Page 67 (2/2)

‘OK,’ he said weakly There was a pause and then the boo voice of Bernard his accountant ca man? You’ve transferred out alreed you wouldn’tme! Do you know of the penalties…’

His arm eak and he dropped the phone back into the cradle He looked around the office at the main double doors, and the inner office and en suite bathroom The buzzer went on his desk, ‘Sir,’ caroup of police officers here, they won’t… Do you e in…’

The double doors burst open and DCI Foster stood with DI Peterson and three unifor, Oscar rabbed his wallet, keys and phone and dashed through the door to the right and locked it

Erika moved to the door and bashed on it with her fist

‘Open the door Oscar It’s over We know everything We’ve spoken with Laura She’s now in custody at the station…’ she bashed on the door again ‘Open the door!’

The secretary rushed in after them

‘Where does this door lead?’ asked Erika

‘Um, I…’

‘Answer the question?’

‘There’s a s… and it leads out to a small balcony,’ she said

Erika looked at one of the unifored the door It splintered easily and opened They ant bathrooe, a low sofa and double doors They were open and the rain was pouring inside

They moved out onto the balcony, and looked down The rain fell away in sheets down to the road below, dark and lit up with rush hour traffic They looked up and saw an iron-rung ladder with protective hoops was on the back wall of the balcony, leading up two storeys to the roof Oscar was halfway up, clie of the rooftop

The unifor their eyes from the rain, and back to Erika

‘It’s slick with rain We need to do a risk assessment, it’s a sixteen storey drop down to the road below,’ said one

‘A bloody risk assessment?’ shouted Erika above the rain

‘Health and safety,’ said the other Erika looked at Peterson and they went for the ladder, she pulled herself up and he followed behind her

As Peterson and Erika clung to the iron rungs and climbed the ladder, the city of London stretched out below thehts

‘Shit, he’s al to quicken her pace, but the soles of her black shoes had very little grip and she had to climb carefully There was a crack and a peal of thunder, and a flash lit up the sky

‘That’s all we need, thunder and lightning e’re cli up metal at the top of a skyscraper!’ shouted Peterson

‘It’s not a skyscraper, it’s an office block,’ shouted Erika down to hih!’ he shouted back She looked down at Peterson, he was soaked through She blinked the water from her eyes and looked up as Oscar made it to the top of the ladder and cli from view

This spurred Erika on and she reached the top of the ladder moments later and eased herself over the concrete lip of the building

Oscar was sluainst a fire exit When he saw Erika he rose to his feet