Excerpt: Death Lasts Forever

[...]

A minute later, the three men emerged onto the roof of the apartment building. Amazri shut the door behind them, then grabbed up a piece of discarded wood and jammed it under the doorknob.

"So," Steinhoff said to McBlade, "I guess you weren't as circumspect as you thought."

"Yeah, sure looks that way, doesn't?" McBlade replied.

"Come on!" Amazri said.

Steinhoff took in the scene. The apartment building they were on was first in a line of three identical structures, concrete islands in a sea of sloped-roofed private dwellings.

Amazri ran toward the edge of the apartment roof and leaped. He landed heavily on the second apartment's roof and rolled to his feet.

"Not bad for a man his age," McBlade said, grinning. He holstered his gun and sprinted for the edge. Though his leap was awkward, he made it over the narrow gap.

As soon as Steinhoff tucked away his weapon, he heard the rooftop door bang open. With a quick gulp of air, Steinhoff ran and jumped from the edge of the building. He landed neatly on the other rooftop and stood, only to find McBlade pointing his gun at him. Steinhoff ducked as two shots barked out. He spun around in time to see the Guild agents fall back onto the rooftop he had just jumped from.

"All right, Maz, now what?" McBlade asked.

"This way." Amazri led them to the far edge of the second apartment building and indicated a metal ladder.

McBlade and Steinhoff took a few moments to reload their guns, then followed Amazri down the ladder. They found themselves in the narrow alley between the second and third apartment buildings. Above them, clothelines stretched from window to window, like thick spiderwebs festooned with laundry.

"City guard! Stop and identify!" came a shout from their right. A lone guardsman stood at the south end of the alley, a shotgun up at his shoulder.

"Three against one," McBlade muttered. "Not too bad."

But just as he finished speaking, two more guardsmen appeared behind the first.

"Ah, cock!" McBlade spat. One of the guards held a revolver, while the other wielded an electric rifle.

"Guns on the grounds!" commanded the first guardsman. "Hands on your head!"

"Start walking," Steinhoff whispered to his companions. "I'll be right behind you." Without waiting for a reply, he turned and faced the guardsmen, a shielding spell uppermost in his mind.

McBlade nudged Amazri, and the two began walking toward the other end of the alley.

"You two, stop!" the first guard yelled. "This is your last warning!"

Steinhoff kept his gaze level, watching the three guardsmen intently. He would have to time things perfectly.

A dark look crossed first guard's face. He inclined his head at the man with the electric rifle.

Now!

A crackling bolt of electricity leapt from the muzzle of the rifle. In that same instant, Steinhoff released his spell. The lighting bolt coursed through the air. Less than a foot away from Steinhoff's face, the bolt splashed and disspated against an unseen barrier.

"Fire!" the guardsman screamed.

Shotgun pellets and bullets ricocheted off the barrier. Steinhoff dismissed the shielding spell and dropped to one knee, squeezing off three rounds as he did do. Two guardsmen went down. The last man, the one with the electric rifle, skittered back unharmed.