That Time in Cairo by Logan Ryles (books to read in a lifetime .txt) 📗

strap dangling down loosely to Megan’s back, and the cable trailing the ground, then Lyle nodded again and the drone rose another six feet.

Wolfgang checked the balconies again, searching for anybody who may have heard the noise and stepped outside to investigate. So far, there was no one, and his gaze returned to the spectacle at the back of the van.

The strap tightened, and Megan hopped two feet off the ground, then came to rest again. She clutched the harness with both hands and clamped her eyes closed. Lyle shot a glance upward at the drone, and Wolfgang held his breath.

Lyle depressed a lever, and Megan rocketed off the ground like they had launched her out of a cannon. The drone surged into the sky, shooting a hundred feet up before Lyle could decrease the power. Megan swung like a paratrooper, her red hair tousled by the wind. She spun twice in a full circle, and Wolfgang met her gaze both times. Her eyes were wide, but she kept her mouth shut as she dangled only yards away from the condominium tower full of sleeping residents.

“Charlie Eye, what the hell!” Megan hissed.

“Sorry,” Lyle said, his voice cracking a little. “Something’s up with the generator. It’s pumping too much voltage into the motors.”

“What does that mean?” Wolfgang asked.

Lyle shot him a glare from across the street, then waved his hand dismissively and tilted his head upward. “Charlie Three, am I clear?”

Wolfgang checked the balconies, quickly counting the number of floors the drone had already passed. “You’re good to go, Charlie Eye. Proceed upward. You’ve got about eleven floors to go.”

Lyle applied gentle pressure to the throttle lever on the remote, and the drone rose again, slower this time. Megan still spun, and the drone wobbled a little as she passed the twelfth floor, then the thirteenth. Wolfgang couldn’t make out her facial expressions anymore, but she still spun, her bare feet almost two hundred feet off the ground.

“Easy . . .” Wolfgang whispered to himself.

The drone continued to rise, but it dipped to one side now and shuddered under a blast of wind. Megan swung toward the building, extending her right leg just in time to ward off a balcony railing before she slammed into it.

“Sorry!” Lyle hissed. He fidgeted with the remote, and the drone dipped to one side, dropping ten feet and sailing twenty more away from the tower.

“What are you doing?” Megan said. Her voice carried an undertone of panic now.

“Hold still,” Lyle said. “The wind is giving me fits!”

“I don’t care about the wind!”

Wolfgang stepped into the street and shielded his eyes with one hand, quickly counting balconies again. “You’ve got three floors to go!”

“Hurry it up,” Edric said. “I need that thing out of the air!”

Lyle pressed the power lever again, and Megan rose. The cable dangling from the bottom of the drone swung in the wind, blown around by consecutive blasts as the drone turned back toward the tower.

The seventeenth floor passed beneath Megan’s toes, and Lyle eased up on the power. Her head crossed the bottom edge of Pollins’s eighteenth-floor balcony, then Wolfgang saw a spark flash from the bottom of the drone.

“Charlie Eye!” he snapped. “You’ve got—”

Before he could finish the sentence, a shower of sparks burst from the edge of the drone near one of the four motors that powered the fifteen-inch blades. Wolfgang thought he saw smoke framed against the light of the moon, and one side of the drone dipped rapidly. Megan swung, her shoulder clipping the edge of the balcony, then she shot away from the tower as the drone stopped in midair, unable to rise any farther.

“It’s smoking!” Wolfgang said. “I see sparks!”

“I know!” Lyle said. He fought with the controls as the drone continued to shudder under the next blast of wind, then the sparks turned to a flash of orange flame.

“It’s coming down!” Wolfgang said.

The drone dipped as Megan swung toward the tower, then began to fall. She twisted in midair and leaned toward the balcony of the eighteenth floor, catching it with one hand as she flashed past. Wolfgang heard a muted grunt as she slammed against the railing, suspended by her left arm. The drone, now unimpeded by her weight, buzzed only a few feet from her head, powered now by three motors.

Wolfgang held his breath as Megan thrashed at the bottom edge of the balcony, a full two hundred fifty feet off the ground. With her free hand, she reached back and disconnected the tether from her harness, then lunged upward and caught the railing. A moment later, she hoisted herself up, jammed one foot beneath the railing, and then flipped over it and onto the balcony, falling out of sight.

Wolfgang breathed a pent-up sigh and ran a hand over his face. Despite the stiff wind, sweat coated his face and palms.

“What’s going on?” Kevin appeared out of the shadows behind Wolfgang, breathing hard, a large paper bag in one hand. “You said sparks? Is she okay?”

Wolfgang waved him off. “She’s fine.”

He glared across the street at Lyle, who was sheepishly landing his wounded toy. The drone still smoked from one motor, and Wolfgang could smell the acrid stench of toasting electrical components. He wiped his nose and looked back up the tower.

“Charlie One, what’s your position?” Edric said, his voice as calm and controlled as ever.

“I made it,” Megan panted. “I’m on the balcony.”

“Copy that. Proceed with the breach.”

Lyle dragged the drone into the van, then quickly retrieved the two hundred feet of cable, the top end of which was blackened from the electrical fire. The rear doors of the van clacked shut, and Edric powered out of the alley.

Wolfgang checked his watch, then looked upward again. He couldn’t see Megan, but he knew she was there, working her magic on the balcony door’s latch. In only moments, she’d be inside the apartment, and that could trigger an alarm at the main desk.

“Door is breached. Moving in now,” Megan said. Her voice shook a little,