Page 64 of The Hard Way

“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” Odin said.

“What?”

“What? It looks like a rollercoaster made by hillbillies!”

Itdidlook kind of dangerous. Even from a mile off, the construction looked superrandom, with boards crisscrossing here and there.

I sped the car down the dip, as we used to call it, the road like a ribbon tracing the base of a bowl. Trees blurred by on either side as we headed toward the abandoned ski jump, which was basically a rural ruin at this point, standing in the middle of an abandoned park. A mile up and I pulled onto the shoulder next to a half-crumbled shed. Carefully, I drove around to the back of it. “The cops used to troll up and down this road to catch kids coming out here to drink and climb that thing. It’s morning, but just to be safe…”

We got out, and I took a look from the road to make sure the car was hidden. It was warm for April. A perfect day for a hike.

“Come on.” I set off on the path, which was really grown over and a bit mucky from a recent rain. “What the fuck,” I said. “Are kids not coming out here to get drunk anymore? What is wrong with the youth of today?”

Odin said nothing. He was still really off from his fight with Zeus last night.

The four of us had had an awkward breakfast at the table with the Texans as well as Margie, who I’m sure thought I was utterly depraved, what with the sexual demands I apparently made on my three employees.

After breakfast, Zeus and Thor had set off to case Hank Vernon’s place. I’d suggested Odin and I visit here. He was a little growly about it, but nobody was letting him anywhere near Hank at that point.

We emerged from the bramble into the partial clearing around the jump, which rose up to roughly the height of a five-story building. Up close you could see that some of the wood supports had rotted away, hanging like earrings from other wood supports. The old chain link fence was still around it, but the authorities had posted giantKEEP OUT! DANGERsigns every few feet. “As if it wasn’t attractive enough before,” I said.

“You were actually climbing this with skis not two years ago?”

“It looks sturdier when it’s covered with snow.” I pointed at the field in front of it. “It’s overgrown now, but people would actually clear it. It would be this snowy landing spot.” I smiled over. “What?”

“Snow’s hard when you go at it from any kind of height.”

“I wasn’t the only one who used this thing. There were other people. I’m not crazy.”

“Did those other people come out here alone?”

“Probably not,” I said.

“That’s not thrill-seeking, Isis. It’s a death wish.”

“Come on, let’s climb it.”

“Are youfucking-gcrazy?”

I turned to him with a mock frown. “You’ll stay down here?”

He cast his eyes up.

“There’s steel supports,” I whispered.

“And I trust that?”

“You can trust it. We’ll go shake it and test it. Come on!” I jutted a toe into the chain link fence and climbed right over like the little trespasser I used to be. I certainly had come a long way in the property crimes department!

I headed on in, happy when I heard the clink of Odin jumping the fence behind me. I went to the base of the structure and pulled out my gloves. “Did you bring yours like I told you?”

With a dark and utterly hot look, he pulled his gloves from his pocket and put them on.

I smiled. We’d had hot experiences with gloves before. But fucking was not what we were here for. We were here for climbing and being away from Hank.

“We’re not going all the way,” I said. “See that platform thingy?” I pointed to a platform roughly two stories up. “There.”

You could see for miles from that perch, but it was about more than the view. It was about perspective. It had always been my power spot, I guess you could say, and I wanted Odin to experience it. I wanted him to be fortified by the possibility and freedom I used to find out here.

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