“You have to go to the rear of the house. If you climb the wall there, you’ll drop not far from Newton Street. Go to the western wall. There’s a drainpipe alongside the wall. Only one guard is currently there.”
I knelt by the rope. It was taut and quivering violently. Someone was climbing it. Leaning over the edge, I could spot the burly shape of a man, pulling himself up clumsily. I tried to untie the rope, but the weight of the man climbing it made it impossible. I unfurled my hand, and it burst into flames. I gripped the rope and it caught fire immediately, breaking, snapping and peeling my skin as it slid across my palm. It flew over the edge of the roof, its tip still burning. I heard shouting from the men below, and a loud crashing noise as whoever had climbed the rope fell to the ground.
“I have eyes on four men running up your way inside the mansion. They’ll be on the roof in a few seconds,” Harutaka said. “Get to the drainpipe, now!”
I ran, Kane by my side, jumping over a small chimney, and again over a discarded bucket, then whipping my head down to avoid a stretched wire.
“I’m about to kill the lights in the entire mansion,” Harutaka said. “It’ll buy you a few seconds until they figure out what’s going on. But after that, they’ll reset the system, and I’ll be kicked out.”
“Don’t do it yet,” I said, my voice shuddery as I leaped over a small platform. “I want your eyes. Sinead, what about the car?”
“I’m almost at Newton Street, but it’s a long street,” Sinead said. “Where should I go?”
“Stop fifty yards after the turn to Doublet Hill Road,” Harutaka answered. “I’ll guide Lou and Kane there.”
“On it,” Sinead answered.
We reached the edge of the roof, and I peered over. A long stretch of dark lawn stood between the mansion and the western wall; I estimated it to be about twenty or thirty yards. Behind the walls, I saw the shadowy outlines of the trees that surrounded the mansion. Newton Street was just beyond the trees, but I couldn’t see it in the dark. Looking down, I spotted the drainpipe Harutaka had mentioned, running along the wall.
“The guards are in the greenhouse. I’m killing the lights,” Harutaka said. “Lou, your hand!”
Damn! It was still burning. If Harutaka killed the lights now, I would be the only thing visible on the roof. Silhouettes of men moved urgently inside the greenhouse. I clenched my fist, breathing deeply, thinking of Tammi’s chiming laughter. The fire died.
“Do it!” I barked.
Almost instantly, we were drowned in darkness. I heard multiple shouts as men scrambled to figure out what was going on.
I grabbed Kane’s arm. “The pipe is here,” I said in a low voice. “Go.”
“You first.”
“Don’t go gallant on me, you idiot. If you fall, I don’t want you taking me with you.”
He hesitated, then crouched, following my guidance. He grabbed the drainpipe and began sliding down.
I heard the greenhouse door opening, the guards pouring onto the roof, shouting blindly, searching for us. I counted seconds, giving Kane time to reach the ground. One… two… three.
Then I vaulted over the wall and slid down.
It turned out I had overestimated Kane’s ability to go down quickly. I hit his body as he was climbing down, about one floor aboveground. He tumbled down with a shout, and I jumped after him, landing on the soft grass.
“Are you okay?” I asked in a low voice.
“I think so,” he groaned.
“Sinead, how are we doing with the getaway car?”
“On my way!” she shouted, the engine of the car roaring in the background. “Just one minute!”
“I doubt we have that long,” Harutaka said. “A guard is on his way to the server room. He’ll reset the system.”
I helped Kane stand up. “Come on.”
We ran to the wall, Kane limping.
“They just reset the system,” Harutaka informed us. “I don’t have eyes on you anymore. The lights will probably turn on in about… twenty seconds. And the security cameras.”
A car screeched somewhere beyond the wall.
“Give me a lift,” I said to Kane.
He hesitated for a moment, then interlaced his fingers to create a human ladder. I put my leg in it, and he gave me a boost up. I scrambled, my fingers feeling the edge of the wall, then pulled myself up. I vaulted over the iron poles at the top, landing on the other side, in the midst of bushes and trees. I could spot the dark shape of the road through the thick foliage.
I bolted to it, stumbling over a gnarled root, crashing into a tree trunk, careening to the road. The car was about dozen yards away, its lights bright. I waved at it, and its tires screeched as it drove over to me. Sinead and Isabel leaped out of the car.
“Rope!” I shouted.
Sinead popped the trunk, took out a coil of rope, threw it over to me. I ran back through the trees, breathing heavily. Heaving, I slung the rope over the wall, and it tightened as Kane gripped it and began climbing.
Lights flooded the mansion again. Sinead and Isabel were by my side, helping me pull the rope. Kane’s face appeared over the wall, and he struggled to climb up. From behind, I heard people shouting.
He leaped over the wall, and his shirt snagged one of the iron spikes. There was a loud tearing sound, and he collapsed to the ground. Isabel and I grabbed him, hauling him to the car. Sinead held the door as Isabel and Kane crawled inside, then she slammed it behind them.
I opened the front passenger door just as Sinead slid behind the steering wheel.
“Buckle up!” she barked at me, and slammed her foot on the gas pedal.
With a lurch, our car hurtled into the night.
Chapter Thirty-One
For a while, none of us said anything. My heart hammered, my hearing still too sharp for comfort. The roads of Boston were mostly empty, traffic low this time of night. Twice, police cars with screaming sirens shot past us, probably on their way to the mansion of Ddraig Goch. Had the dragon found his unconscious security chief yet? Had they located the remnants of the burnt rope, tied on the roof? Had they checked the security feed from the evening, looking for us, only to find it had been deleted in its entirety?
I kept going over the evening in my mind. Did we leave anything behind that would lead them to us? No fingerprints, no security feed, no names. Despite the evening’s mishaps, we’d handled ourselves well.
We had broken into a dragon’s vault, stolen the contents of his safe, and gotten away with it.
I let out a small giggle, the sudden feeling of euphoria blooming in me. Then the giggle morphed into a rolling wave of laughter. Sinead joined me, and we both laughed helplessly, tears clouding my eyes. Just as I was about to calm down, I glanced into the rearview mirror and saw Kane’s face as he gaped at us, aghast, which made me collapse into a new fit of laughter.
“Stop,” Sinead begged amid bursts of laughter. “I’m going to pee myself.”
“I also have to pee,” Isabel said. “I drank a whole thermos of tea.”
This made us start laughing all over again.
Sinead slowed down as we approached a gas station.
“What are you doing?” Kane asked, incredulous.