“What the hell!” She gives me a panicked look. “This door was never locked before. Not once!”
I refrain from pointing out that a decade separates her teenage adventures from the present day. Time may seem frozen in Vieux Lyon, but things do change.
“Let me try something,” I say instead.
I jump and land a kick on the frame of the door hoping to throw it open. But the door turns out to be sturdier than it looks. I believe it’s bolted on the other side.
“Can we backtrack to where we came from?” she asks.
“Too risky. What if the thugs are stalking us inside that building?”
I look down the wall again and spot a pipe.
OK, let’s recap—three measly stories, an athletic prince who’s done tons of indoor abseiling, and a damsel in distress.Well, sort of.She must be deep inside. Shecertainly was in the alley when the goons pulled out their knives.
And my fear of heights? Irrational!
I can do this.
“Wait here,” I say.
“What are you going to do?”
“Grab on to that pipe there, walk myself down, reenter the building and unbolt the hatch.”
“You’ve lost your mind!” Her hand flies to her chest. “I’m not afraid of heights, but I’d never try something so harebrained.”
I wrinkle my nose. “I was going for brave or at least chivalrous. Definitely not harebrained.”
“It’s too risky, Max.”
“Listen, I grew up in the mountains. Climbing up and down stiff rocks is a national sport?—”
“National?”
“I mean, regional.”
She narrows her eyes. “Where did you say you came from?”
“Erm, east of here.”
“The Alps? The way you pronounce certain words does have a Swiss ring to it.”
I give her a thumbs-up.
Before she can object again, I wrap myself around the pipe on the side of the building and muscle my way down. What I failed to consider is that my shoes aren’t made for walking down vertical walls. If I’d worn sneakers and had a rope, I’d rappel down with ease. Because as it is, my descent is happening with much difficultly, given that my feet are working against my arms, skidding rather than walking.
As I clumsily slide, I try not to think about the distance between me and the ground, or about the fact that we forgot to buy sandwiches at the market. I’ve had nothing toeat since breakfast at Violette and Dom’s, and nothing to drink since my midday stopover at the hotel. I’m feeling dizzy.
Ouch!
I cut myself on a sharp fragment sticking out of the pipe and lose my grip. With the slippery shoes doing nothing to slow my fall, I plummet the remaining distance like a ballast cut loose. Fortunately, during my military service in the Evorian Guard, I learned how to execute a shock-absorbing roll when jumping.
Which is exactly what I do.
Back on my feet, I hunker down, anchor my hands on my knees, and heave a sigh of relief. My arms and legs ache. The raw skin of my palms is on fire.
“You did it!” Lucie calls from the roof. “I can’t believe it!”
