Rooftops and stairs gave way to the street, then a park. Shay pulled ahead of a few members, but she couldn’t close on Aaron and Lana.
Aaron rushed into an empty playground. He leapt into the air and grabbed the top bar of a swing set, only releasing when he had a perfect 45-degree angle. He sailed over a fence with ease. Lana repeated the move, then everyone else.
Shay fell into the rear again, but she executed the fence jump, missing the top by mere inches. She let out a laugh.
I could have hurt myself there, but I just don’t give a damn.
The group pounded down a sidewalk, rushing past a frowning businessman chattering on his phone. Shay resisted the urge to comment.
Aaron led the swift procession into a path between two buildings. Not an alley, really, since it was barely large enough for a motorcycle to fit through. He launched himself from the top of a metal FedEx box toward the wall, then alternated pushing off from the walls on either side until he arrived at a balcony. He grabbed the balcony and launched himself into the street.
Several seconds passed until Shay’s brain recognized the danger, but Aaron didn’t plummet to his death. Instead, he caught the edge of another balcony and used his new handhold to swing to yet another.
These look like apartments. Would probably annoy someone if they noticed. So much for my theory that these guys would avoid routes that might attract attention. Still don’t give a damn, though.
They dropped from balcony to balcony until they reached the ground again, and broke into a sprint. Miles now separated the group from their starting point.
The group avoided vaulting anyone’s cars. Shay could appreciate their desire to avoid property damage, since that was far more likely to attract police attention than being on someone’s balcony for a second. The next minutes blurred together, her body and concentration pushed to the limit.
A vault, roll, and abrupt stop by Aaron in a parking lot caught her by surprise. She stumbled but didn’t fall.
Shay bent over, taking several deep breaths. It’d been a long time since she’d been so challenged. Even the asshole cat burglar’s little escape game hadn’t pushed her as hard as Free-to-Move.
The others exchanged high-fives.
Lana walked over to Shay, sweat coating her face. “Not bad, newbie.”
“Thanks.” Shay just breathed for a moment. A deep intake of air helped, and she wiped her face. “That was damned hard.”
“You impressed me. We get a lot of wannabes, and like I said, we don’t judge, but I feel bad because almost no one can complete an entire course the first time.”
Shay shrugged. “I might not have done much parkour, but I exercise a lot, and I’ve got my own obstacle course I train on. At least the muscle strength carries over.”
Aaron stepped over to the women. “Congrats. You’ll have to run another course with us at our next meeting. We have to get you past the beginner course.”
“Beginner course? Fuck me!” Shay laughed. “Not that I won’t try.”
Aaron and Lana both clapped her on the shoulder.
The ache in Shay’s body didn’t bother her. It was a badge of accomplishment and told her where she needed to direct her physical training. The obstacle course and the boxing gym were useful, but she still had holes in her training—and unlike James, she couldn’t depend on an alien amulet or alien strength.
Plus, I still need to show up that asshole from the other night. Huh. Maybe they’ve heard of him.
Shay cleared her throat. “Hey, when I was looking some stuff up on local parkour groups, I saw some shit on a forum about a cat burglar who uses parkour. Do you think that’s real, or is it just some sort of urban legend?”
Aaron and Lana’s smiles vanished, and for the first time that morning they tensed.
Yeah, looks like they know him, all right.
Lana looked at Aaron.
He gave her a slow nod. “I’ll catch up with you. I’m going to go get our table.”
Shay spotted the yellow sign declaring they were at the Great Sandwich Hut.
“Don’t worry about it.” Aaron nodded toward Lana. “She’ll answer your questions.”
Shay blinked as the other members of Free-to-Move made their way into the restaurant.
She frowned. “What’s the big deal? Why is everyone so spooked?”
“Marcus,” Lana declared.
“Huh?”
“That’s his name. The cat burglar. Marcus.” She averted her eyes. “We knew him. He used to run with us.”
“Shit. Seriously?”
“Yeah. Gifted. One of the best ever. He makes even a young David Belle look slow and clumsy when he’s really trying.”
Really trying? Was that fucker just toying with me the other night, then? Asshole.
Shay nodded. “What happened?”
“Nobody knows. Marcus was always an easy-going guy. A while back, he started talking about a string of robberies in unusual places, high apartments that had been broken into and buildings that had been entered from the roof. He was talking about how weird that was. Some people even said there might be magic involved.”
“I remember reading about that.”
“We thought he was just obsessed with it until at one point he admitted it was him. He talked about how rich we could become using our skills. He gave a big speech about how the people he robbed deserved it.”
“Fuck. What happened? What did you do?”
Lana shrugged. “What could we do? We called the cops, but they could never find him. He’s still in LA, but he’s running with a very rough crowd. You shouldn’t even try to go looking for him. He’s dangerous.”
Shay resisted a snort.
I doubt he’s more dangerous to me. He might have gotten away, but if I’d wanted to kill him, I could have.
“Thanks for letting me know. I’ll keep that in mind.”
Lana managed a smile. “No problem.” She nodded toward the restaurant. “Let’s go get some breakfast.”
Shay’s phone buzzed, and she pulled it
