The hallway was a tunnel of shifting shadows. The emergency lights didn't kick in Lu Sheng had cut those, too.
"Step exactly where I step," he said. His voice was barely a breath, but it cut through the noise of the boots thundering up the stairwell from the ground floor.
"There's a fire escape at the end of the hall," I whispered, reaching for the metal handle.
Lu Sheng's hand shot out, pinning my wrist against the wall. His skin was cold, his grip mechanical. "If you want to die, go ahead. They have a thermal scope trained on that frame from the building across the street."
I pulled my arm back, my heart hammering against my ribs. "How do we get out then? This is the fifth floor."
"The service elevator."
"It's dead. You cut the power."
Lu Sheng didn't answer. He reached into his jacket and pulled out a small, heavy device. He slapped it against the elevator's control panel. A second later, the doors groaned and slid open.
Inside, the car was suspended by nothing but its own brakes.
"Get in," he ordered.
I looked at the dark shaft below the car. "You're joking."
He didn't look at me. He stepped onto the roof of the elevator car and reached back, grabbing the strap of my backpack to haul me up. He didn't offer a hand. He just moved me like a piece of luggage.
We were crouched in the grease and dust of the shaft. Below us, the elevator doors on the fourth floor were being kicked in. I heard the muffled pop of suppressed gunfire. They were clearing my apartment.
"They're going to check the shaft," I said, my voice shaking.
"Not if they think I'm already in the basement." Lu Sheng pulled a smartphone from his pocket. He tapped a single key.
A massive explosion rocked the building. The sound came from the ground-floor lobby. The elevator car beneath us shuddered, and the cables groaned.
"You rigged the lobby?" I asked, staring at the back of his head.
"Distraction is cheaper than a gunfight." He began climbing the maintenance ladder with a speed that didn't seem human. "Keep moving. The shockwave will keep them busy for ninety seconds."
We reached the roof just as the first sirens began to wail in the distance. The night air hit me, cold and sharp. Across the street, the black SUV I'd seen earlier was already peeling away, likely repositioning to cover the exits.
"My laptop," I said, gasping for air. "I need a connection. If I don't ping the server in five minutes, the trace-back starts. Your 'dummy server' in the hall won't hold up against a manual override from the National Bank."
Lu Sheng stopped at the edge of the roof. He looked down at the sixty-foot drop to the alleyway behind the building. A black sedan was idling in the shadows below.
"You have four minutes," he said, checking his watch. "Save the technical report for someone who cares. Can you jump?"
I looked at the gap between the roof and the fire escape of the neighboring building. It was five feet. To me, it looked like a mile.
"No."
"Then you'd better learn."
He didn't wait. He cleared the gap with a single, effortless stride and landed silently on the rusted iron grate. He didn't turn back to check on me. He just stood there, a dark silhouette against the city lights.
"Three minutes, Lin Xiao. If you're still on that roof when the stairwell door opens, the contract is closed."
I looked at the door behind me. The handle was already turning.
I jumped.