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  When they stopped for a breath, he put a finger to her lips to hush her again. "Listen."

  She'd been so attuned to him she hadn't noticed the silence. "They're gone?"

  "From there. But they'll be checking this roof next, I'm pretty damn sure. We've got to move."

  But he didn't move. His cock remained stiff against the softness of her belly. Linna brushed her lips against his, but didn't deepen the kiss.

  "Thanks for catching me."

  "My pleasure."

  She got to her feet, feeling suddenly giddy and silly. There was something deeper between them then friendship. She knew it. She saw it in his eyes and felt it in his kiss. They had no time to explore it now. Not with the SecOps on their trail. But later, she promised herself.

  Del got to his feet easily enough for having been knocked over and squashed by a woman who probably weighed as much as he did. He dusted himself off and looked at the next building. It was a lot closer, but higher.

  "I hope you can climb," he said.

  "Me too."

  She knew their escape couldn't be that easy. They might have kissed like people on the run always did in the viddy stories, but getting away without any trouble was entertainment, not real life. They'd just reached the doorway that led down to this building's inside when the door clanged open.

  An armored SecOp burst through, stunner held high. Without hesitating, Del shot out an arm. It hit the Op in the throat and knocked him to the ground. Del dropped with his knee to the Op's chest and kept him from getting up with one quick punch to the face.

  Seconds later, Del was on his feet again and grabbing her hand. "He won't be alone. We have to get out of here."

  She didn't want to ask if he was dead. She didn't want to know. She followed Del without a backward glance at the downed Op, and when they got to the wall of the higher building, she put her hands to the grooves made by the windowsill and hoisted herself up.

  She caught a glimpse of a startled face behind the plazglass, but she didn't stop. The windows of this building were longer than normal, with the bottom of one just a few inches above the top of the next. The building itself was made from concrete carved to look like stone, and her feet and hands found plenty of places to grip.

  She'd have to remember to ask Del how he knew this building would be easy to climb. Later. Right now, all she could think about was hand, foot, hand, foot. Keep moving. Don't look down.

  The next thing she knew, Del's big hands had wrapped around her wrists, and he hauled her over the edge and up onto the roof. Linna had never been so high up before. She struggled for breath, more winded than she'd realized, and burrowed in her pocket for a protein bar. She needed the energy.

  "How do you do it?" she asked. "I've got help and I'm getting tired."

  "You haven't been eating right." He shot her a grin. "Or sleeping right either."

  She thought of how she'd dozed in his taxi and in his bed. "I haven't slept like a normal person in a long time."

  "Ah, what's normal?" He rolled his head on his neck and stretched his shoulders before peering over the edge of the building. "The place over there is swarming with Ops. Won't be long before they have 'em on every roof."

  "Where do we go from here?" Linna looked around. This was the tallest building in this district. She could see some taller in the distance, but nothing close enough to jump or climb to.

  Del pointed up. "We go through."

  Linna's gaze followed his finger. "What?"

  "There's a zip along here somewhere. I've seen stars."

  "You're not serious," she said, but could see he was. "The Dome really is going to fall down, isn't it?"

  "I think so. When that happens, even Adar and his butt monkeys had better get their sunscreen ready."

  The Dome had been erected to prevent the sun's harmful UV rays from beating down on Newcity. The electrical-chemical barrier, spread along a metal frame, had been the only part of the project, that also included heating, cooling and ventilation systems, to work the way it was supposed to. There had been times in the early days when the Dome failed, and despite the many repairs, millions of dollars and constant reassurances from the Ruling Council, it was a well-known rumor that one day the whole system was going to crash. It seemed that day was closer than any of them had believed.

  "What about us?" Linna asked, certain Del would have an answer.

  He didn't disappoint her. "We go through the zip. The Dome's only eighteen inches thick. This close to the edge of the city, we're right next to the Dome. We jump and hope we land on the roof of the Oldcity building on the other side."

  "You're awful," she told him with a smile. She noticed an acrid tang to the air she didn't recognize. Her eyes had begun to water. "Where do we go through?"

  He wiped at his eyes, which were also growing red. "Got to find the zip."

  "I didn't realize we were that close to the Dome."

  He laughed. "Two weeks ago, I doubt we were."

  She followed him to edge of the roof on the side far from the building they'd climbed from. Below, the street looked like a ribbon of gray and black with tiny figures moving back and forth. She could hear System's soothing voice issuing the Code Red warning over and over.

  "You've done this before?" She tried hard not to sound nervous, but didn't succeed.

  Del captured her gaze with his. "I've never gone through here myself, no. But I've helped some others come through from the other side."

  "Oldcitizens?" She shook her head. "That was a stupid question. Of course, Oldcitizens."

  "Actually, no." He shrugged. "Offworlders who couldn't get a visa."

  "From Xanderra?"

  "No. Shaddran, I think. They were humanoid anyway. A family with a kid. They'd sent the kid through first. I heard him crying one day when I was doing some maintenance. I looked up and there was this kid, teetering on the edge of the building."

  "You saved him?" She wasn't surprised.

  Del didn't boast, just told the story matter-of-factly. "I got up here as fast as I could, the way we just came, and got him. His parents had sent him through ahead, but they were having trouble. I helped them both through. Got them a place to stay. Jobs."

  "You could've lost your visa for that."

  "Couldn't just let 'em risk their lives. They had a kid with them."

  She marveled at his composure. "You're no Newcitizen, that's for sure. To thine own business attend means nothing to you."

  He nodded. "That's a damn stupid motto, if you ask me. In Xanderra, there's no such thing as thine own business."

  She slipped her hand into his and squeezed. "Let's get through this zip."

  "Can you see it?"

  She looked, but saw nothing but the hazy barrier of the Dome. Moving closer to the edge of the roof, her eyes burned and stung, and her nose did the same. "Yuck!"

  "It kinda sparkles." Del pointed to a place in the air that seemed to ripple if she stared too long at it. "You need to hit it dead on, Linna. If you don't...."

  She shuddered. "I know. My skin will peel off and my eyes liquefy and run down my face."

  "So they say."

  "Do you think it's true?"

  "I don't want to find out," Del replied. "I do know you can get through this zip, though. Are you ready?"

  She nodded, readied her stance, and clenched her fists. "I think so. Yeah. Yes. I'm ready."

  "You need to run and jump straight for the middle of it. You'll fall through, but you need to get enough momentum to clear the downward edge. The building on the other side is the same height as this one. Can you land all right?"

  Linna took a deep breath and ran an internal diagnostic check. "I'm enhanced, Del, but to tell you the truth, I'm not sure about my landing gear."

  He laughed as she'd meant him to. His teeth, straight and white, gleamed in the dim emergency lighting. "Want me to go first? You can land on me again."

  "I'd like that, for more than one reason." Flirting had become second nature to her, a ne