Page 13 of The Housebreaker's Assistant
Blessedly, Penny did what he said right away, standing back so that Greer could charge at the door shoulder first.
The door gave way at once, its rusted hinges breaking so the door could be pushed inside the residence. Greer grabbed Penny’s hand again and pulled him through into what looked like a greasy and cluttered kitchen. A woman shrieked in thecorner of the room, but she didn’t attack them or try to stop them as they dashed through into the center of the house.
“We can’t be trapped in here,” Penny warned Greer as they reached the front room.
“I have no intention of being trapped,” Greer replied.
Although that was easier said than done. The curtains at the front of the room had been parted, and through the window, the activity on the street was apparent. What had started as a police raid had turned quickly into some sort of riot. There were more uniformed officers than Greer wanted to count, and all of them seemed to be armed with billy clubs and bad attitudes.
“What are they even doing?” Penny asked, pushing away from the front of the room and dashing for the stairs.
“Demonstrating the might of Her Majesty’s Police,” Greer snapped bitterly as he followed Penny.
He didn’t have to ask what Penny was doing. The only option they had was to somehow make their way to the roof. If the police truly had arrived in Whitechapel intent on stirring the hornet’s nest to swat as many bees as possible, then the only thing they could do was fly.
More of the house’s inhabitants shrieked and screamed as Greer and Penny raced up the stairs to the top floor. Judging by the scattering of half-dressed men stumbling into the hallways to see what was the matter, Greer figured they’d broken into a bawdy house.
It was all the more reason for them to get out as soon as possible by whatever means. The police would likely be as happy to arrest the patrons of the house as anyone. The sorry sods had no idea what was about to happen to them.
“We’ll have to go out a window,” Penny huffed once they’d climbed as high as they could go without finding access to the roof. He glanced back at Greer with a mischievous glint in his eyes. “I hope you’re a good climber.”
“The best,” Greer answered with a cheeky look of his own.
Climbing was a skill that had come in handy on more than one occasion in his illustrious housebreaking career. There was no telling when he would have to either enter or exit a building from a higher floor. He knew exactly how to assess the bricks or stone of a building to know where he might find purchase for his hands or feet. He knew how to grab hold of a roof’s edge and pull himself up.
What surprised him was that Penny seemed to know those things, too.
“Careful on the edge,” Penny panted, his expression focused as they climbed out onto a small balcony at the back of the house that overlooked the mews.
“I see it,” Greer said with a nod, then grabbed hold of the gutter just overhead.
Once he had a firm grip, he pulled himself up. To his surprise, Penny hoisted him up, lacing his hands together so Greer had an anchor. The support meant he was able to climb onto the roof with far more ease than he would have otherwise.
In turn, once he was secure, he was able to reach down and clasp hands with Penny to help haul him onto the roof with him. The whole thing was shockingly easy, compared to what it could have been, and within a minute, they both lay flat against the roof’s tiles, catching their breath.
There wasn’t much time to catch anything. From their vantage point, they could see some of the activity on the street. The police had brought in two large wagons into which they were shoving men and a few women who had been rounded up and secured. More than a few of them looked bloody and beaten.
“We need to move,” Greer said, rolling so that he could scramble the rest of the way up the roof to a bit that was flatter near the top.
Penny nodded and climbed up after him. The bulk of the roofs along that section of the street were flat, which meant they could run, dodging chimneys now and then. The gaps between a few of the buildings were harrowing to jump, but it wasn’t until they reached the end of the row that they reached a gap that was too wide to cross.
“What next?” Penny asked, crowding up behind Greer as they looked down.
Greer studied the street below. One of the police wagons had been parked there, and it was quickly becoming a hub of activity.
He glanced back at Penny, smiling at the man’s reddened, sweaty face and determined eyes. Street trash or not, Penny Frey was a sight to behold. He was comely in the best of times, but their mad flight over the rooftops had him looking as handsome and dashing as anyone Greer had ever known. He didn’t look so young now, which fired Greer’s blood even more.
“Next you say you’ll come to Cornwall with me,” Greer said, grinning despite the intensity of the moment.
Penny barked a laugh. “Not on your life,” he said, though if the flash in his green eyes said anything, it said Penny enjoyed the banter more than his answer let on.
“Why not?” Greer asked, his original frustration at Penny’s refusal melting into a sense of fun as he stepped back from the edge of the roof and looked for another way for them to flee. “It’s the opportunity of a lifetime.”
“How many times must I tell you I can’t leave London before you’ll hear me?” Penny said, a flash of frustration crossing his expression.
Greer frowned slightly, uncertain what that frustration meant. “What hold does this city have on you?” he asked as he started back the way they’d come, keeping to the edge of the roof and looking down, searching for an escape, as much as he could.
Penny laughed, and instead of answering his question, he said, “I should be flattered that you want me so desperately.”
