surrounding buildings and the ladder slid to the ground.
Hiking her bag further up her shoulder, she turned around and looked into the eyes of the scariest man she’d ever seen. His head was shaved and the lights from the apartments gleamed off his dome. But it was his eyes that scared her the most. They were a menacing black that sent shivers down her spine. A small scar ran the length of his cheek, adding to his dangerous appearance.
Gemma panicked as she felt her foot slip off the step below her. She gripped the side of the ladder with her sweaty hands as she painfully plummeted to the pavement. Her feet hit with a resounding force, felt through her entire body, and caused her to let go of the ladder. She stumbled backward and straight into a solid wall of muscle.
CHAPTER THREE
Cy Davies felt his feet pounding the stairs in the darkened stairwell. He controlled his breathing as the sound of gunfire bounced off the cement walls around him. Straight ahead, the locked door to the roof stood in his way. He just needed to get through it.
His expensive Italian leather shoes slid across the floor as he skidded to a stop in front of the door. He looked behind him as a new round of gunfire erupted. Not wasting any more time, he brought his knee up, lashed out with his foot, and was rewarded with the sound of wood splintering as the door flew open.
He chanced a quick glance behind even though it cost him precious seconds. The shadowed form of a man burst forth from the shadows. Cy grabbed the gun hidden beneath his suit coat and fired a shot down the stairwell before sprinting through the door and into the late afternoon sunlight.
His eyes adjusted quickly as he ran across the graveled rooftop. The crack of a gunshot made him duck his head and dive behind the air conditioning unit before returning fire. He looked around the rooftop and saw the tall buildings of downtown L.A. surrounding him on all sides but one. There was his escape—the shorter bank building across the alley from the business center. He had to make the jump.
He stuck his arm around the side of the air conditioner and fired blindly before shoving the gun back into his holster and sprinting toward the edge of the building. He breathed in deep through his nose to control his heart rate and the adrenaline surging through his body.
He slid to a stop as he looked over the edge of the building. Cy was twenty-six floors up and it looked as if the bank building was two or three stories below. What worried him was the distance across. Below him, cars were so small and people looked like ants. Having heard the gunfire, people were standing at the far end of the street with their heads leaning back. He couldn’t worry about them. He looked across the wide alley and took another deep breath. It was now or never.
He turned around, jogged back a good way, and then turned back toward the edge of the building. He pushed off in a full sprint. His arms sliced through the air as they pumped, urging his body to go faster and faster. If he didn’t have enough speed, he wouldn’t make it over the alley.
He kept his eyes on the building behind the one he intended to land on in order to gauge where he needed to aim his jump, since he wouldn’t be able to see the shorter building until he hit the edge. He stretched his stride and released the adrenaline he had been trying to control. The extra burst prevented him from hesitating when his foot landed on the lip of the building.
Cy reached for the sky and then swung his arms downward as he leapt off the building without a second thought. It was if he were in slow motion. He felt his feet leave the solid rooftop below him as he soared into the air. It was both somehow freeing and oppressive at the same time, as the adrenaline pounded through his body.
By bringing his knees up and propelling his arms, Cy was able to keep the momentum going a little longer. He didn’t chance a look down, knowing it would throw him off balance. Instead he kept his eyes on his landing spot. His body pushed through the hot summer air as he angled through the sky. He felt his body starting to lose momentum just as he cleared the building from above and knew the first part was over. He had made the distance and now he needed to land without breaking anything.
Cy raised his arms above his head as he fell the rest of the way through the air. Exhaling as his feet connected with a solid surface once again, he bent his knees and dipped his left shoulder, causing the momentum from the jump to be shifted forward. He felt the rooftop connect with his shoulder as he rolled over and leapt back up onto his feet. Looking down he dusted off the dirt from his navy blue suit and smiled. He had done it.
“Cut,” the voice boomed over the bullhorn. Cy walked over the thick blue foam pads he had just landed on and peered over the edge of the building at the director. “Great job, Cy. Now get down here.”
“As you wish, boss,“ Cy yelled through cupped hands.
“Don’t do it, Cy,” Jarrod warned.
“What are you going to do, fire me?” Cy laughed at the head stunt coordinator in charge of the safety of all the stunts.
“You’re crazy, you know that?” Jarrod complained, knowing today was the last day of shooting for the movie.
“Aren’t we all?” Cy asked with a grin as he fell backward with his arms outstretched off the building.
Cy hit the large rectangular inflatable sitting between the building just four seconds later. The air whooshed out at his impact and he laughed as crewmen started deflating the safety measure.
“You son of a bitch, you scared me half to death,” his director shouted as he offered his hand to Cy. Cy grabbed his boss’s hand and pulled himself free of the inflatable.
“I had to get my retirement party started,” Cy laughed as he patted Douglas’s back. “What better way? I would've hated to waste that jump.”
“Are you sure you want to retire?” Doug asked. “I have a great end-of-the-world movie that I'm going to start filming next. I could use someone with your talents on the set.”
“I’m sure. These past ten years have been great, but I'm ready to go home.” Cy thought of his family and felt his heart constrict a little. It seemed as if every time they had needed him, he had been on location.
“Then turn your badge and gun in to the prop man,” Douglas grinned as he adjusted the yellow L.A. Lakers hat over his balding head. He whipped out his bullhorn and faced the crew who were busy cleaning up from the day. “Cy’s retirement party tonight at seven at Molly’s. I’m buying the first round.”
Cy sat back on the wooden bar stool and tapped his fingers on the large bar at Molly’s. Douglas was chatting with the executive producer while the lead actress, Pepper Warner, sashayed her way toward him. Her surgically perfect breasts didn’t bounce, though the black see-through shirt and the red leather pants hugged every inch of her lithe body.
“You’re much too sexy to retire. That makes you sound like an old fuddy-duddy and you’ve proven you're anything but that.” Pepper winked as she ran a perfectly manicured red nail down his chest.
“Thanks, Pep. But I have a farm and a bunch of family waiting for me back home. I'm eager to get back and spend some quality time with them. The shooting schedule has kept me so busy, I haven’t been home since Christmas.”
“I might just have to come and see this farm that holds greater lure than Hollywood,” Pepper teased as she leaned against the bar, showing off her greatest asset, because it sure wasn’t her acting.
“Anytime.” Cy picked up his glass and shot the last swallow of bourbon as he thought about his brothers letting him try it for the first time in the barn before they went off to join the Army. Cy hadn’t been old enough when his three older brothers—Miles, Marshall, and Cade—had signed up after 9/11, but he had spent the whole night with them talking about the family and what they were about to get into.
Pepper leaned over and gave him a peck on the cheek. “I’ll text you some reasons to come back. You’ll be missing L.A. so much that you’ll be back in six months.”
Cy smiled, but he knew he was done. But that didn’t mean he didn’t enjoy watching Pepper’s perfect posterior making its way out the door. “I’m going to miss you too, Cy. “ The soft voice came from beside him.
“I’m going to miss you, too, Taylor.” Cy slung his arm over the young actress’s shoulder. “Do you have everything packed?”
“Yes. Promise you’ll call me? I’ve never done anything like this and I'm actually really nervous.” Taylor
