Rotting to the Core (Keep Your Crowbar Handy Book 2) Read Online Free PDF

all the
time in Columbus.” Kat began quietly rooting through her EDC Bag.
“Never caught. Not once. Nobody even came close. I should've been
an international jewel thief or something. Remember that old
Hitchcock film To Catch A Thief with Cary Grant and Grace
Kelly? Oh my god, the white dress she wore in that movie was
so—”
    “Will you focus for a minute?” Jake was
sweating.
    “Fine! Jeez. Like I can't multitask...” Kat
pulled the hundred-foot coil of climbing rope from her small bag.
“You have those lengths of duct tape ready?”
    “Right there.” Jake motioned at the four
black strips beside her knees. Little known fact, prior to the
zombie apocalypse? Duct tape actually did come in black, not just
silver. “What are you going to use them for?”
    Kat smiled and reached into the top of her
left boot. She produced two, six-inch, slightly C-shaped metal
rods, then pulled another straight, eight-inch bar with a one-inch
diameter eye loop from her right boot. As Jake watched, she removed
a bolt from one end of the longer bar, slid the two curved rods
over its top perpendicular to one another, screwed the bolt back in
securely, and threaded one end of her climbing rope through its
eye. O'Connor knelt open mouthed, stunned past the capacity for
speech at the sight of what was now a small grappling hook in her
hand, as she began carefully wrapping the non-reflective duct tape
around the tool's arms.
    After securing the last strip, Kat weighed
the hook in her hand for a moment. “Why are you looking at me like
I just grew a second head?” she asked quietly.
    “What in-?!” Jake hissed. “How long have you
been carrying that thing??”
    “Oh, since we met the Barbie Duo.” Kat loved
calling Gwen and Donna by the moniker Elle had saddled them with in
jest during their party's return trip to Rae's junkyard cache prior
to its destruction. “The pieces fit inside the tops of my boots
perfectly and don't shift around at all. Besides, it was either
there, or try to squeeze them into my pants somewhere. And then I'd
get to hear a bunch of 'Is that a grappling hook in your pocket?'
jokes. Especially from George.”
    “You're just full of surprises, aren't
you?”
    A broad smile, bright enough for Jake to see
even in the darkness, blossomed on Kat's face. “Oh my, yes. Really.
You have no idea. Especially on Tuesdays.”
    “Never mind, I don't want to know.” Jake
shook his head and quickly changed the subject. “Are you sure you
can get the hook over?”
    The pretty ninja-girl looked offended.
“Please. I've been doing this since I was ten.”
    Kat stood, spun the hook above her head a few
times to bring it up to speed, and let fly with a smooth cast. Her
grapple arced out, trailing the slim climbing rope she'd attached
as it disappeared into the gloom, and Jake's eyes lost sight of it
in the darkness.
    “It's good.” Looking satisfied, Cho began
taking up the slack and gave the line several forceful tugs before
tying it off to one of the Old Hall's chimneys. Using a tape knot
to secure the line, Kat undid a pair of nylon straps she wore
around her left thigh and with a small carabineer, combined them
into a brief climbing rig. She donned the harness and knelt to
murmur quietly as she insured her weapons were secure.
    “Okay. We're going to do this a little bit
differently than most recommend, seeing as how we only have the one
harness.” Kat produced another carabineer from somewhere. “Attach
your tac-vest to my back. That way, you can use your arms to hold
on for extra support as we zip-line over.”
    Jake looked uncomfortable. “Are you sure this
will work? What if our weight gets us stuck in the middle
somewhere?”
    “That's why I went for the two story building
across the street and not the one next to us. From the roof here
we're basically five floors up. With our line taunt, the downward
angle should provide us with enough momentum to cross the gap.” Kat
pressed a metal loop into his palm.