Free All That Falls by Kimberly Frost

doorway, Ox.”
    Ox nodded, but whispered, “Incoming, boss.”
    Cerise jerked her head and spotted several armed ventala about a hundred and fifty feet away and advancing.
    “Hang on, Liss,” Merrick said, coming out the opening in a flash. “Get her, Ox,” Merrick said before he moved to the front of the car.
    Cerise crouched, following Merrick.
    Merrick stood, drawing the fire toward him. From one knee, Cerise squeezed off several rounds. Between them, they dropped four assailants. The hail of returning fire made her drop to the ground, using the car for cover. Merrick was behind a tree and fired from either side. He was smooth and fast.
    “Cerise,” Alissa hissed.
    “Right with you,” Cerise murmured without taking her eyes from the street.
    “Cover me,” Merrick said.
    Pleased that he’d asked, Cerise rose slightly and squeezed off several rounds, not as accurately as she would’ve liked but well enough to cover Merrick so he could dive back behind the car.
    Blood dripped from his left sleeve.
    “You’re hit?”
    “Paper cut,” he said. “Get to the doorway before they swarm.” Merrick held out a hand to prevent her from responding, and she knew he was listening to Tony. A moment later, he said, “If you decide to call Etherlin Security, I won’t hold a grudge.”
    “It’ll be over by the time they could get here, won’t it?”
    “Maybe, but for you they’ll come pretty fast. They can pick you up from the roof,” he said, nodding to the building.
    “Can I take her with me?”
    “If I’m not there to object, you should.”
    Her expression softened. “When I get to the doorway, should I send your man back to you to help hold them off?”
    “No, he stays with her.”
    “Good luck,” she said.
    He nodded. She crouched and ran for the doorway. She heard the pop of gunfire and felt a stinging pain in her calf. Inside the doorway, she checked her leg and found a small scratch. She flicked off the fragment of ricocheted bullet.
    “Merrick wants us to go to the roof,” she told Ox and Alissa. They looked up as they heard a series of explosions.
    Ox didn’t hesitate. He slammed his body against the heavy door, popping it open, and ushered them inside. Cerise pulled her phone from her pocket, but couldn’t get a signal in the dark stairwell.
    They hustled up the stairs. The door to the roof was locked, but Ox, a one-man battering ram, busted it open.
    She checked her phone again, but there was still no signal. She held the phone up, waving it over her head. “What the hell?” she mumbled.
    “They took out the cell towers,” Alissa said, pointing. Cerise spun and saw the columns of smoke where the cell towers in the Sliver were burning.
    “Shit,” Cerise said. “We have to go back down. Right now. There’s nowhere for us to go from here.”
    Two more explosions from the street drew their attention. Cerise jogged to the edge of the roof and looked down.
    Merrick abandoned the rocket launcher, grabbed something from the limo’s trunk, and sprinted to the doorway of the building whose roof they were on.
    “He doesn’t realize the towers are down,” Cerise said, grabbing Alissa’s arm and dragging her toward the stairwell. “He meant for me to call ES to come get us.”
    By the time they reached the door to the stairs, Merrick burst through it.
    “They took out the cell towers,” he and Cerise said at the same time.
    “We have to go down,” Cerise added.
    Merrick shook his head, dropping to a knee and opening an enormous black duffel bag. “Ox, secure that door,” Merrick said, tossing him a handheld welding torch.
    She raised her brows. “Eagle Scout were you?”
    “Exactly,” he murmured with a thin layer of sarcasm.
    “Cerise, I’m so sorry I let you come,” Alissa said with a bereft expression. “I thought we’d be out and back before anyone ever realized that we’d left Merrick’s territory. I should have warned you.”
    Cerise squeezed Alissa’s arm. “It’s