Page 15 of The Grave Robber

“No.” I ground my teeth and did another three-sixty. “I seethe last moment from the person’s perspective. It’s about a three-second windowbefore and after the soul leaves the body. He was definitely falling. I sawwindows above him, and the balcony and pillars right before everything went black.”

Halle nodded. “Then that’s the only explanation, right?”

“It has to be.” We sprinted to the other side, franticallysearching for the kid.

“I want to know what’s going on,” Bobby said, fear givinghis baritone voice an unnatural quaver. “Who’s jumping?”

“Bobby, does Zach ever come up here? You know, just tochill?”

The man was out of breath and went into a slight state ofshock when our words started to sink in. “He…he does, but he likes to climbover the ladder and sit on the ledge.”

Halle looked at him in horror. “Who does that?”

“He loves heights,” Bobby said as though that explained everything.

One minute.

The skies opened up, and raindrops began falling freely, therooftop suddenly slick as I hurried to the other side and looked over. When Istill didn’t see him, I closed my eyes and fought to remember Zach’s lastmoment once more. What was I missing?

The windows.

The balcony.

The columns.

And I got the feeling of movement like he was falling, butbackward. For him to be able to see what he saw, he would’ve fallen backward.Who jumped off a roof backward?

I felt a hand on my arm and lifted my lids to see Hallebeside me, her face full of hope. “You can do this,” she said, and I realizedshe was shivering, her lips turning blue in the rain. She squinted against theicy drops as they pelted her face.

The rain. The limited vision. I looked over the edge oncemore. The rush-hour traffic.

The truth hit me like a midsection punch from Iron Mike. Iwas in the wrong place. I lifted my wrist and wiped rain off my watch. And Iwas out of time.

Without another thought, I ran to the access door. I heardHalle behind me. I yelled, “Take the elevator!” as I bounded down the stairs ina single leap. Then I did the same to both sets of stairs per level until I hitthe bottom floor.

Praying no one was on the other side, I burst through thedoor, splintering the wood and breaking the handle. It slammed against the wallso hard the building vibrated as I ran through the business space on the bottomfloor and shoved my way through glass doors onto the street.

Knowing which direction Zachary would be coming from—theonly direction he could, considering his last moment—I spotted him crossing thestreet instantly. I also saw the delivery truck, seconds away from running himdown.

I reacted without thinking. Later, I would come to regretthat, but for now, my legs carried me with only one thought in mind:Getthat kid out of harm’s way. I tackled him and turned just as the truckslammed into us. Me. While I’d pushed Zachary out of the truck’s path, I’d putmyself in it, but I was apparently prepared for just such a scenario. I raiseda hand and shoved off the fender, managing to avoid a head-on and getting agentle, bone-rattling sideswipe instead.

I didn’t feel a thing as the truck tossed me like a ragdollin the opposite direction Zachary would have flown. Unfortunately, that wasstraight into more traffic. I barely registered screeching tires, horns, and ascream before the world went black.

Half an hour later, I sat in the back of an ambulance,trying to convince the first responder I was okay.

She was cute. And she really wanted my pants off.

“They’re half-ripped off anyway,” she said, defending herposition.

They weren’t just half off. They were shredded, myBreakingBadtee a sad homage to Walter’s last days, but my injuries weren’t thatbad. Scrapes and bruises and possibly a mild concussion. Either that or Hallewas really gazing at me with doe-like eyes full of both concern and gratitude.She sat beside the EMT, wringing her hands. And still shivering.

“I really think you should go to the hospital,” the med-techsaid.

“Can I get a blanket?” I asked her.

“Of course.” She rose to her feet and brought down a blueblanket wrapped in plastic. She unwrapped it and started to lay it over me, butI sat up, took it from her, and draped it over Halle’s shoulders.

Halle fought me. Naturally. “I’m fine. You need this morethan I do.”

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