Seera Wyndham looked around the apartment. Several things lit up to her ability, but she couldn't decide what to use. They had to get out of the place as soon as possible. Morehull would be leading the search. He would not be happy after what had happened in her cell.

Mister Shanahan had dropped some of the furniture in front of the door. He must know that Morehull would cut through that in seconds. She found it hard to read his face at the best of times.

“Do you have any ideas?,” she asked.

“I can carry you down,” said the veteran. “It will be walking speed and give them time to try to intercept us before we reach the ground.”

“We need something faster,” said Wyndham. “Too bad you didn't grab the Phoenix. We could drop down on a column of fire.”

“Flashy,” said Shanahan.

Wyndham's ability led her to the bedroom. She looked at the bed. Sheets had been folded down from the top. It gave her a desperate idea for getting down to the ground.

She yanked the sheets off the bed and dragged them to the balcony. She looked up. They were high enough that a wind blew across the balcony. It tried to pull the cloth out of her grip.

“I have an idea,” said Wyndham. “Grab the corners on that side.”

Shanahan did as he was told. She grabbed the other corners. She gestured for him to flap the sheets up into the wind. The cloth billowed out above them like a giant flag.

“Give me the other corners,” said Shanahan. He held out a hand. She handed him the corners. The wind started to pick him up from the balcony. “Wrap your arms around me.”

Wyndham wrapped her arms around his torso. She realized for the first time that she was taller than he was. She also realized that he was painfully thin underneath the bulky Army jacket he wore.

If they got back to New York, she would have to talk him into taking better care of himself.

He would probably brush it off. He was singularly stubborn about anything that could change his lifestyle for the better. She still didn't know what he did with the pay she gave him. He didn't spend it on himself.

Her ability could allow her to find out if she wanted, but she knew if she violated his trust, he would never work with her again. He would just stop talking to her at all.

And he was her only real friend in that other world. The others she dealt with were involved with their own problems, and barely had room for her.

“All right,” said Shanahan. “Your weight is holding us down. I'm going to kick the railing out of the way. We'll see if this thing works in a second. Whatever you do, don't let go.”

That was the most he had ever said to her in one go as far as she could remember.

“All right,” said Wyndham. “Let's get out of here before Whitehouse recovers and we have him dropping in.”

Shanahan kicked the stone railing keeping people from falling off the balcony. It took him three hits to knock all the pieces away. He couldn't see where they went.

Wyndham walked forward as he led the way to the edge. The sheets danced above them as the wind filled them. She couldn't think of anything that she had done that seemed as risky as this.

Traveling to New York had been done in a drugged daze. She had thought she would be given the gate stone and allowed to leave. She still owed Miocic for what he had done to her. It had never crossed her mind that he would be stupid enough to allow her a chance to get even instead of just denying what he had done.

Emil would not go to war with another faction without proof.

Instead the idiot had just given them the Gate Stone and sent them after her. Maybe he thought they would give him another chance with her.

It certainly gave her thoughts of another chance to deal with him like the snake he was.

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Shanahan jumped from the balcony, holding on to the corners of the sheets with both hands.

Wyndham closed her eyes as her stomach tried to claw its way out of her throat. She tried not to kick her legs around. She didn't want to upset the apple cart too much at this juncture.

She reached out with her power. The ground was coming up faster than she liked. It still might kill them both.

This was a dumb idea.

“Lift your legs,” said Shanahan.

Wyndham bent her lower legs up. She realized what he was talking about as soon as he said it. He had to hit the ground first and hope the Fist allowed him to compensate for the impact.

If she touched down first, there was a chance that both of her legs would break without the protection his ability gave him. He could carry her, but she knew he didn't want to do that. It would slow him down.

“We're going to touch down,” said Shanahan. She still had her eyes closed, but felt the ground coming up fast. “I'm going to try to walk the impact off. Don't lower your legs until I say so.”

She nodded before she realized he couldn't see the gesture.

“I'm ready,” said Wyndham. “Don't let us get killed.”

She felt a series of bounces before they came to a stop. She didn't let go, or put her feet down. The last thing they needed was for her to do something to get hurt before she was sure she should.

