Take the ladder.

Jen didn’t take a long time to consider the two options. She felt that any movement was better than no movement, and if there was no other way back down, she would be better off waiting for the two men to leave up there, where a passing car couldn’t see her cowering behind the bushes.

Jen turned back towards the ladder and eased the grating back another foot, ready to stop pushing if it gave the slightest hint that it might start to squeak. Only the light rasp of metal brushing against metal reached her ears, faintly enough that she was certain the two men couldn’t hear anything. She took a quick glance back at them and saw them sitting next to each other, looking out across the parking lot and talking with each other.

Facing the ladder, Jen reached up and grabbed a rung, then placed her foot on a lower one. Then she started to climb, making sure her butt didn’t bump the grate as she moved up.

After climbing several rungs, Jen started to feel pain in her feet. Standing on the rungs barefoot wasn’t comfortable, and the pressure isolated to the center of her soles was starting to ache. Moving further up she started to vary how she set her feet down, sometimes closer to the heel, sometimes at the ball of her foot.

Once she estimated she was halfway up the ladder she paused and looked back. She was about even with the top of the evergreen now. The two men below were still engaged in their conversation, giving no indication they were aware of Jen’s presence.

Focusing again on climbing, Jen continued making her way up the ladder. Part of her kept expecting the ladder to start making noise, to be slightly less stable as she got further up, but thankfully it makes no sound.

Upon reaching the roof, Jen boosted herself up with her hands. She took a moment to stretch her sore feet before looking around. The two men down at the sidewalk still gave no signal that they knew she was up here. She was cloaked in enough darkness that the cars passing by outside of the mall grounds couldn’t possibly tell she was naked, if they could see her at all. And once she stepped away from the side of the building she wouldn’t be visible to anyone on ground level.

Once she was satisfied that no one was aware she was up here she started moving again. A series of air conditioners stood together a distance to her left, and occasional vents, ducts and pipes sprouted from the ground ahead of her. Jen turned right and started heading towards the side of the mall Eve was supposed to meet her at.

Before reaching the end of the building Jen ducked down slightly. She had no idea if anyone might be nearby below and she didn’t want to brazenly walk to the edge and expose herself to anyone who might be looking. Though the odds of anyone looking up here for no reason were low, there wasn’t any benefit to taking the additional risk.

Reaching the edge of the roof, Jen could clearly see Eve’s car ahead and to the left. She leaned over the side and looked down. Immediately below her was a marquee that hung over the mall’s entrance, a steel structure emblazoned with the mall’s name, with a thin sheet of plexiglass across the top to keep rain from getting to the metal. Several bushes sat a few yards to the left, closer to the corner of the building than to the entrance. Jen realized that this was the bushes Eve was expecting her to hide in once she left the service hallway. No one was moving about along the sidewalk or through the parking lot. No cars were running or driving across the blacktop. Given the number of vehicles in the lot, Jen felt it was certain that some of the clerks were still working, the janitorial staff and overnight security crew would be pretty minimal. But with any luck, Jen would be able to find a way down without running into anyone.

Looking around the rooftop for a way down, she saw steel bars curling over the left side of the roof, much like the ladder she had climbed up. Rushing over, she peered over the side and confirmed that it was a ladder heading down, next to another tall, narrow evergreen. From up here she could see the grating firmly in place in front of the ladder. Even if the padlock wasn’t latched properly, she would have no way to pull it out of the hasp. She would have to make a six foot drop to the ground once she reached the grating.

Then her mind returned to the marquee. She knew that could be a dicey option- the plexiglass atop the steel might not hold her weight, so she would have to land right on one of the metal struts to avoid breaking straight through it. But if she lowered herself over the side of the building, it would be a three foot drop to the marquee, and another three foot drop to the ground if she hung down from the marquee. Much safer than one six foot drop.

Returning to the front of the building, Jen looked at the marquee again. The steel cross beam wasn’t very wide, and what’s worse the plexiglass was see-through. If someone happened to come out this door right when Jen dropped, the noise was guaranteed to draw attention, even more so if the plexiglass broke. But the two three foot drops seemed far safer than the six foot fall from the ladder.