Agent Out of Time

Deshavi ducked out of the room and down the hall as more shots followed along after her. Shouts rang out even as alarms sounded throughout the building. She'd have to take an alternate escape route tonight. The construction debris chute would no doubt be blocked off from her by now. She saw the new construction extension of a taped off area and quickly headed for it, as a bullet took out a chunk of new drywall just inches from her head.

Running through the construction area she grabbed up a crowbar along the way. At the far end she rammed the crowbar up behind a piece of plywood that was nailed over an old window opening. It broke free and she ducked through. Both of her feet landed on the horizontal I-beam that ran out into open space to where it was joined by other intersecting I-beams.

She ran along the beam her feet as sure as any cats. She was seventy feet above the ground, but the height and the precariousness of her flight seemed to not even phase her one bit. A bullet clanged off of an I-beam near her head and she dropped down to a lower level gracefully. The Russian goons started out after her hesitantly and she quickly put distance between her and them.

There was a scream and Deshavi glanced back to see one of her pursuers falling down through space to the hard pavement below. He connected with an I-beam and his scream abruptly stopped, followed moments later by a dull thump, as he made contact with the ground. A corner of her consciousness pricked at the sight of someone else's death, because of her actions, but in truth she reconciled herself that the world could do without one more Russian goon in it. She flipped down gracefully onto the base of the construction site and sped off into the dark.

It took about twenty minutes of a fast-paced jog to reach her hotel. She wore a coat that she had stashed in an alley to conceal her conspicuous all-black burglar attire. The front desk clerk's face lit up at the sight of her and she gave him a flirtatious smile in return. His eyes glazed over and she could barely hold in her laughter at his slack-jawed look of lust, as he watched her go by.

She deliberately let her hips sway more than usual to add to his torment. Her walk returned to normal, after she turned the corner and she shook her head, as a rueful smile played about her full lips. Men were just too easy. She slipped into her room and started peeling off her black night gear, until she was bare as the day she was born. Bare, that is, except for the necklace around her throat.