“There’s no roof access,” Teo said, shaking his head as he peered out of the window and to the building across from them. He turned to her, his eyes pleading. “You’re the one they really want, so you need to get out, Aina. Scale the building. You’re the only one of us who could manage that. Get out, and we’ll deal with the guards.”

“I’m not leaving you. They know I was here. The minute they see Raurie, they’ll know she came here to warn us, and all of you will be shot or thrown in a cell. We need another way out.”

“What about this?” Ryuu called over. He’d removed the knickknacks and cups of tea from the makeshift table, then lifted one of the two wooden planks that made it up. Carrying the plank over his shoulder, he brought it to the window and nodded to the building across from them, where a window was open. “Maybe we can’t scale buildings, but we can lay this plank between our window and theirs. It should be long enough—”

A door slammed below and they all jumped. Heavy boot steps sounded on the floors below.

Teo’s eyes flicked to Aina, his face paling. “No other choice.” Then he glanced back at his mother, who gave him one resigned nod.

He laid one end of the plank on their windowsill, then allowed it to fall so the other end landed on the opposite window ledge with a loud clatter. They all cringed at the sound, but apartment doors were slamming open inside the building as the Diamond Guards searched and would block out the noise of their escape.

“You go first, Aina,” Teo said, his hands shaking as he stepped away from the window. She never saw him so nervous, not even in shoot-outs.

“No, people who can’t fight should go first,” she said. “Your mother—”

“I’ll go last with her. We’ll slow everyone down if we go now. Raurie, Ryuu, get out of here,” he called to them, his voice shaking slightly. She placed a hand on his shoulder to try to calm his nerves, but he jumped when the Diamond Guards’ shouts increased in the hall outside. Their footsteps pounded up the stairs, reaching the second-floor landing and coming ever closer to the third.

Raurie went first, shaking as she crawled across the plank. Each passing second frayed Aina’s nerves. Ryuu approached the windowsill next, and Teo handed him a gun that he took with a reluctant nod.

The moment Ryuu reached the other building and slipped through the window, Aina crawled onto the plank. It shook a little with her weight and the breeze blowing through the narrow space between buildings. She glanced over her shoulder once, but Teo waved at her to keep moving.

The wind swept her hair in front of her face, threatening to block her vision, but she pushed through and crossed to the other building as fast as she could.

“You’re okay?” Ryuu asked as she climbed off the plank and landed inside. An old man slept in an armchair, his snores breaking the tension in the room.