“I’ll risk it.” The girl stopped, but looked on the verge of panic. “It’s the Order! We have to fly. It’s better than dying.”

“Faith, stop.” I didn’t dare step forward, lest I scare her into plunging off the roof right then. “Listen to me. That’s what they want. This is one of their tactics, send in the ground team to force the targets into the air. Like hunting quail.” She blinked at me, glassy-eyed with fear. I wondered if any of this was getting through to her. “There’s probably a team of snipers scanning the roof right now,” I continued, gesturing to the buildings around us. “If you fly, they’ll shoot you down—”

The whirl of helicopter blades interrupted me, a guttural whine in the silence. Faith flinched, her gaze going to the sky, but Ember darted forward, grabbed her around the waist and yanked her back…just as a spotlight beam sliced over the floor, passing inches from where they’d been standing. The rest of us ducked down and pressed against the walls, melting into shadow, as an unmarked black chopper circled the building once, then wheeled lazily away.

Ember glared after the helicopter, eyes flashing, as Faith whimpered and huddled close to her. “Well, there are the snipers,” she said. “What now, Riley?”

Shoved against a wall with Ava, Riley growled a curse and looked at me. “Any brilliant thoughts on getting out of this?”

“Back through the building,” I said. “It’s a big hotel. They’ll probably have more than one unit sweeping the floors, coming in from different angles. If we can get past the ground teams, we’ll have a chance of making it out unnoticed.”

“And if we can’t?”

“Then we go through them.”

Riley swore again. “All right,” he growled. “Go, then. We’ll be right behind you.”

The helicopter swung around again, and we held our breath as it went by, spotlight crawling over the walls and floor. I waited until it passed, watched it glide around a corner, then darted for the stairwell entrance. I heard the others scramble after me, and hit the door handle without slowing down, bursting through the frame into the building.

We quickly descended the stairs, myself in the lead, Ember close behind me. Ava and Faith followed, and Riley brought up the rear, watching our backs. Our footsteps echoed throughout the stairwell, unnaturally loud in the stillness. Each time we passed the entrances to other floors, my nerves jangled, wondering if this time the door would burst open and a squad of soldiers would step in to kill us.

A body suddenly rounded the corner and lunged up the stairs, making Faith shriek. Not a soldier, but a civilian in a white tank top, a baseball cap perched sideways on his head. He stumbled, nearly running into me, and I barely stopped myself from driving a fist into his throat.