The nice thing about me—I didn’t need light. I’ve always had excellent night-vision. So I just moved to where the maintenance elevators were and pushed ‘em open. Clipping my karabiner to the elevator cable, along with a glick’s lock, I hooked my ropes from the karabiner to my waist, and I started climbing up. Sliding the karabiner right along as I inched upwards.
It was a workout and one I hated doing when was on a job, but sometimes there was just no way around it.
So I kept inching upwards. It took about thirty minutes until I came across the sixth floor where the club manager’s office was located.
I braced myself between the elevator cables and the doors. Pressing a Listening Ear—it’s a very cleverly named device, and there’s no sarcasm in that statement—against the doors, I listened to make sure no one was in the hallway. There shouldn’t have been anyone there yet. It was around four in the afternoon; the staff wouldn’t start heading in for about two more hours.
I gritted my teeth as I pulled open the elevator doors, and slipped through. The doors shut immediately, sliding smoothly back in place. I was exposed in that moment, and I hate it. Stupid Jace didn’t want to put venting shafts from the elevator, said it would be too easy for someone to break in. The only nice thing was that this floor was the least populated. Most of the staff either headed up to the private suites or to the conference rooms on the second floor. Jace told me once that they couldn’t put cameras inside the boxes, so they put them up in the hallways instead. That way they had a record of who was going in and out.
I quickly darted down the hallway and picked the lock on the manager’s office door. Jace had hired two of them, Noble and Richard. I always had to grin—Richard. It was too easy. I liked to refer to them as Noble Dick. The funnier thing is that they didn’t even get along; both were complete opposites. But both were control freaks. Which was why I knew one of them would have copies of backstage passes and some last-minute tickets in their desks. They never trusted the other to take care of that stuff so they acted as if they were the only club manager.
Inside, I quickly rifled through the bottom drawers of Noble’s desk first, making sure to put everything back in its place. They weren’t there. The second drawer didn’t have ‘em either. Turning, I caught sight of a pile on his chair. The guy was just messy. Everything was a mess, but I knew Noble knew exactly where everything was.
Looking through the pile, I saw a packet of back-stage passes, banded together with a rubber band. I grabbed two and—a sense of triumph flashed through my body—I saw a file labeled ‘Third Wave Tickets.’ When I opened the file, I saw a stack of tickets for front row seats.
I grabbed the tickets and the back-stage passes, stuffing them in my little pack that was plastered against my back, and headed back out. Just before I reached the door, I heard voices.
Fuck.
I quickly slipped out the door and ducked into an office further down. Thank God the office was empty. I couldn’t be caught in the manager’s office. And I really couldn’t let them know that I had ever been there.
As I lifted the window, the door suddenly opened and I had just enough time to register that it was Jace’s voice.
“Yeah, I’m looking now. Fuck off. I’ll get the fucking gun and head down in a minute—”
He must’ve seen me.
I looked over my shoulder, poised just on the window frame, and saw his cellphone drop to the floor.
He was frozen in place, staring at me.
And then I jumped.
Landing on the patio, three floors down—fuck, that hurt—I rolled to the end and grabbed the under-railing as my body continued to fall towards the ground. Closing my fingers around the metal—damn, it fucking hurt—I could feel my skin tearing away. But I dropped to the ground, seemingly a second later, but my assent was slowed—slightly—by the railings.
I didn’t have time to look up, I didn’t dare. So I ran, sprinting down the alley and trying to blend in with the crowd on the street.
Gritting my teeth, I quickly wrapped the end of my shirt around my hands, pressing it against the wound as I doubled back. Walking down the parking ramp, I got to my car and climbed inside, quickly starting it and getting out of there. I only took enough time to grab a towel in the back. I tore it in half and wrapped each end around my hands.
As I reached the outskirts of town, I pulled over. I deposited everything in my trunk, swearing at myself—I’d lost my ropes, karabiner, and glick’s lock—when I’d had to change my escape route.
First rule of burglary: plan on being caught. That meant: always have an escape route ready. And it meant taking everything with you that you couldn’t afford to leave behind, and what couldn’t be traced back to you.
The items couldn’t be traced to me—not that it mattered. Jace already knew I’d been there. He wouldn’t know what I stole though. No, he’d probably think I’d been there looking for secrets or whatever the hell else that he was hiding. Not front row tickets and backstage passes. And that’s quite alright. Jace could think whatever he wanted.
But my equipment was expensive. Shit, it was really expensive.
I got back in my car, and leaned my head against my seat tiredly. I inspected my hands again, gently prodding to check on the bleeding. It had stopped, but the dried blood glued the towel against my skin. When I’d need to re-bandage, I’d probably open the cuts again.
I started the engine and headed home. I needed to drop my stuff off, disinfect my hands, grab a transparent seal to place over my hands, and then head to Crystal Bay. Complete with my bathing suit. There was no way I was going to pass up a chance to dive off that cliff.
Literally.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
I’d changed at the house, so I was ready to go when I parked and walked down the steep trail that would open up to a beach as I got further down. Crystal Bay was around a cliff that jutted out, meeting the rocks that the waves crashed into. You had to walk on those rocks, to find the narrow rock-ridge leading into Crystal Bay.
As I braced myself on the rocks and followed it inside, I could hear voices. They echoed off the cliff walls, but grew louder as I drew closer. Ducking inside the cave, I was able to see where the trail led. The light grew dim, but it was st