Playing With Fire

Life and Death

Riley? At this point, she was shocked. She didn’t remember giving him her real name or mentioning at any point in their conversation. Could this be a case of the predator falling for the prey’s trap? Marcus seemed to know too much about her, and this was raising some concerns.

The bridge shook violently as the bolts loosened from the end behind her.

“Run!” Marcus shouted, with his voice reflecting passion and concern

Riley ran along.

Metals, screws and bolts squeaked and creaked loose as the bridge broke apart piece by piece. She sprinted across for life, but she could feel her lungs burning and cutting into pieces like the bridge. Marcus being on the other side, offered his hand toward her.

The bridge broke apart anyways.

But not before Riley mustered up all her strength and jumped.

Marcus narrowly caught her wrist and pulled her up into the side of the building. Pain ran through her shoulder. Riley found herself hanging between life and death. Death was staring her in the face, but she could only feel utter regret for coming. Her goal of being here cast aside. Enmity cast aside. At this point, her mind was as empty as a saint who held no grudges but begged for mercy. For a moment, she doubted Marcus’s strength would be enough to sustain hers, but he didn’t release his grip. He grabbed her jacket to balance up and pulled her over the edge of the wall to safety.

They both dropped flat on the roof of the neighboring tower, gasping for breath and trembling. They were dirty and stained with smoke and blood.

Sirens blared far down below. But across the space, the Ashford Industries tower was up in brutal flames like a torch illuminating the dark sky.

Without wasting further time lying flat. Marcus sat up first. “You called me Marcus.”

Riley blinked, confused. She didn’t understand that. “What?”

“You called me Marcus, and I called you Riley.” His eyes squinted. “I didn’t tell you my first name, and you never told me yours.”

He moved closer. “So who are you?”

Riley forced herself to sit upright. Her shoulder ached with pain. First, she checked her bag, and her evidence was still inside somehow. Maybe by miracle. Riley would have to come straight. He saved her life, aftre all.

“I’m Riley Chen,” she said. “I’m an investigative journalist, and I came here to expose you.”

Not surprised, or at least as it seemed, Marcus let out an unpleasant laugh. “Of course you did.” He stood to his feet and offered her a hand to stand, too. “Well, Ms. Chen, it seems someone wants to save you the trouble.”

Really? What might that possibly mean? Would Marcus want to lend me a hand to expose him? She didn’t think so.

She grabbed his hand and let him pull her up.

Smoke spewed from the failing tower as they faced each other. It was maybe the moment of truth.

“The real question,” Marcus said, “is who wants to kill the both dead badly enough to blow up my entire building?”

Riley felt the pieces and details of it all making sense in her mind. The timing. The precision. The knowledge of her interview. It sure was not a coincidence. She couldn’t agree more to what Marcus’s theory. Yes, someone had the both of them on their hit list.

“Someone who knew I’d be here,” she said. “Someone who knew exactly when.”

“How many people knew about the interview?” Marcus asked, with curiosity written all over his face.

“Just my editor.” She swallowed hard. “And your assistant or whoever scheduled it.”

Marcus looked at his phone. There was still no signal. He muttered a curse under his breath. “We need to exit this roof and find out what’s happening.” He looked at her steadily for a while as if to want to read her like a book. “And then you and I are going to have a very long conversation about why you want to expose me.”

“Do you mean why I still want to expose you?” Riley corrected.

“You think I’m behind this?”

“I think you have more enemies than friends. And, honestly, I think your company is hiding something. I think…”

“Think whatever you want,” Marcus said, cutting her short. “But right now, someone just killed twenty people to get to us. So, you can hate me all you want, Ms. Chen. You can think I’m the devil himself. But we must stay alive first.”

He was right. Riley hated the fact that he was right. It was a punch to her ego, but one she had no choice than to swallow.

He headed toward the roof access door.

Riley followed him closely, her mind was gradually stabilizing. “Just so you know,” she said, “I’m watching you.”

In response, Marcus didn’t look back. “Good,” he said. “Because I’m watching you too.”