King of Hearts Ch. 04

His partner heard his scream and then the thud as the body fell, striking the cobbled stones of the walkway three stories below.

Erich and Cat heard the noise as well. "Shit!" Cat exclaimed from her head down position over Erich's shoulder. "That's going to draw a crowd. Put me down. We have to get out of here now!"

Erich glanced over the porch rail, noting the length of the drop. "Ah, Cat, I don't think I should let you down yet. We're still pretty high up."

"I'm fine as long as I don't look down. Let me down."

Erich did as she asked, gently setting her down on her feet. Two seconds later, he was grabbing hold of her shoulders as she stumbled. She put her hand out, stopping him. "I'm fine," she declared, though her voice was shaking.

"That's good because I think we're going to have company pretty damned soon."

Cat looked up, seeing the gunman on top of the roof. He was looking away from them for the moment, but she didn't expect that to last. "Shit!"

"You've said that," Erich teased. "I think it helped this time about as much as it did before."

"Shut up, I'm thinking. Do you see anyway off of the balcony besides jumping?"

"Ah ... no," he said, glancing around before going to the heavy cement balustrade and looking down. "No, no stairs that I can see. It's not that big of a drop if we hang off the edge of the balcony and let go."

Cat tried to force herself to get closer to the balustrade but her stomach went into knots and she thought she'd get sick. "I can't," she said finally, her hands balled in frustration.

"Then I guess we're going to have to do this the same way we got down off the roof."

"Oh no," she said, shaking her head slowly. "You can't expect me to hang off of your back while you're hanging off the balcony getting ready to jump. You just can't expect that of me."

"It's either that or get shot. Now come on, Caitlyn. Prove to me why your head of King of Hearts."

As he finished speaking, a loud report rent the air around them and cement chipped from the railing, cutting into Erich's arm. "You have no choice," he growled, reaching out and grabbing her arm and wrapping it around his neck, putting her other hand under his other arm so that she wouldn't strangle him. "We've got to go."

It amazed her, how easily he climbed over the railing, even as more bullets whizzed their way, and had them hanging from the edge of the balcony. "On the count of three," he said, waiting to feel her nod against his back.

"One."

"Two."

Before she could tense up, he let go, pushing away from the balcony to miss the cement below. Cat didn't even have the time to shriek before she was lying on her back in a thick bush. Erich was next to her. He got up quickly, grabbing her hand and hauling her out of the shrubs. "Come on, we're not out of here yet."

"No, you're not. The only way you'll be leaving here is in cement shoes."