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Twenty-Eight
They parkedthe Rover at the dark side of the Drew construction site and loaded up with all their gear. Max’s head was clear as they donned ski masks and started toward the unfinishedtower.
He’d spent the first ten minutes of the drive into the city thinking about Abby before he’d forced himself to leave her behind. It was new to him, going into battle with something to lose. In Afghanistan he’d been known as dangerous, even reckless. He’d taken no pride in the reputation, knowing it was a result of his utter solitude, his lack of parents and siblings, no woman waiting for him, no one who cared if he lived or died except Abby, his best friend, who would surely be just fine — especially with Jason Draper to look after her — whatever happened tohim.
He remembered his brothers-in-arms, their talk of compartmentalizing when they went into battle, of not allowing themselves to think of their wives and kids back home, of struggling to readjust to intimacy when they came back from atour.
Max had no concerns about that part. He wanted nothing more than to live out his life in peace with Abby, would happily spill his guts to her every night of the week in exchange for the privilege of growing old withher.
It was making it through tonight that was thechallenge.
“It’s quiet,” Carlos commented as they made their way through the abandoned constructionsite.
“And creepy as hell,” Farrellmuttered.
“Speaking of creepy,” Max said, “this mask itches like a son of abitch.”
Someone chuckled, but Max couldn’t tell who it was behind the mask’s tightly-knittedfabric.
They’d timed their path through the site according to recon Locke had done on the patrol schedule of the two guards, and they silently picked their way through the abandoned equipment and materials by the residual glow of theStrip.
Locke kept an eye on the clock along the way, making sure they didn’t stumble onto the guard’s routes or fall behind enough that the guards stumbled ontheirs.
Fifteen minutes after leaving the car, they entered the ground floor of the unfinishedskyscraper.
The ceilings were open, the towering structure rising far above their heads. Its beams were visible when Max looked up, but the bones disappeared into the dark somewhere above the second floor. They were cocooned in the eerie isolation of the abandoned structure, the sounds of the city muffled beyond its half completedwalls.
“Construction elevator’s back here,” Locke saidquietly.
His obvious excitement while they’d staged had done nothing for Max’s confidence in him, but now that they were here, Locke’s demeanor was serious. There was an attentiveness behind his eyes that made it clear he saw everything, catalogued everything. It was obvious that while he’d had fun setting the whole thing up, and no doubt would still get off on the danger of it all, he understood what was at stake now that the mission was inmotion.
They came to the construction elevator, a surprisingly small cage attached to iron scaffolding that stretched upward as far as Max’s eyes could see. It had been bright orange once, but the paint was peeling now, revealing patches of rustedmetal.
“Looks too small for all of us,” Farrellsaid.
Locke stepped into the cage. “It’snot.”
“If you say so.” Farrell followed him with Nico, Max and Carlos on hisheels.
Locke shut the door. “Here wego.”
He pressed a button inside the cage and the contraption shuddered to life with an ear-shatteringclang.
“Bloody hell,” Farrell said as they creaked upward. “We’re going to be made by the rent-a-cops before we get to the secondfloor.”
Locke grinned. “It sounds louder than it is, and this place is twenty-five acres. Trust me, this isn’t going to make a dent in the sound of theStrip.”
As they climbed higher, the city came into view beyond the metal safety bars of the construction elevator. It was a world so far beyond the one Max now occupied that they might as well have been looking at Earth from themoon.
Down there, people were walking the Strip, watching the fountain show outside the Bellagio, getting drunk and sampling the city’s casinos and strip clubs. Max wondered if he would ever be one of them again, then decided hewouldn’t.
Too much hadhappened.
The city grew smaller beneath them, the air colder as they climbed upward. Max was beginning to think the ride would never end when it clanged to a halt at the top of thetower.
Locke opened the cage door and they stepped out onto theroof.
“Follow my footsteps,” Locke instructed. “Foundation’s mostly in place but no sense takingchances.”
