Free Earth Warden by Mina Carter

wanted to be left on her own in here when those Wardens got in.
    She scuttled through the doorway to find Hawk opening the window. The impossibly small window.
    “Oh, you’ve gotta be kidding me.” Why had she not noticed last night how small it was? There was no way she’d fit through it, never mind Hawk. He was easily twice her size.
    He caught her look and grinned again. Lyssa blew out a breath of frustration. Damn the man, he actually seemed to be enjoying himself here. “There’s a technique to it. Watch.”
    There was indeed a technique to it, but if asked later she wouldn't have been able to say what. First off, all her attention was hijacked by the sight of Hawk's firm, toned butt waving in the air in front of her, and then she was too busy being pushed and pulled about as he literally pulled her through the window to join him on the metal fire escape outside.
    “Come on, we don't have much time before they realize,” he said, his voice the merest whisper in her ear. “And I want to be long gone before they do.”
    She nodded and followed him down the steps, trying to be as quiet as she could. But whereas Hawk's footsteps were nearly silent—the man himself little more than a dark shadow moving in front of her—hers sounded as if a herd of tap-dancing elephants were clattering down the steps.
    In front of her, Hawk paused and sighed, the curve of his jaw visible as he looked over his shoulder. “Can you be any louder?” he asked, exasperation clear in his voice.
    “It's not my fault,” Lyssa whispered back, feeling herself go hot with embarrassment. So she wasn't the most graceful of women, on top of everything else she didn't need that pointing out as well. “These steps are noisy.”
    “Sure, the steps. Right.”
    “Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit, you know?”
    “So people keep telling me,” he replied, his teeth flashing in an unrepentant grin. “Still doesn’t explain how you can be half the size of me and make twi—”
    “Here! Over here, they’re on the fire escape!”
    A shout sounded behind them as they reached the bottom of the steps. She gasped, her breath catching as fear raced through her again.
    “Move. Now.” Hawk grabbed the back of her jacket and hauled her along at a dead run beside him. It was all Lyssa could do to keep her feet under her as he dodged and weaved between the cars in the parking lot, heading for the industrial buildings on the other side as fireballs exploded around them.
    They ducked down the side of an all-terrain vehicle to dodge one, only to have another hit the truck head on. She screamed and ducked as it exploded, glass flying everywhere. They weren’t going to get out of this. There were too many Wardens and, fast as Hawk might be, there was no way they could dodge everything. Sooner or later someone would get lucky, and they’d be a double order of crispy duck.
    “You have to leave me,” she told him, yelling over the sound of another explosion as they scuttled between the cars, bending low to stay out of the line of fire. “They only want me. You can get out of here.”
    Hawk turned, fury in his eyes as he grabbed her and pulled her close. “Listen to me. I am not going to leave you. No one dies on my watch, understand?” He glared at her until she nodded, her heart in her throat and eyes wide.
    “Good.” He relented a little, releasing his hold and smoothed down the bunched fabric at the neck of her jacket.
    “We just need to get into that estate there. If I can get them to come at me one on one, in a bottleneck, there’s no way they can take us.” He nodded toward the nearest alley. Between two factory buildings it was covered over and, from the butts decorating the ground, used by the workforce smokers. “On three, make for that, I’ll be right behind you. Okay?”
    Lyssa nodded her head, locking her fear away. She could do this, she had to do this. There was no other option. She had to trust they would get out of this, had to