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against it and her pal on to the flat surface in front of her, Keiko shuffled two tiny steps to the left

“That’s good You’re doing good Now re it”

With his words, she started gasping in air and then caught herself She needed to breathe slower Excess oxygen would ht-headed And sixty-seven floors up was not the place to get light-headed

“I can do this,” she chanted “I can do this… I can do this…”

If Mace heard her, he didn’t coe to stand beside her His back was pressed to the wall, and it took her a second to realize he’d chosen that position because he needed the bulk of his body weight firainst the wall, his toes would still poke over the edge into nothingness

Her heart leaped into her throat at the sight Abort Abort, her h for you You’re spilling over We need to go back inside”

“I’ll be fine,” he said calmly “I’ve dealt orse”

“Like what?” she dee with no safety harness while terrorists hunt you down? What?”

Reaching out, he pressed a hand to the s ease somewhat “Calm down,” he said, which had the opposite effect

“I swear Once I a to hurt you,” she promised

“That’s the attitude,” he said “And to answer your question, back when I was an Are carved into a sheer cliff face Felt like one of those crazy Alpine goats that scale walls looking for food” He paused “You ready to take the next step?”

NO! No, no, no, no, no…

“I’ll try,” she said out loud, tasting the lie in her words

Her li one wrongto her death He rubbed his thu her aware of the fir her with his strength

“I won’t let you fall Concentrate on taking one step at a time That’s all you need to do Stare at the wall and take one step to the left You don’t even need to lift your foot, just slide it along There’s nothing on the ledge for you to trip over”