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“We’ll make up for it when all this is over. Now, go.”
I had to wait a few minutes for an elevator, which made my walk-up apartment not look so bad. When I stepped out of the elevator in the lobby, I saw a couple of men in dark suits talking to the doorman. The doorman pointed in the general direction of the elevators. I hurried to step back on the elevator before the doors closed all the way and hit the button to take me back to the floor I’d left. I didn’t know if the doorman was telling them about Owen or about me, but I didn’t want to take any chances of walking right into them.
Owen opened the door just before I banged on it. “They’re on their way up,” I said. “The doorman seems to have talked.”
He grabbed my arm. “This way.” As we neared the elevators, he waved his hand, and I felt a surge of magic. I’d thought he was summoning an elevator, but we ran past the elevators and down the hall to the stairs. The sign said “roof access,” and, sure enough, Owen headed up rather than down.
“Please tell me you’ve got a helicopter,” I said as I followed him up the stairs. He was on the phone with someone, but I couldn’t hear what he said over the sound of my panting.
It wasn’t too tall a building by New York standards, only about fifteen stories, and we’d been on the eleventh floor. I was used to climbing stairs, but this was more stairs than I usually managed at one time, especially at a run. We burst out onto the roof, where a biting wind greeted us. I pulled my coat tighter around myself. “Now what?” I asked.
“They should be here soon.”
I was afraid to ask who “they” might be. This wasn’t the ideal weather for a magic carpet ride. But while we waited, it was my one chance to fill Owen in on what had happened at work. I told him about the meeting. “That may be why you’re being watched,” I concluded. “The way to move up is to get MSI, and you’re key to that.”
“It looks like Sylvia was right, then. They are coming after us.”
“See, my mission was worthwhile.”
Sam landed on the roof before Owen could respond. “He’ll be here in a jiffy,” he said. “Need me to scope out the ground below?”
“I’m afraid they’re in the building,” Owen said. He
turned to me. “I’d better go back down and be in that apartment. My spell may have slowed down the elevators, but they should be up soon. I’ll have to act like it’s a surprise for the person in my department who was letting me use her apartment. If you hear any rumors about me dating someone in the company, you’ll know that this is what it was about.”
“Thank her for helping. I hope she enjoys the dinner and flowers. I’m keeping the cake.”
He grinned. “I thought as much. Enjoy it!” He leaned over to kiss me. “Happy Valentine’s Day.” And then he was gone.
I watched him slip through the doorway and back into the building, and when I turned around to face Sam again, I thought about chasing after Owen. The biggest gargoyle I’d ever seen had just landed on the roof. “Katie, meet Fred,” Sam said. “Fred, Katie. Fred’ll get you out of here just fine.”
I gulped as I looked at the stony beast the size of a pony. “How?” I managed to ask.
“Just climb on board,” Fred said in a voice so deep I felt the roof vibrate under my feet.
Tucking the cake box under my left arm, I grabbed the back of Fred’s wing and pulled myself up. It was surprisingly comfortable once I got settled. I suspected that comfort wouldn’t last for long when we hit the air, and I wasn’t wrong. The wind was cold in my face, and it wasn’t long before I could no longer feel my fingers and toes. Fortunately, we weren’t far from my place, and Fred dropped me on the roof. He waved a hand to unlock the door to the stairs for me. “There you go!” he boomed.
“Thanks for the lift,” I said—or tried to say. My teeth chattered too much for the words to make much sense. I slid off his back and barely caught myself when I landed. I staggered to the door and into the blessed warmth of the stairs, which weren’t heated, but which were out of the wind, which made them feel tropical when compared to the rooftop. I was a little more thawed by the time I reached our floor, but I banged on the apartment door rather than trying to work the key.
Marcia opened the door and let me in. “Where have you been, and what happened to you?” she asked.
“Owen attempted to surprise me for Valentine’s Day,” I said. “Things went awry. Hot cocoa, please, and then I can explain more.”
Without arguing, she put a kettle on, and I sank into one of the dining chairs. I opened the cake box to find that the cake had been somewhat smashed, but it was still chocolate, so I was okay with that. I ran a finger along the edge of the box to get the icing that had smeared off. That revived me enough to say, “It was a nice try, but we’ll have to be more careful. He’s being watched. Or I am. Anyway, I had to make a daring escape. And now I need chocolate.”
She set a mug in front of me. “You’ve got to admit, your Valentine’s Day was more exciting than a card and candy.”
“A card and candy can be pretty nice, though.”
*
A couple more weeks into my assignment, Roger called me into his office in the morning. “I need you to come with me,” he said.
“Okay, sure,” I replied. “Where?”
With a smile, he said, “You don’t need to worry about that. I’ll get you there. Once we’re there, I need you to be my eyes and ears. Observe everything.”
He led me to an elevator that took us to that basement lobby, where a limo waited. Once we were inside, I said, “I don’t know if I’m dressed for the weather outside. My coat’s in my changing room.”
