Beautiful Heist

13. You Say I'm Crazy Like It's A Bad Thing

Thirteen

You Say I'm Crazy Like It's A Bad Thing

Let's just say I most definitely would have a bruise on my backside later.

You would think sliding down glass wouldn't hurt too much, even if it was a good thirty feet of paneling. But when there were metal pieces welding them all together, which were raised a little bit higher than the glass, every bump was felt.

And something I'd forgotten? There was a four foot drop from the glass roof onto the top of the one below, which was around the outer part of the building.

We slid off the edge, landing on the roof with a thud. My breath knocked out of my lungs on the first impact before I started to tumble forward. I reached out to catch myself with my hands, scraping my palms as I came to a quick halt. When the night air hit the open wounds, I gasped before my next exhale came out in a hiss.

I hardly had time to think before John wrapped his arm around my waist, pulling me back against the wall. Turning me around to face him, he moved us so we were crouched low and, hopefully, out of sight of the security guards.

John pressed his finger to his lips, shushing me before he pointed up where the guards were. Their voices echoed down to us.

"Check every place they could be," one yelled. "Comb every inch of this roof."

Light touched the space directly in front of us. We flattened ourselves against the wall, chests barely moving with every breath.

"Are we sure they couldn't have jumped?" another asked.

"A jump like that would do some damage. There's no way they could have gotten far."

"Ropes maybe? They could have..."

"Keep looking for anything they could have used!"

The light swept in front of us again, passing as it started moving to the right.

"We need to move," John whispered, looking at me once the light disappeared around the corner. The voices were getting farther and farther away, but the police sirens were still blaring in the distance. "We're going to have to jump the rest of the way again and then head for the trees. We'll run from there along East Drive and cut through some of the trails before we reach Fifth again."

I nodded, tracing our path in my head.

"I'm going to jump first. Right before I do, I want you to hold on to the ledge and lower yourself over the side. I'll catch you when you fall so you won't land wrong and break something."

"But what about you? You could do the same," I pointed out.

A small smile appeared on his lips. "I've jumped higher distances before. I know how to land properly."

My eyes drifted behind him to the light heading toward us again. I reached forward and pushed him back against the wall as it swept past us, just like he did for me.

"When the light passes back over it..." John started as we both watched it until it hit the wall and started slowly back for us. "We run. We're going to have to be quick again."

"Got it," I said, my eyes still on the light until it was ten, nine, eight feet away from me.

"I'm going over right when we reach the edge and you know what you need to do."

"Yeah."

It was only a foot or two away.

"Okay...go!"