Chapter 9, out with a bang

"Hit the dirt!!!" Ivana shouted (Quite unnecessarily in Alex's opinion). Laying on the cold wood floor, Alex winced at the deafening noise as bullets and glass flew everywhere. Glancing up, he saw that Yassen had disappeared and Ivana was crawling towards him. For a spilt second, Alex thought the girl had been shot, but then he saw the jagged glass sticking out of her shoulder. Blood trickled messily down the front and side of her shirt as she made her way over. With gritted teeth, Ivana dove next to where Alex hid behind the upturned couch. "Come on!" She yelled dragging Alex to a door that he hadn't noticed before. As they ran to the door, Alex realized that although the shooting had stopped, he could hear chaos below them in the building. Yassen beckoned them on from the other side of the door.

"MI6 is here, they're coming up the stairs." Yassen said calmly. Aware that both of the Russians were watching him, Alex said the first thing that came to mind.

"Crap."

Ivana muttered something in Russian and Yassen shot her a look that was obviously meant as a warning. Quickly, Yassen moved over to a window on the opposite side to the shooting. With a sharp pull, it opened to reveal their escape route. A single taut cable was strung between their building and the half constructed one across from them. Shooting a look at Yassen, Alex shook his head.

"You've GOT to be kidding!!!"

Yassen gave him an appraising look that cowed Alex a little. Something about the Russian's cold eyes did that to most people.

"I don't see the problem, you've done it before." He said. Alex knew Yassen was referring to the time Alex had walked a wire 100 metres above the ground to escape a burning building. Still not convinced, Alex scowled.

"I will go first then." Yassen snapped.

Alex watched in amazement as the Russian ran down the line like he did it regularly (Which, Alex thought, it may well be). Just the, there was a muffled thud, and a small explosion seemed to go off. A grating noise interrupted his confusion as the hook holding the wire above the window came loose.

"No!!!" Ivana cried out, shouting at Yassen in Russian. Before her words could reach him though, the hook latched on to a ledge sticking out of the other building. Yassen gave it a couple of stomps to wedge it in properly. Ivana and Alex glanced at each other worriedly as the shooting started up again. Also, the thumping and shouts of the approaching MI6 agents were closer now, right outside the apartment.

"What now?!" Alex asked.

With a grim face, Ivana simply leaned out the window and grabbed some large metal hooks left over from construction. Alex thanked the heavens that the original construction scaffolding had been left attached to this side of the building. Ivana tossed one of the hooks to Alex.

"We can use these to zip-line down the wire." She explained, already pushing the incredulous Alex to the window. Just then, the most incongruous sound rung out. Ivana's phone chimed away with its digital sounding ring tone, oblivious to the girl's furious glare. Eventually, she plucked the offending machine from her belt.

"WHAT?!" she snarled.

A rapid fire rush of speech buzzed out of the phone's speaker. Listening intently, Ivana's face paled a little, mouth set in a grim line. After a moment, she hung up and looked over to Alex.

"That was Yassen…he said that we should probably leave now, he set bombs around the place to ambush the agents." Ivana's emotionless voice betrayed the terror of the moment. Hurrying, Alex slung his hook over the wire and stepped up onto the window sill. He tried desperately not to think of the drop if he didn't hold on very tightly. Looking over his shoulder for Ivana, he realized she wasn't following him. The girl was half away across the room, staring at a discreet pile of disks through the open door.

"Go, I've got to get those!" Ivana yelled, "If MI6 gets those, we're screwed!"

With a burst of horror, an amazingly clear though occurred to Alex, 'Why the hell did she leave them out there in the first place?"

Just as Ivana reached the coffee table the disks were perched on and grabbed them, the door burst open. Six MI6 agents came pouring in, all cradling lethal looking weaponry. For some odd reason, they didn't notice the teens immediately. Alex drew a breath in and…

"RUN STUPID!!!" he yelled.

All hell broke loose at that moment. The agents glanced up to where Ivana scrabbled forwards to Alex desperately. Bullets whirred all around her and tore up the door Ivana slammed behind her. Taking a leap, she collided into Alex (who mercifully was still holding onto his hook). The momentum of Ivana grabbing onto Alex carried both of them out the window just as a massive explosion devoured the apartment behind them. The hot air pushed them on faster, out of reach of the flying shrapnel. Amidst his shock and the whizzing sound emitting from the friction between the hook and line, Alex realized that Ivana's arms were too tight around his neck, he couldn't breath! Gasping hoarsely, he tried to speak. Before he could complain though, the hook hit the end of the line hard and catapulted the pair through the window and into the room. Crashing to the floor hard, Alex heard a smaller explosion go off and their life line snap. He staggered to his feet painfully and then he was following the others. The threesome raced through the half constructed building, objects like buckets and piping looming unexpectedly out of the night peeking in through the unfinished roof. Suddenly, they were out on the street, running to a silver sports car parked nearby. Ignoring his sore throat, Alex spoke up.

"A Mercedes?"

A small smile curled Yassen's mouth.

"Why not? Besides, it's not your average luxury car."

Shaking his head tiredly, Alex climbed into the front passenger seat.

"Of course it's not." He muttered.