The fire escape creaked and groaned alarmingly as I made my way upward, so I moved quickly. I was just reaching for the windowsill on the ninth floor when I felt the last metal supports pull free from the wall. On instinct alone, I jumped. The brick window ledge of the windowsill cut into my hands as the fire escape fell away to careen to the ground. In that moment, I understood why I’d been forced to train so brutally and intensely for my entire life. Using muscles I’d honed through hundreds of push-ups and pull-ups, I heaved myself upward toward safety. I would have made it too, if someone hadn’t chosen that moment to break the window.

I ducked my head a half second before glass exploded around me, accompanied by an overpowering wave of heat. It was like the building was an oven and someone had just opened the door. I lost all the ground I’d gained, slipping backward so I was hanging by the tips of my fingers. My stomach did a sickening flip as I made the mistake of looking down to the pavement nine stories below. I dug my nails into the brick. I would not die here. Not like this. I felt someone grab my wrist, and even before I looked up, I knew it was Elliot. I felt a rush of gratitude and relief so intense I could have cried as he grabbed my other wrist. With his help I pulled myself up and into the building.

“Where were you!?” he yelled directly in my ear as I scrambled to my feet.

“I could ask you the same thing!” I said. “How did you know I was out there?”

“Bullet point number three,” Elliot said. “When the window breaks, grab me.” I stared at him as my stomach gave a sickening flop of recognition. The Cocoon was now three for three, but I didn’t have time to think about the bullet points that were left—we had a job to do.

“Have you found Agent Chris yet?” I asked. He shook his head and together we turned to take in the nightmare of the ninth floor. The clamor inside this floor was just as loud as the one below us as the workers panicked, and I felt like my brain was going to explode from all the heat and noise. My chest tightened, and I wondered if our five minutes of air was almost up.