To Catch His Mate

Chapter 1-2

On the street below, I checked the outside of the building. The ascent would be challenging for even the most experienced free climber. Each successive floor had three balconies, one for each apartment facing the street. The same was true for the other side of the building—a mirror image.

As the floors neared the top, the more expensive residences were evidenced by larger balconies, the units going from three in number per floor to two, until the last two floors where there were was only one apartment suite per floor on either side of the building. Mrs. Rutlidge’s suite was one of them, of course.

I smiled blithely to myself. Heights had never made me feel uneasy. In fact, it came naturally to me, something my beast—and human—did without fear. I remembered giving Uncle Ben near heart attacks all the time because I was constantly climbing the tallest tree I could find as a kid, happily springing from limb to limb when in human form, and as the beast. Sleeping high up on a branch in the middle of the woods was one of my favorite things to do.

After high school, I’d interned at the Atlanta branch of Tree Climbers International until I was hired part-time, working my way through college as an instructor. They’d called me “Spider-Man.” I remembered going mountain climbing my freshman year with a friend, and became hooked forever. In a very short time I became an expert climber. In fact, it was a job I would gladly do for a living, if I ever tired of the insurance business.

I had anticipated the need to scale buildings after having read the report of the first heist when my burglar had come on the scene. Not all the heists were in high-rises, but a lot of them were. It wasn’t that I had to do it. I loved free climbing. And it gave me an idea of the skill level of my opponent. I wanted to get to know him better.

I waited in the car I’d parked in a nearby alley until after midnight. The place was deserted at this time of night, and most people were asleep. I got out and removed my suit jacket, short-sleeved shirt, and jeans. I had a skintight sleeveless suit underneath, which was a little itchy, not to mention hot. I replaced my loafers with Vibrams and headed for the alley beside the building where the trash compactor I’d discovered earlier was located. Since it was late, most of the lights in the apartments above me were off, or there was a flicker of a TV screen.

It took me half an hour to free climb up to Mrs. Rutlidge’s floor. I was sweating in the humid air, but felt more alive than I had in months. I swore to myself that I would never go so long without getting in some climbing again. My inner beast was appeased, a little.

I sat on Mrs. Rutlidge’s deck chair to enjoy the view of the skyline and collect myself. Her snores were loud, as she had passed out on the love seat where I’d previously left her. It could be done, scaling the building to get into this place, but very few people in the world had such skills—even veteran climbers would balk at such an attempt.

This guy was really good. Plus, he’d carried his haul back down with him. There wasn’t even rope fiber to be found, and the police hadn’t lifted any fingerprints.

I pondered what I knew. All the break-ins had been committed against the wealthiest clients of my employer, Englemann Insurance Group. All sites had been broken into regardless of how inaccessible the venue had appeared from the outside. Every victim had a safe, but none of them had been forced open. I tapped my fingers on the chair. I was missing something and it was right in front of me.

No safe had been forced open. I mentally reviewed what I knew about each case, flipping through similarities until it finally hit me…All the safes were the made by the same company!

So then, the next question should be “why was someone targeting Englemann policyholders who used a certain type of safe for their valuables?” Was this an attempt to discredit the safe company, or Englemann? Was it both? An inside job? If someone were hacking into Englemann’s computer system, with the safe criteria in mind…To date, I could find no evidence of a mole operating within the insurance company. I’d have to look at that angle again, and also check into this new theory about the safes.

Time to go back down the building and return to my hotel for a nap before my flight home. I free climbed down to the compactor. My hands firmly gripped each balcony as I made my descent, the light breeze ruffling my hair as I lowered myself to the ground. I needed answers, and soon.

I had to step up my game.