Without Compromise Read Free Page B

leap.
                  There was also a good chance he was phoning the guy he had been with earlier, and there were accomplices looking for her down below. One surprised man was easy enough to evade, but she wasn’t sure she could get away from them now that they were prepared for her.
                  The man on the other roof kept talking into his phone. His hand dragged through his hair in a demonstration of his frustration over the current state of affairs. He turned his back to her and she recognized her chance.
                  Josie rose gingerly to a crouching position and dared a probing step on the metal sheeting of the roof. It seemed quiet enough. The next step creaked slightly. Josie froze and looked toward her pursuer. His back was still turned. She took a few small breaths and moved cautiously toward the door leading from the roof into the building.
    She tried the handle; it was locked. Josie chewed her lip and crouched low. Since she was obviously not going down through the building, she was going to have to get down one of the sides.
    Josie weighed her options. She had already noticed there was no fire escape leading down from her side of the building. She could go back and use the one that was on the side closest the creep who had been chasing her, but that seemed counterproductive. She stayed low and inched her way to the edge furthest from him. There was a fire escape on the building next to the one she was on, and that building was pretty close.
    She looked behind her. The man had ended his call and was shoving his phone into his pocket. Josie knew he would be looking for her in earnest now. She rose, took a few steps away from the edge, and then made a running leap for the far building, not caring one whit that he had seen her.

CHAPTER THREE
    Tag was shocked to see the kid jump between the two buildings. He wasn’t sure how long that jump was, but it looked like the kid cleared it easy enough. Tag watched as the kid eluded him a second time, dropping down the fire escape with the ease of a squirrel running down a tree.
                  He gave up trying to reach Edna and climbed back down the fire escape on the building he was on. He reached the bottom and hurried over to the front of the building the kid had come down, but hoodie kid was gone. Tag wasn’t the least bit surprised. He ran back toward his building, trying to reach Molly again. She still didn’t answer.
                  He gave up and called for backup.
                  Tag hoped Molly was out for the night and wasn’t lying on her floor in a pool of blood. He was nearly back to his building when he spotted the kid, climbing back over the chain link fence.
                  “NYPD!” he shouted as he ran toward the fast escaping kid, “stop where you are.”
                  The kid was perched on the fence when he yelled. Tag’s command must have startled him, because he leaned precariously backward before regaining his footing and leaping to the ground on the opposite side of the fence.
                  “You’re a cop?” the kid backed away from the fence, stepping lightly.
                  As it was hidden by the hood, Tag couldn’t see the kid’s face clearly, but the fact that he never stopped moving told Tag the kid was nervous.
                  “I am. I’m Officer Madden.”
                  The kid stopped a moment, “Prove it.”
                  Tag began to reach for his badge. The kid took a couple more steps backward, spun and hightailed it back down the alley. Tag couldn’t really blame him. For all the kid knew, Tag was reaching for a gun. Or maybe, the kid just hoped to get away while Tag’s attention was diverted. Tag never even got his badge from his pocket; he scaled the fence and gave chase again.
                  To Tag’s surprise, the kid