The security guard tramped toward the square concrete building that housed the backup generators adjacent to the citadel. We watched as he unlocked the thick steel door to the building with two different keys, then both men disappeared inside. The two keys were kept on a lanyard, the kind you could put around your neck. About forty minutes later, both men emerged from the generator building.

Victor pulled out the front of his tucked shirt, mussed up his perfect hair, and lurched out from where we had been hiding. By the time the guard had locked the generator building’s door again with both keys, Victor had already stumbled across the deserted street, weaving drunkenly and singing in a high-pitched voice. The guard was chatting to the technician in front of his van when Victor waved, before careening head on into the guard. The guard shoved him off, cursing loudly, and Victor veered away from the men to bounce against a tree, almost slipping to the ground. He cowered there, balled up.

I knew Victor had lifted the keys from the guard’s pocket and was now taking a 3-D scan of both keys. Sweat collected at my hairline, and I wiped my damp palms against my dark jeans. Vic was a pro, but I was still nervous as hell watching this go down. The man drove off in his van, and the guard disappeared back into the citadel. Victor teetered his way in the same direction, then doubled over, making loud retching noises. He put on such a good show, I was almost convinced he had been drinking. When he straightened, I saw that he had discreetly dropped the keys to the ground and proceeded to disappear down another dilapidated side alley. He had said he’d take a circuitous route back to me.

“Make sure the guard comes back out and finds those keys,” Victor had instructed. “If he doesn’t, go out and find them for him if you have to. Otherwise, they might change the locks and we’re screwed.”

Not three minutes later, the same guard came out, head swinging from side to side. Victor had made sure he dropped the keys in the direct path the guard had taken back from the generator building, and sure enough, the guard bent down and picked up the keys from the ground, circling his fingers through the lanyard this time, before heading back into the citadel.

Five minutes after that, Victor returned to my side, his shirt tucked back in, his hair smoothed into place, dapper as ever. “We’re in, kid.”

At least into the generator building. Iris and I still had to climb and break into the actual citadel. But I took Victor’s success as a good omen. I wasn’t the superstitious type, but we needed all the luck that we could get.

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