THE SNIPERS ON ROOFTOPS were firing at them, with M99-animal tranquillizer, sedative darts — while Reeves and Joe were scrambling along the side of the building. Reeves' mind was thinking clearly after his hard hit on his head earlier when crashing out of the French window. He realized that it was not safe to be out in the open, with the snipers on the perch above.

He spotted an exit door nearby and he crashed into it — the impact of the opening door knocked off a lone female uniformed cop guarding against the inside. The falling woman rolled onto the floor, and she then pointed her pistol to shoot Reeves — but...

... Joe came from behind — he tripped and fell bulk onto the cop's face — that inadvertently knocked the woman out unconscious.

"Is she dead?"

The baffled maladroit Intersexual looked scared, at the cataleptic soldier beside him — he apologetically muttered, Reeves ignored him,

He carefully opened another door slightly from the inside, and he peeked out at the main hallway, which was crawling with cops. Joe was looking over Reeve's shoulder and he asked...

"There are cops everywhere — how are we going to get past them?"

Reeves gently closed the door. Reeves saw up above at the false-boarded ceiling and got an impromptu inkling...

"We use the top, yeah Joe — we cross over from the top, through the ceiling vent."

He turned to the bigger boy — and next gave a stern warning...

"Promise me something, Joe — you be very careful and no noise or sound, when we are up there. Also, you don't scream like a bitch if you see any fucking spider."

Joe chuckled and nodded sheepishly back. The fat fuck was flippant, a glib in idle most of the time on his ADHD meds — and sometimes, he had the tendency to forget that they were at a critical stage in this deadly cat and mouse game — so, Reeves poked him hard on his chest, and boded again...

"Hey you fat-fuck, I am serious, we will not get caught if you just follow every move that I make. Just don't get clumsy, and come crashing down when you are up there — if they ever catch your fat-ass, they will seriously hurt you badly, just remember that always!"

The threat brought in the fear, and Joe stopped smirking.

"Now give me a boost-up," Reeves stepped on Joe's clenched palms and opened the board in the ceiling — he surveyed the ventilation shaft and checked a dark tunnelling void ahead...

"Let's go..."