“All right,” said Shanahan. “You can put your feet down.”

Wyndham opened her eyes first. They were in the middle of a street in the city. She got her feet under her and let go. Shanahan had the sheets folded up and he seemed to be looking for a place to hide them.

“Hang them on the line,” Wyndham said. She pointed at a set of laundry drying lines hanging in the alley to their right.

Shanahan did as she directed. He rubbed his hands together as he returned.

“Let's go this way,” said Wyndham. “We need a place to talk for a few minutes before Morehull gets the infantry moving.”

She led the way through the streets. She sent her talent out to get them an empty place off the street. She found a closed store after a bit of walking.

Wyndham examined the door. She pulled out her knife and worked the bolt. She pushed the door out of the way so they could step inside.

“Did you see my message?,” she asked.

He nodded. He took a position by a shuttered window so he could keep an eye on the street.

“So why come after me?,” asked Wyndham. He glanced at her. His eyes seemed to be pits of malice surrounded by the fur of a snow tiger. She took a moment to catch her breath before saying something she would regret. “I wanted you to be safe. Emil is definitely going to come after you. He might have let the Horse slide, but not the Fist. Goreman was part of his heavy assault force.”

“We have some time before they can find us after what we just did,” said Wyndham. She rubbed her face with both hands. “Whitehouse is down for a bit. I don't know how long. I hit him in the face with a sap.”

She pulled the remains of a sock out of her pocket. Three gold coins remained after the thing had split in half from the blow she had dealt to her former comrade. He had gone down with a scream before she had dropped through the hole in the floor. She put the sock away.

“The Sword?,” asked Shanahan.

“Still active, and probably angry that you outmaneuvered him,” said Wyndham. “He will be personally trying to locate us after what we did. He can't give Emil an empty cell.”

“Miocic?,” said Shanahan.

“He has the gate stone,” said Wyndham. She reached out and felt the signal of the thing where it should be. “If we want to get back to New York, we'll have to take it from him. Morehull knows this. Instead of looking for us here, he might round up some troops and descend on Miocic's place to wait for us.”

Shanahan shrugged.

“I feel like you should be more concerned about this than you're acting,” said Wyndham.

Shanahan shrugged again.

“Any ideas on what we should do next?,” she asked.

“We need to get the stone. We need some kind of transportation. We need to get out of this city before they lock it down and we attract so much attention trying to get through the wall,” said Shanahan. “Do you know anything about horses. If we can get two of them, we can ride over to where Miocic lives and have a talk with him.”

“And we need to do this before Emil gets back,” said Wyndham. “He'll be able to locate us in no time and go wherever we are with the Door.”

Shanahan nodded.

“Do you know how to ride a horse?,” asked Wyndham. She didn't know the extent of the Horse ability, but thought it was faster than a normal horse.

Shanahan nodded at the question.

“Let's get a couple and see what we can do about the rest of our objectives,” said Wyndham. “There's no telling how long we have before Morehull can close the city, or Emil can get back from his deal making.”

Shanahan went to the door. He opened it and looked outside. He nodded when he didn't see anything that might be trouble.

Wyndham grabbed some apples from a barrel as she followed. She handed him one as they stepped out of the store. He took a bite from his as he led the way through the shadows.

She reached out with her talent. She found a corral ahead. She pointed in the general direction so he would know which way he should go. They found a wooden fence holding six horses behind an inn a little further down.

Wyndham pointed at saddles hanging from pins in a small smithy on one side of the corral. She went to the horses and called for them to come to the fence. The animals followed Shanahan instead.

She smiled at that. Then she circled around to help him with the saddles and tack needed. Hopefully, no one would come out and see what was going on before they got away from there.

It took a few minutes of work, but Wyndham had the two animals that she thought would serve them best saddled and ready to go. She climbed up on one of the horses. Shanahan climbed up on the other. They rode away from the corral.

Wyndham looked behind them. Trouble was still coming, but she was free again and she liked it.

Once they had settled this other piece of business, she could go back to her new life.