Alice waited for the man with the gun. The relentless sonic barrage warped her perception of time. He should have reached her by now, right? Had one of the others gotten to him? She risked lifting her head to take a look.

The sound cannon was still there, but the man was missing. Ba Kuang and Robert lay facedown on the ground. Weizza had disappeared.

Alice pushed up to her knees, gritting her teeth against the throbbing pain. Still no sign of their assailant. Alice looked back to the building and noticed the door was now open. Had he gone inside?

She pushed harder and regained her feet, bracing against the building for support. A dozen hard won steps finally brought her around the corner of the building. The horrible noise dampened noticeably. Her ears rang and her eyeballs felt wobbly in her skull, but she was free.

This side of the building was lined with windows that had been boarded up years ago. Alice scanned for gaps, but there was no way to see in.

She checked her pocket and found the Shirogorov still there. In the confined space of a building the knife could be as good as a gun. Better even.

Going in the front was out of the question; the thought of spending more time in front of the cannon made her teeth ache. She'd probably collapse on the spot. Instead she padded quietly to the back of the building, looking for a rear door.

Alice rounded the corner and nearly stumbled into the sentry posted there. The man wore full combat armor and had an assault rifle at the ready. Luckily he was looking in to the building, and hadn't noticed Alice's clumsy advance.

Alice considered striking now. It'd be a hard shot, but she might be able to take him down. But if there was one soldier at the door there were bound to be more inside. If he raised the alarm she was good as dead. Too risky.

Alice retreated around the corner, then put her ear to one of the boarded windows. She heard a man shouting angrily nearby, then something heavy slammed into the board her ear was against. She stifled a scream.

"Got her," she heard the man exclaim. Someone else called out in response, though it was too muffled to make out. So at least two inside, plus the guard she'd already seen. Not great odds.

"Go clean up out front, we're done here," called the man inside.

Shit. If she was caught in the open it was all over. A nearby tree was the only cover, and it wasn't nearly large enough to hide behind. Unless...

Alice used the last of her strength to scramble up the slender branches. From up high she saw the building roof had a little ledge running around this edge, some kind of drainage feature. She leaned out to grab it. The tree swayed perilously and she backed off.

The back door of the building slammed shut. Time to commit. She edged out again and felt her branch begin to fail. A desperate leap sent her airborne. By some miracle both hands slapped firmly on the ledge. With the last of her strength she pulled herself up over the lip, heart thumping in her chest.

Peering back over the edge she saw the guard round the corner. The tree swayed slightly from her passing, but his focus was down the side of the building and he didn't seem to notice.

Alice crawled to the front of the roof, keeping low. The sound cannon was still pumping out high decibel noise, but from her elevation it was almost tolerable.

The sound clicked off and two more paramilitary men came out the front door, carrying a bound and gagged Weizza between them. The mystery man from the van followed behind them.

Alice watched the soldiers cuff Ba Kuang and Robert as the man from the van looked around confused. He turned to one of the commandos, probably the squad leader judging by the insignia on his armor.

"Sergeant Hollis, we're missing one. There was one more of them when I came inside, that woman Lynch is after."

"You," Hollis turned to Robert. "Did you see where she went?"

Robert shook his head. "I was lying facedown on the ground, like he told me to."

Ba Kuang also shook his head.

Hollis cursed and turned to his troops. "Sweep the area and find the missing woman. She can't have gotten far.

Jensen, you take the inside, make sure she's not hiding out in any of the offices.

Martinez, check the perimeter. I'll stay here with the prisoners. Our ride arrives in fifteen minutes. I want her in cuffs by then."

Alice ducked back onto the roof. Would they think to check up here? If anyone did come up she was trapped and exposed - the roof was flat and featureless. Other than the way she came the only way off was a twenty foot drop.

Alice belly-crawled back over to the tree and waited.

Crashes echoed up from below as Jensen demolished the office. Alice risked a peak over the edge to see Martinez criss-crossing the abandoned lot.

In due course the men gave up their search and reported back.

The squad leader was not happy.

"What do you mean you didn't find her? We only left her alone for five minutes."

"Maybe she ran off?" Martinez ventured.

"Sure, maybe after getting hammered by the LRAD she sprinted across a mile of parking lot. Most folks can barely walk after a minute in that thing.

"Hell, maybe she just flew off into the sky. Did you check behind the clouds Martinez?"

Martinez stood quietly at attention as his commander fumed.

"Wait a second... Either of, you see any way up to the roof?"

"No staircases inside," Jensen reported, "and the ceilings were too high for anyone to try going through a panel."

"No fire escape outside either," Martinez answered. "I guess there's a tree around the side. Maybe she could have climbed it."

"Makes about as much sense as anything else," said Hollis. "We've still got five minutes until our ride. I don't want to tell the boss we lost one of them. Climb up there and check it out."

"Yes sir," Martinez replied. Alice's blood ran cold.

Adrenaline coursed down Alice's spine as she heard Martinez approach the tree. She watched as the top began to sway under the weight of the armored soldier. He was heavier than her, but also taller. The reach to the ledge wouldn't be a problem.

Alice held her knife at the ready, waiting for the moment to strike. She still had the high ground, and for now, the element of surprise.

A gloved hand slapped down on the ledge. Alice waited, heart pumping. The second hand grasped the ledge and Alice saw the man's weight shift onto his hands.

Her blade flashed, slicing across the tendons of his right hand, then the left. Martinez's cry of pain was caught short as Alice popped out and stomped him hard on the head. Martinez lost his grip and crashed to the ground with a thump.

Alice ducked back away from the ledge to the patter of rifle fire. They couldn't draw a bead on her without climbing the tree, and she could hold them off with the knife. Maybe she'd be able to hold out until the police showed up.

She heard a ping behind her and turned in time to see a metal canister bounce onto the roof. A hasty kick sent the grenade flying over the edge. It detonated halfway to the ground. Too close.

The shouts from below were drowned out by the roar of a jet engine. They weren't far from the airport, but this was almost on top of them. Alice glanced behind her and saw a sleek recon jet landing vertically in the parking lot. What the hell was going on? Was this the ride they were talking about?

Maybe not. A crackle of gunfire erupted as the soldiers fired on the plane. Alice crawled over to the front again and spied Jensen and the Hollis with rifles out, peaking around the side of the LRAD van. The squad leader looked seriously pissed, right until the sniper bullet ripped open his skull.

Jensen saw his commander fall and ducked back behind full cover. He was pinned down.

Alice scrambled back to the tree and climbed down as quietly as possible. Sporadic rifle fire continued at the front of the building.

She peeked around the corner and saw Jensen firing blind around the side of the van. He wasn't going to hit anything that way, but it wouldn't matter if he could stall until his reinforcements arrived.

Alice waited until he finished a clip then ran at him, knife out. Jensen looked back in surprise as Alice closed the last few strides. Too late he raised his rifle to block her swing. Her knife took him in the throat and he collapsed.

Now to get out of here before the reinforcements showed. She pocketed the knife and put her hands up in the air, then took a cautious step away from the van. Then came the crack as the sniper fired again.