at work. I thought you cleaned out your desk? You can’t go in your work clothes. I bought you that suit and everything.” Wyatt sighed dramatically and stepped down, gazing across the street and pretending not to notice the woman’s curiosity. “We’ll miss the ceremony if we go back.”
“This outfit is fine,” Viktor said in his best American accent.
“You look like you’re going on a drug bust. It’s not fine. They’re taking your picture and everything. Don’t you have a spare key somewhere?”
His friend in blue pajama bottoms led her dog toward the steps. “I can let you in.”
“Thank you! You’re a lifesaver. Thank you so much,” Wyatt went on. “I think he’s just looking for an excuse not to go. He doesn’t like attention, so this is his version of a nightmare.”
Viktor grumbled and folded his arms, which made the lady giggle.
She opened the door and held it for Wyatt. “I don’t like parties, so I know how he feels.” When Viktor glided past her, she smiled at him. “Congratulations. Thanks for your service.”
Viktor’s expression softened, and he nodded at her. Viktor had a remarkable way of carrying on a conversation without saying a word. Wyatt had a way of sticking his foot in his mouth, so his best bet was to avoid getting in the elevator with this woman or else she’d start asking questions he wasn’t prepared to answer.
“Wait, do you have your door key?” he asked Viktor. “I’m not about to go all the way up there if you left your keys in the van.”
“Just like your mother,” Viktor grumbled.
“Well, someone has to be the adult here.”
The woman held the elevator. “Are you coming?”
Wyatt waved at her. “I need to get his keys out of the van. Thanks again, lady!” As he jogged toward the doors, he listened for the sound of the elevator doors closing. Then he quietly pivoted, relieved that she hadn’t suspected anything.
Viktor pushed the elevator button. “It frightens me sometimes how easy it is for you to lie.”
He waltzed up to the doors. “I made a career out of it.”
After a short ride to the top floor, they jogged upstairs to the roof. There wasn’t much to picking the roof lock, but the real challenge was how they were going to get down to the auction house. They were about two stories higher than they needed to be. Not a huge distance, but it wouldn’t take much for Wyatt to crack his melon.
Viktor walked to the back corner. “This is good.”
Wyatt approached the edge and was hit by a gust of wind as he bent over and studied a pipe going down the wall. “You call this good? A ladder is good. That’s the thing of nightmares.”
Viktor chuckled. “Is my son afraid?”
Wyatt took off his backpack and shoved it into Viktor’s arms. “I want a bonus for this, Dad.”
“It is not as if you will die.”
“Says the man who can heal in three seconds. Remember the time I cracked my skull and we had to call the Relic? That was when you sent Niko and Blue on that trip to Dallas. It took me a week to heal all the way, and I had to wear that stupid helmet.”
“Niko is not far.”
Wyatt sat on the ledge and imagined his head splitting open like a melon. As far as he was concerned, brave men fell into two categories: stupid and smart. The stupid ones put their lives in peril for nothing. The smart ones lived to see another day. As a Gravewalker, he could live to be a thousand as long as he made smart choices. He healed at an accelerated rate and was harder to kill than a human, but death never took a holiday.
He reached down and felt the pipe. “There’s no gap. I can’t hold on to it.”
“Use your fingertips. We have no time to quarrel. Go!”
Wyatt put the ski mask over his face, and Viktor held his hand as he lowered himself off the roof. When he thought he had his boots anchored against the brick on the adjoining walls, he let go of Viktor’s hand and clasped the pipe. Wyatt could already feel his weight pulling him down like an anchor. His boots scrabbled in a futile attempt to slow his descent. When his knuckles began to scrape against the brick, he jumped onto the lower roof and rolled across the asphalt.
Despite his stinging knuckles and sore arm, he sprang to his feet and reached up to catch