Chapter 10: Jump (Please recommend and save).

In the hallway, McClane, while spewing a series of obscenities, was playing a game of "you shoot a few bullets, I'll shoot a few" with the enemies outside.

His goal was to keep them out, and besides, he was running out of bullets. On an earlier impulse, he exhausted his few magazines, now he was firing with Owen's pistol.

"Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat!"

From the adjacent room came shots. McClane, startled, thought someone had snuck in. When he went to investigate, he realized no one was there; Owen was firing at the wall.

The submachine gun quickly made an empty "click-click." Owen had used up his bullets, these were his last, as the other spare magazines he had previously handed over to McClane.

"Bam-bam-bam-bam-bam-bam-bam-bam-bam."

Paying no attention to McClane's perplexed look, Owen pulled out a pistol and continued firing at the wall, leaving an oval mark on it.

"Don't pay any attention to me, I'll take over here. You go and watch the door."

"Okay."

McClane quickly understood what Owen was doing. Here, with Owen, was enough; he would continue to confront the kidnappers outside. Now his goal was to draw attention outside and keep them from guessing his intentions.

The lack of bullets didn't matter. McClane began cursing the mothers and sisters of the men outside.

Incited by McClane's provocations, the gunfire from outside intensified. Under this cover of fire, the gunfire from inside no longer sounded so abrupt. As McClane rejoiced in his cunning, suddenly, the outside was silent.

The situation became strange. McClane also stopped his fire, with the ground littered with shell casings and his last magazine empty. Now all he had left was the pistol.

The gunfire from inside also ceased, just at the right moment. Owen poked his head out from the inner room, motioning "OK" to McClane. He was coming to get McClane; they planned to make noise at the door and then escape discreetly, without firing a shot.

As they felt triumphant, suddenly, the outer door was silent. The situation became a little strange. McClane stopped firing, his feet rested on a pile of empty scabbards, and his last magazine was depleted. Now, he had only the pistol.

From inside, the shooting stopped as well. On cue, Owen poked his head out from the inner room, motioning "OK" to McClane. He was coming to get McClane; they planned to make noise at the door and then escape discreetly, without further gunfire.

"Boom!"

A loud explosion echoed behind them. Owen felt the whole building shake. The two in the inner room were knocked down by the shockwave, falling forward.

Owen controlled his body, shielding his head with his hands, and slammed straight into the wall.

With a roar, a large hole formed in the wall, following the marks Owen had made earlier. By the time they both scrambled out of the hole, they were already in the next room.

Fortunately, the layout of this suite was identical to that of room 4008 where they were before. With no time to dust themselves off, they found the location of the front door, kicked it in, and ran down the hallway.

In the hallway, aside from two people lying on the floor, there was no one else. The large door next door, which had previously been full of vicissitudes, had completely disappeared after the explosion. The hijackers had already entered.

Owen and McClane quickly headed for the nearest exit, the stairway was no longer an option. However, just as they turned the corner, they found that the hallway in that direction was sealed off, turned into a storage room.

"Damn!" exclaimed McClane, and the two were forced to stop. The jumble of objects around, with a small cart carrying a pile of used sheets and blankets, indicated that this place was used by the cleaning staff to temporarily store items that needed cleaning.

Desperately, as there was nowhere to hide among the tangle of objects and no escape through the staircase, Owen and McClane stopped their run. They looked around and suddenly Owen saw an opening similar to a garbage chute for discarding things in an old building. Next to the opening, it read "Laundry Room".

With the sound of quick footsteps approaching, the two looked at each other and without hesitation, one after the other, slipped through the opening. The kidnappers arrived just as the opening was empty; only McClane's screams could be heard echoing in the duct as he fell.

Owen, who had expected the opening to be like a slide with a curved passageway, noticed that after the brief curve, the duct became almost vertical.

The duct rotated in all directions, almost in a stereo dimension. All that could be heard were McClane's screams, and Owen was nervous too, as they were now falling practically in free fall.

Owen's heart raced; who knew what floor the laundry room would be on. If it was on the second floor, their descent would be practically a leap from a building.

Owen tried to grab something to slow down, but there was nothing to grab. All around him was a smooth, slippery surface.

The duct was dark, and they couldn't see anything. Only occasionally they saw flashes of light, but they were fleeting and they couldn't make out what they were.

Owen thought they were the openings to other ducts on the lower floors. He tried to grab hold of one, but it was no use, the speed was too fast.

They didn't know how much time passed, but suddenly, Owen's butt felt sore; his body finally landed. It seemed that the duct was curved again, and then the sliding sensation similar to a slide returned.

Then, suddenly, the view brightened, and their bodies fell into a pile of soft stuff. After them, McClane also fell, and the two finally found themselves safely in the laundry room.