Chapter 29: Unforeseen Variable
Adam made his decision. He would enter the house. The thought settled in his mind with the cold weight of certainty. He remained crouched in the deep shadows behind the crumbling boundary wall a silent predator studying its territory.
The front gate was the most obvious point of entry. It was also the most obvious trap. The people who wanted him dead were thorough. They were not fools. They would expect him to try the main door.
He could almost visualize the mechanism. A pressure plate hidden beneath the welcome mat a thin tripwire across the threshold. Something simple something brutally effective. He dismissed the front gate immediately. It was an invitation to a swift and fiery death.
His gaze shifted to the side of the house. The large garden window that opened into the living room presented another possibility. It was a wide opening a tempting vulnerability in the house’s defenses. That was precisely why it too was a trap.
They would anticipate such a move. He imagined a motion sensor tucked into the corner of the room invisible in the dark. A laser beam so thin it would be impossible to see without specialized equipment.
Breaking that window would be a fool’s errand. It would announce his presence and likely trigger the very explosion he was trying to avoid. His new Investigation skill screamed at him that both conventional entry points were deathtraps designed for an amateur. He was not an amateur anymore.
He needed an unconventional approach. His eyes scanned the exterior of the two-story structure methodically. He traced the lines of the walls the edges of the roof the placement of each window.
Then he saw it. A thick metal drainpipe ran from the roof all the way down to the ground, firmly bolted to the side of the house. It was a vertical path straight to the second floor an entry point no one would expect a normal person to even consider.
A few weeks ago this would have been an impossible climb. He would have lacked the strength the grip the sheer physical power to pull himself up two stories. But things were different now.
He was different. He flexed his fingers feeling the latent power humming in his muscles. He remembered the massive boosts to his stats the strength of the thugs and his teacher now flowing through his own veins. He had become something more than human. The realization brought a small cold smile to his face. The pipe was not an obstacle. It was a solution. It was his way in.
He prepared himself to move. He crouched low his body coiling like a spring. He calculated the distance the initial leap required to grab the pipe. His eyes were fixed on his target. His muscles tensed. He was just a fraction of a second away from launching himself into the darkness towards the cold metal of the pipe.
"Adam!"