“What was that that blew the whistle on us?” Massha said, peering up into the darkness where our mysterious saboteur had disappeared.
“I think it was that Vic character,” Guido answered from below me. “I got a pretty good look at him when he bolted past me back at the Woof Writers.”
“Really?” I asked, half to myself, twisting around to look after the departed villain. “That’s one more we owe him.”
“Later,” Aahz commanded, touching down at last. “Right now we’ve got to get out of here.”
Guido was beside him in a second. I had to drop a ways, as with the extra weight removed from the rope, we had ceased to sink.
“C’mon, Massha!” I called. “Cut the power in that thing. It’s not that far to fall.”
“I’m trying!” she snapped back, fiddling with the belt buckle once more. “The flaming thing’s malfunctioning again!”
The belt setting had changed. Holding the rope, I could feel that there was no longer an upward pull. Unfortunately, Massha wasn’t sinking, either. Instead, she hovered in mid-air about fifteen feet up.
“Hey, Boss! We got company!”
I followed my bodyguard’s gaze. There was a mob forming down the street to our left, and it didn’t look happy. Of course, it was hard to tell for sure, but I had the definite impression that their eyes were glowing redder than normal, which I was unable to convince myself was a good sign.
“Maasshhhha!” I nagged, my voice rising uncontrollably as I tugged on the rope.
“It’s jammed!” she whimpered. “Go on, take off, Hot Stuff. No sense in all of us getting caught.”