Noah nods as he walks over, looking down at Sevan picking the lock.
“Percy told me you guys were on this part of campus and he told menotto follow you, so naturally, I wanted to,” Noah says, this time in a low whisper.
The snowstorm is picking up outside of the covered terrace.
Snow is starting to come down heavy, blowing sideways in gusts.
“Fuck,” Sevan curses as the little tool falls down onto his lap again.
Then he picks it up.
Jams it in again once more.
And yanks the knob, and it comes open.
“Holy shit,” I breathe, putting a hand on Sev’s shoulder. “You did it.”
“Grab the fucking thing,” Niko says. “Get it and let’s get the hell out of here.”
I can’t keep a smile off of my face, though.
We did it.
For Niko.
Finally, I fucking contributed something to someone’s life.
Roman pushes the front door open with a broad arm and I take a step inside, seeing the little bin that they put in front of the mail slot when the building is closed.
I sift through the top few letters and I find it.
A black envelope, with silver ink on it.
From Callum, without question.
“Got it,” I say, nodding at the guys. “Niko’s right. Let’s get the fuck out of here.”
“Get Sevan into the car first,” Niko says.
“Absolutely.”
Sevan brings out a little wipe that smells like harsh alcohol and wipes all around the door knob and any area that we touched.
“Nobody’s getting my fingerprints,” he says.
I exhale, nodding down at him. “Smart. Fuck. I never would have thought of that.”
We help Sevan back to the car, hoist him in, and collapse his wheelchair and shove it into the back.
I bring the black hat over the front of my face again and sprint from building to building, removing the notes and duct tape from each camera. I even drag my feet in the snow behind me to cover my footprints a little, but it doesn’t matter.
The snow is coming down so hard now that any trace of our footprints or wheelchair tracks will disappear within moments.
We take off back across campus, and I loop around, taking the car for a little looping circuit around residential streets, not going straight back to Red Row. When I head back, I take the route that leads up to Red Row from the park, not through campus.
For hourswhen we get home, I wait for some sort of call from security or the building administration.
It doesn’t come.
