Though the scaffolding and construction work above the car park had nothing to do with the State House proper, it had provided just enough of a weak spot for them to gain the advantage. Where the scaffolding met Bowdoin Street, Nick had counted a handful of security barricades and one more police cruiser. But walking by, Nick had realized that it would be a straight shot up to the rear roof of the complex, and then an easy sprint over the various ledges and balconies to the main building.

The hardest part had been timing the first part of their ascent to when the closest trooper had turned the corner on Bowdoin during his walking patrol of the parking area. Once he and Hailey had gotten to the second story of the rear building, they were beyond anyone from the street’s field of vision. Minus the shoulder, it wasn’t even one of the more difficult illicit entries Nick had attempted; the bank gig that had landed him in Shirley had been infinitely more complicated and had included a roof hop as well as some intricate alarm rewiring. Sure, that job had ended with Nick locked up in a prison cell, but that had been the result of bad luck—not bad planning.

Hailey now safely behind him, he clambered to the top of the slanted roof, and started working his way toward the front of the main building. It was still just dark enough out that he didn’t feel the need to crawl, but he did keep himself as low as possible without touching his knees to the tiles. When he glanced back over his bad shoulder, he could see that Hailey was following his lead, crouching down beneath her backpack. She was breathing hard at the effort, but to Nick’s surprise, he realized that she didn’t look scared, or even anxious. She looked thrilled.

She noticed his attention and gave him a little smile.

“You thought I wouldn’t like this? Look where we are.”

Nick cast a glance to his right, down the sloped tiles to the ledge of the section of roof they were crossing. They had just turned the corner from the rear of the building to its facade, and now the Boston Common was spread out in front of them, glades of grass interrupted by the dark shapes of trees of various shapes and sizes, from huge, mature elms to more spindly beech and birch, even a redwood, all of it stitched together by the paved paths that crisscrossed the park from one end to the other.