I took my gun out, aimed it at the chain at short range, and pulled the trigger. The chain jumped and a link broke off. I rammed the gun back into my jeans, we ran to the other room, and just as we reached the door, Snake stepped over the threshold, gun drawn. His eyes flicked to Vinnie, and in that instant I whacked him in the head with the Maglite. He went to the floor on hands and knees, and I heard more men thundering up the stairs. I booted Snake out of the room, into the hall, slammed the door shut, and threw the bolt.
“Change in plans,” I said to Vinnie. “Out the window.”
Vinnie ran to the window, threw it open, and looked out. “Are you insane? We’re four floors up.”
“Fire escape,” I said.
“It’s rusted. It’s junk!”
The door rattled, and a body slammed into it, but the bolt held.
“Go!” I said to Vinnie, shoving him out the window. “Go!”
The metal creaked under our weight, and chunks of metal flaked off when we ran down the stairs. No time to think about it.
“This is falling apart underneath me!” Vinnie yelled.
“Keep going!” I yelled back. “Don’t stop.”
We were on the third floor. I grabbed a railing for support, and the railing gave way. The fire escape groaned and separated from the building.
“Holy crap,” Vinnie said. “Holy Mary, mother of God!”
The entire metal structure was disintegrating and collapsing into itself. We weren’t exactly plummeting to the ground but rather sliding toward it. And then the last bolt let go as we passed the second floor, and we were in a free fall. The framework crashed onto the black SUV, and Vinnie and I went flying off into space.
One of the men leaned out the fourth floor window and fired off a shot. Two more shots were fired from the alley not far from me. I was on my back, on the ground, all air knocked out of me. I was lifted to my feet and yanked toward the Jeep. It was Ranger. He had his hand clamped around my wrist, and he was running with me, half dragging me. We reached the Jeep, he hauled me up into the passenger seat, jumped in next to me, and spun the wheels taking off.
“Vinnie!” I said.
“Tank has him.”
“I need to get Connie and Lula. They’re on Stark Street.”
Ranger turned the corner and cruised by the building. Connie and Lula were on the sidewalk looking like they were trying to stay calm, not having any luck at it. The door guard was gone. Probably on the fourth floor. Connie and Lula scrambled into the back of the Jeep, and Ranger moved off with a Rangeman SUV on his tail.
“So I guess that went well,” Lula said.
Ranger slid a look at me. “Are you okay?”
I nodded. I was having a hard time finding words.
TWELVE
RANGER TOOK CONNIE and Lula to the office and waited while they got into their cars and drove away. The Rangeman SUV was still behind us, idling at the curb. Ranger called back and had Vinnie transferred up to the Jeep.
“Do I need to know why he’s in his underwear?” Ranger asked me.
“That’s how he was captured.”
Vinnie climbed into the back, chain dangling from his handcuff, and Ranger took a universal handcuff key out of his pocket and handed it to Vinnie.
“I assume the first shot I heard was aimed at that chain,” Ranger said to me.
“I didn’t have a handcuff key.”
“You’re a bounty hunter,” Ranger said. “You always carry handcuffs.”
“I forgot, but I remembered my gun. And I whacked someone in the head with your Maglite.”