Page 49
“Because you look prettier when you’re not a mangled corpse.”
“Aww. You care,” I say, parking near the skyway entrance. “Don’t forget your jacket.”
She extends an arm to the back seat, collecting her coat and hat.
“Are we robbing a bank?”
“No, do you want to?”
“Maybe tomorrow.” We get out of the car and shut our doors; Anna slips her jacket on while I hoist my backpack onto my shoulders as the brisk October air whips through the parking ramp. “I’m feeling a little hijacky tonight.”
I tsk. “Rats, I just did a hijacking last night. But I promise, this will be more fun.”
“More fun than a hijacking?” she gasps, and tugs her hat over her ears, letting her pink hair spill out below. “You always keep the activity a secret. What’s with the cloak-and-dagger?”
I zip up my own jacket. “Because if I told you, you’d never agree to it.”
She groans but faithfully follows me through the skyway entrance as we make our way toward Cerulean, the luxury condo high-rise in Minneapolis. Terrence, the building operations manager is a client of mine who allows me to have special access privileges at his building.
I’d say it’s because he’s such a big fan of my work, but it’s more likely due to him getting sick of me messing with their virtual security system during my urban exploration adventures. I showed him where the flaw was, and in exchange he granted me lawful access to my favorite place in the city . . . by making a personal key for me to use. Technically, he’s not aware of the extra key, but he hasn’t deactivated it yet, so I’ll take that as a yes. It’s all on the up-and-up. Everybody wins.
I nod to the concierge as we pass the desk and Anna quickens her footsteps to keep up with me. After pressing the button, we wait for the service elevator to arrive. As soon as the doors open, we step inside, and I swipe my perfectly valid key card.
“You didn’t tell me we were visiting someone.”
“We aren’t.”
“Then what—”
“I’m not telling you,” I answer, with a singsong voice. My stomach flip-flops as the elevator rises to the top. This is the first time I’ve ever brought someone with me to my spot.
The silver doors part at the top of the building and I lead Anna into the stairwell. On the wall is a red arrow with the words ROOF ACCESS printed next to them. She follows me up the short flight of stairs until we reach the heavy metal door.
“Are we allowed to be up here?” she asks.
Presenting the card in my hand, I reply, “Duchess. Do you really think they would let me have a key if I wasn’t allowed up here?”
She huffs a laugh. “We’re not supposed to do this, are we?”
“Meh.” My shoulders shrug.
After I hover the white fob over the sensor, it lights up green and I push down hard on the door latch, the hefty clunk echoing through the stairwell. As soon as the heavy door opens, a blast of chilled air sweeps through the doorway. We step out onto the rooftop and shut the door behind us.
“Oh my God,” she says, spinning in a slow circle admiring the city on all sides.
“Over here.” I gesture to her and she follows me toward the edge, our footsteps crunching on the pebbled rooftop. At the far side of the building, where the best view of the skyline is, there’s a suspended platform they use for window washing. It’s supported by the long arm of their building maintenance unit.
At the edge, I drop my backpack over the half wall and onto the narrow scaffold.
“No way, I’m not going out on that thing,” she insists, crossing her arms over her chest. Anna lowers her voice to a whisper. “This is trespassing.”
“We’re just going to sit. Look, it has safety bars.” I point over the side of the building and she takes a step closer, gathering her pink hair in her fist to keep it out of her face, and leans forward to get a better view.
“This one of those window-cleaning scaffolding things, isn’t it?”
I nod. “Kinda. It’s basically a suspended cage. Hey, I am not going to let anything happen to you. Promise.”
She glances at me warily and I step up on the half wall and hop down onto the lift, then extend my arm to guide her over.
