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stories up—but what if a getaway pod was waiting for him there?
    This was some impressive skunk.
    I flew past the ramp, back outside to a corner of the garage,and used every ounce of my strength to spring up twenty feet or so and grip a third-story ledge. Then I swung my feet up under
     me and leaped another two levels, bounding along the sheer concrete face like a jungle spider chasing an ant. No human could
     do that—and not many Elites, either. But I wanted this killer badly!
    He kept on climbing, and he couldn’t see me—probably thought I’d given up. We got to the roof at nearly the same instant.
Big surprise, my smelly friend. Just me and you and the twinkling stars up here!
    This time there was no low ceiling to slow me down. The bike burst into sight up the ramp, moving so fast it actually left
     the floor in a long arcing jump.
    I caught the bastard at its midpoint, slamming into the rider like a cannonball. We landed, twisting and skidding, with my
     forearm locked around his throat so tight it cracked apart the chin guard of his helmet.
    But
damn
if this bastard didn’t manage to hang on to the throttle and keep going, racing straight for the outer ledge.
    I clung to his back, choking him and wrestling to dump the bike and flip it over, to flip
him.
    My weight tipped us some and started us sliding broadside—but the wheels hit a parking curb and we flipped almost straight
     up into the air. We were still going so fast the momentum shot us right out over the ledge.
    Then we were plunging downward—ten stories to the pavement below.
    There, in all probability, we would both die.

Chapter 18
    THE NEXT FEW seconds were the longest of my life. I was truly flying, twisting and turning in blissful weightlessness, helpless
     yet absolutely free.
    But a harsh, hate-filled noise interrupted the thought, pushing it away and sucking me back to—
    The motorcycle rider was trying to twist himself around so that he could land on top of me—maybe I’d absorb enough impact
     for him to survive the fall.
    Not going to happen!
I would have yelled, if there’d been enough time to form the words.
    But I did hook my leg tightly behind his. Then I threw my shoulders back and away from him, causing our tangled bodies to
     shift in the ever-louder, whistling—now
screaming—
air.
    For those few seconds, I had been watching the pavement below. Now I saw everything at once—bricks, glass, the sideof a building blurring like the view out a train window as it plunges into a tunnel…
    The stinging air was pulling, ripping at my hair, my clothes, my lips, my eyelids… and then—
    The murderer skunk hit the ground first. I smashed into his body like a pile of lumber landing on a sack of rotten fruit.
    And then—nothing at all.
    Short circuit?
    Death?
    I had no idea.

Chapter 19
    IN MY FIRST blurred instants of consciousness, before I could even open my eyes, I was somewhat aware of movement—and also
     that I was floating along flat on my back.
    Next came a sharp, clean smell. Antiseptic.
    I was in a hospital!
    The murmur of voices chattering all around me began to come clear.
    One was a woman’s, soft, concerned, and very familiar—
Lizbeth.
    Another—a man’s, deep voiced and commanding. That would be Jax Moore, the Agency chief, my boss. Lizbeth’s boss as well.
    There were others, but I didn’t recognize any of them at this point.
    I realized I must be in New Lake City Hospital, the finestElite medical facility in the world. I opened my eyes and saw that the other voices belonged to the personnel who were hurrying
     me on a gurney down a shockingly bright hallway. And to several other people accompanying us—all high-level Elites—some of
     whom I’d seen earlier at the president’s inauguration party.
    It appeared that I was enjoying a taste of fame and celebrity. Lucky thing I was still wearing my tux—or, at least, what was
     left of it.
    “Hays,” Lizbeth gasped as my eyes fluttered, her lovely face