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"Up," Stevie said "We've got to get out of sight"

"They'll shut the building down," she said "We'll be trapped up here"

"We've got a couple of et away, that's all"

"You planned this?"

"Over the ridge in theand heating equipht there, back up and down another pitched area, then there's a tree growing really close --"

"A tree?" Jazz said, aghast "And what, we jump?"

"Yeah" Stevie pushed past her and started cliun still clasped in his right hand

"Stevie --"

"Later, Jazz! We don't get ae're both dead"

She followed him up They passed between two dormer s Jazz expected them to open at any rab her ankles, tug just hard enough to set her sliding and falling She fell How tragic The police would believe theht They crested the ridge, dropped down the opposite slope, and stood on a large flat section of roof hidden away from outside view by pitched areas all around There were no dormer s on this side, but there were two doors, both of the-slab plinths, hu away as they heated or cooled Pipes lay everywhere

"Over here," Stevie said And then one of the doors opened

Jazz froze Her vieas partially blocked by a big con-denser, but she saw the shape step quickly through the door and close it Terence! she thought Let it be Terence!

The htly across the roof between some equipment He disappeared for a moment

Stevie was crouched down several feet away, looking at her, eyebrows raised Jazz shrugged

The irl," he said

Stevie stood up and ai it with both hands as if he knehat he was doing

"Don't fucking move"

"Or what?" the -looking, and his expression betrayed only confidence He didn't see any weapons

"I shot that bastard , and Jazz thought, Maybe some of them don't even know yet But then the frown turned into a sad sic But at least thatfor anyone else in connection with his death"

Stevie shifted froun never wavered "Kneel down," he said

"No" The man shook his head

"Turn around, kneel down, and put your hands --"

"Fuck you, shit for brains" The aze fro at Stevie "This hard-man act?"

Stevie fired

Thefolded and he went down

To begin with, Jazz couldn't see where he'd been hit, and she looked frantically for the wound Then the h

"Shit for brains," Stevie said

The rimace

"People will have heard that," Jazz said "We need to go now!"

Stevie glared at the downed e "Now!"

Jazz pushed past hithe slope

Her foot slipped on a loose slate and she fell, the slate sliding down to the flat roof She cliain,up the slope behind her

"Here!" the wounded"On the roof!"

When she reached the ridge, she paused and took a careful peek over The other side of the house was e old oak tree that Stevie had rew very close to the house, a thick branch pointing at the building like an old finger It was a six-foot ju," Jazz said

"Got a better idea?"

"On the roof!" the ain, and they both heard a door burst open behind the one leg over the ridge and started sliding She clawed at the slates, a fingernail snapping back as it caught, but her weight pulled her down She tried to gain her knees but she rolled instead, and with each roll she saw the edge of the roof coly closer

A hand closed around her ankle She gasped as Stevie clasped tight, and her left foot and hand dipped into the gutter at the roofs edge It was filled with dead leaves and sliht

Looking back, she saw Stevie stretched headfirst down the roof He still held his gun, and his lips were pressed to-gether, veins standing out on his forehead as he struggled to keep hold of her

Jazz carefully knelt, then sat on the roof, leaning back so that her center of gravity was lower Stevie let go of her leg and gasped in relief

"Thanks," Jazz said

"Julanced at Stevie and the gun in his hand and wanted to say, Don't s any worse, but she realized they were as bad as they could get If these ht them, they'd be dead

Jazz eyed the limb of the oak tree, balanced on her feet with her arms outstretched for balance, then leaped The branch punched her in the chest and she held on, legs swinging, hands scrabbling for purchase

"Swing left!" Stevie called, and behind his voice were others, quieter and less panicked, s to the left and kicked a branch One trainer caught and she heaved her other leg up, swung both arms over the branch before her, and then lay across it, look-ing back to Stevie

"Come on!" she said, but he had already turned to look up the slope of the roof A shape appeared above the ridge and he shot at it, aiain even as Jazz saw that it was a diversion

"Look out!" she shouted Farther along the ridge a man rose up --Philip, a loose slate in each hand