Victor flattened his left wing on the command building's roof to keep the loose edge of a sheet of metal from lifting in the wind. He'd found a spot where he could see three doors and most of the stairwell window. What he couldn't see was the woman he'd watched go up those stairs. From the time his boots had touched the roof, he'd known exactly how much of his weight it would take to go through it. His wife had asked him to wait, and waiting left a man plenty of time to work out the kinds of things a husband was better off keeping to himself.
Below him two young soldiers came out of a side door carrying a table. The rear man stepped wrong and let his end drop with a hell of a bang. Both of them looked up the stairs first. Only after nobody came out did either look to see if the man who'd dropped it had all his toes. Victor had seen men check for an officer before they checked for blood. It never improved with time.
