Dance Moms - Lorelei (3) James & Hilliker

Chapter 12 : Trial and Error

Having to wait in the dark for fifteen minutes, Chloe began to show concern on Kalani's safety. Refused to look like a loser, she began making rounds and assessing the area.

Not slutty enough? She cursed under her breath. I don't need sex appeal to get where I'm going!

The warehouse was a three story building with no windows at the front. It was standing alone and surrounded by empty ground and wire fence. There were two entry points - the front where Kalani went in, and the back gate that was chained up and blocked by dumpsters. There were security cameras covering all four corners, two more at the entrance for close inspection.

All grounds were covered. What about the air?

Next to the warehouse was a construction site, a naked foundation like a project pulled out halfway. There were no machinery and the premises were boarded up, but some were torn by vandalism. Chloe slipped through a gap, climbed up to the fifth floor and overlooking the warehouse below.

From this side she could see a narrow gap running down the wall, like ventilations for the bathrooms, the windows were too small to make out any activities inside. The roof was unguarded, but there was a sixty foot gap between the two buildings, Chloe wished she could fly.

Refusing to give up, she searched through the construction site. Much of the tools and materials have been removed, otherwise stolen, leaving only scatters of plywood and drain pipes.

Chloe has an idea, she screwed the six-inch pipes from end to end, trying to make it long enough to reach the opposite building, but the plastic pipes were too soft, began to bend the further they reach.

When Plan A failed, Chloe held the extended pipe to a horizontal position, testing its strength, trying to recall how people did pole-jumping on the sport channel.

She stood at the far end of the floor, building a distance from the jump point, then she noticed the incomplete floor was not flat, it shifted high and low between sections, and couldn't offer a straight path to build speed.

Plan B failed. She looked at the time on her phone, Kalani has already been inside for over half-an-hour, she would have made it out by now, but she didn't, meaning things could go wrong.

Plan C, she built three more pipes, each long enough to reach ground level, tied them together using zip-ties she found on the floor, lowering them from the third floor, securing it to the ground in a vertical position, and then she went back as far as she could and took a deep breath.

It's all or nothing!

She launched forward, running as fast as she could, building up momentum as she was closing to the edge, her arms opened, grabbed onto the pipes and kicked.

The pipes took her away from the unfinished structure, sending her across the night air and towards the warehouse, but as it was tilting its base caught the fence between the two buildings. Chloe barely touched her feet on the warehouse roof before she felt the pipes pulling her back.

Oh Nooo!! She yelled at the unexpected.

The pipes were making a back swing, lifting her off her feet like a catapult, she told herself to let go, but in panic her hands were holding the pipes for dear life, until she lost balance and rolled aside, with the pipe slipped out from under her arm.

She landed on the gravel roof with a painful grunt, behind her the pipes swung back over the fence, slapped against the incomplete building, fallen aside and disappeared in the dark.

Chloe caught her breath and climbed back to her feet, finding herself standing a foot off the edge, if she let go a second late she would have fallen three story down.

She peeked over the edge and saw one of the guards approaching, probably inspecting the sound she just made. If she's lucky, the guard will find nothing and return to his post, if not...

No time for second guess, Chloe ran for the stairs.