Free Senshi (A Katana Novel) by Cole Gibsen Page A

the edge of the door with my fingertips. What I found was a jagged piece of metal at the corner of the door. Balancing on my toes, I stretched my arm farther and discovered a similar piece of metal in the other corner. My stomach fell into my knees. Bolts. The door was bolted shut.
    The digital screen flashed with new words. Going down?
    Oh. Crap.
    I froze, still balanced on my toes with my fingers on the ceiling. There was no way out. A wave of nausea rolled over me. Now what?
    The elevator screeched as its brakes released their hold on the cable. The sudden descent sent me crashing to the floor. A shock of pain bolted up my leg from where I’d landed on my knee. But that didn’t matter. Nothing did except for the fact that I was free-falling to the ground and, judging from my speed, nothing would be left of me when I crashed to the bottom.
    My heart leapt inside my throat, threatening to choke me with each pulsing beat. But breathing was the last of my worries. I needed to focus. I tried to stand but found I couldn’t balance at the breakneck speed I was traveling. Instead, I crawled my way along the floor.
    Finally, I reached the handrail.
    Ding after ding sounded as I dropped down the shaft. Only seconds remained before I reached the bottom.
    The weight of gravity pulled at me like invisible chains as I hoisted myself to my feet. More dinging. More floors. Time was running out.
    “Son of hibachi!” I spit the words from my mouth. What do I do? What could I do? The trap door was bolted shut and I had no idea how to rewire an elevator. Hell, I barely knew how to reboot my laptop after it froze. I chewed on my lip as I stared at the elevator buttons. And that’s when the first whisper of an idea drifted into my mind. There was one thing I knew how to do.
    The elevator picked up more speed, whining and shaking so much that I wondered if it might fall apart before we even hit the bottom. I gripped the handrail so hard that the metal edge bit into my palm. I didn’t care. I had one shot at this and I couldn’t screw it up.
    A scream that had been building in the back of my throat spilled from my lips. I lifted one leg in the air and brought my foot down as hard as I could into the control panel.
    The plastic buttons cracked under my heel, spilling their multi-colored wired guts. I reared back and struck again, this time ripping into the wires as I brought my heel back down.
    The elevator shuddered, the lights flickering on once before going back out.
    My plan had failed. I was going to die.
    And so I closed my eyes and waited for the crash that would be the end of me.
    Seconds passed.
    But the crash never came.
    Instead, the floor jerked, bringing me to my knees. The shriek of the brakes grinding against the cables squealed so loudly I wondered if the sound might pierce right through my skull. But it wasn’t until the elevator came to a grinding halt and the scream continued on that I realized it was coming from me.
    My knees lost their ability to support my weight and I slid to the floor, panting. The digital screen above the buttons flashed a red ERROR.
    “I’m not dead,” I whispered to myself. My voice trembled but I didn’t care. I just needed to hear the words out loud, to confirm I was still alive.
    I heard a commotion outside the doors and jumped to my feet, bringing my shaking fists in front of me. Whatever was going on, it wasn’t over yet.
    A sliver of light appeared before me in the dark, widening with a groan. I was forced to squint until my blurred vision regained focus.
    “Young lady? Are you okay?”
    I blinked several times to make sense of what I saw. The white-haired doorman stood wide-eyed in front of me. He offered me a hand but kept his feet planted in the hall. “I could hear the screaming clear outside.”
    I wasn’t sure if he was talking about me or the cables. With shaky steps, I moved forward and took his offered hand. He pulled me from the elevator. Once I set foot on solid ground,