Page 73 of Burn

The burn between my shoulders wasn’t getting better. Worth it to get the window open. I eyed it, then down, then up…

I was pretty sure I could get through that opening. I could just pull the window wider, at least it was hinged to open inwards instead of outwards. I shot a look at the door then back to the window.

I set the other items down and then wrapped one hand over the edge of the window, I swung over like it was gonna hang from it and gripped it with the other hand. It gave a millimeter more.

So I jerked on it, swinging my feet a little.

Come on. I didn’t need it to give that much, just an inch. It gave me a millimeter, I needed another inch. Bobbing, I shook and the window let out an ominous creak.

The sudden drop as it bent inwards and startled me. I managed to land on the edge of the chair and then my knees without rocking the whole chair. I split my attention between the door and the window.

No alarm.

No running feet.

This was a good sign. With care, I got the ironing board out then used it to prop against the top of the chair and the dresser. It would get me up higher.

That was all I would need.

Not giving myself time to think about it, I climbed up, grabbed the edge and scooted with a shove upwards. Going out face first probably wasn’t the best move, but I’d work with what I had and hope I could either reach the roof or a ledge once I was out there.

A single-story drop wouldn’t kill me, right?

Chapter

Twenty-Seven

ALPHABET

My leg ached, I’d been pushing it a lot over the past few days. Lunchbox had suggested I sit out the flight and I’d ignored him. I didn’t need to run to be backup. After the number of ambushes we’d faced already in securing Grace Black, I didn’t want to leave anything to chance.

“We’ve been asked to accelerate on the next job,” Bones said. The debrief with regard to Grace had been swift. Probably wise, considering the dark looks being exchanged between Bones and Voodoo. “The request was made when you two were taking Miss Black home. There didn’t seem to be any reason tonotagree.”

I wasn’t thrilled with Bones just hauling her upstairs and securing her for the moment. Understanding the necessity, considering she’d gotten so angry, didn’t preclude understanding her position. We’d told her we would let her get in touch with her sister.

But we didn’t know where the sister was. Not yet. I had feelers out, but there were so many different trafficking groups in the world. She could literally be held by any of them.

I’d sent a message to Doc about the crew running the truck they’d found Grace on. If the answers were out there, we wouldfind them. Unfortunately, it was going to take time. We needed to find a way to explain it to Grace.

“That’s a bad idea right now,” Lunchbox said when Bones took a beat.

I didn’t disagree with Lunchbox’s assessment. The factory job required transport, infiltration, exfiltration, and then demolition. The kind of job we excelled at, truthfully, save for a couple of potential snags.

“It’s on foreign soil,” Lunchbox continued. “We have Grace here now. We can’t keep her locked up while we’re on a job for three to five days.”

“That’s a generous estimate,” Voodoo said. “They aren’t just moving this job up by a couple of weeks, we were supposed to have another two months. I’ve got feelers out there but I haven’t really been prepping this job. That would mean on the fly changes and working in less than optimal conditions.”

“We’ve done more with less.” Despite his lack of inflection, I didn’t think Bones was any happier with this scenario than we were. “That may be the only option open to us.”

“Unless we just refund their money and tell them to fuck off,” I suggested. “They’ve only done a deposit.” We were still in the process of cleaning that deposit. “Moving the job up, changing the timetable—there are penalties they are going to incur because our risk versus reward is going to be skewed.”

Could we do it? Absolutely. Did I want to right now?

No.

Goblin shifted to sit up and he put his head against my leg. I scratched him gently between the eyes. The action soothed some of the irritation scraping along the inside of my skin. Sitting through a debrief while Grace was left to stew in her room didn’t appeal to me.

“That’s an option,” Bones said, finally, addressing my suggestion.

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