning and his hands bleeding from the sharp steel rungs, Leo began to climb.
Floor by floor, they scaled the pitch-black shaft in the middle of the sky.
Lily gritted her teeth, refusing to let go, her legs clinging to Leo's waist.
After fifteen agonizing minutes of climbing, they reached the floor-50 service hatch.
Leo kicked the metal hatch frame repeatedly until the latch snapped open.
They tumbled out onto the carpeted floor of the 50th-floor hallway, gasping frantically for air.
Their hands were black with grease and blood.
Suddenly, the heavy double doors at the end of the hallway burst open.
Marcus, Victor’s chief security officer, stepped out holding a heavy suppressed pistol.
Behind him stood two armored mercenaries with attack dogs.
"Well, well," Marcus sneered, leveling his gun directly at Leo's forehead.
"Look what dragged itself out of the sewer."
"Mr. Sterling sends his regards."
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Marcus raised his finger to pull the trigger.
Before he could squeeze, a heavy metal fire extinguisher slammed violently into the side of Marcus's helmet.
