Bollinger watched until they left the shaft.
They had gotten out two platforms down. Because there was only a
service entrance at every second floor, that put them on the
twenty-seventh level.
He got up, hurried toward the elevator.
'Come on,' Graham said. 'Let's make a run for the stairs.
'No. We've got to go back up the shaft.'
Incredulity showed on his face, anguish in hi s eyes. 'That's crazy! '
'He won't be looking for us in the shaft. At least not for a couple of
minutes. We can go up two floors, then use the stairs when he comes
back to check the shaft.'
She opened the red door through which they'd come only seconds ago.
'I don't know if I can do it again,' he said.
'Of course you can.'
'You said up the shaft?'
'That's right.'
'We have to go down to escape.'
She shook her head; her hair formed a brief dark halo. 'You remember
what I said about the night guards?
'.'They might be dead.'
'If Bollinger killed them so he could have a free hand with us, wouldn't
he also have sealed off the building?
What if we get to the lobby, with Bollinger hot on our heels, and we
find the doors are locked? Before we could break the glass and get
out, he'd have killed us.'
lee 'But the guards might not be dead. He might have gotten past them
somehow.'
'Can we take that chance?'
He frowned. 'I guess not.'
'I don't want to get to the lobby until we're certain of having a long
lead on Bollinger.'
'So we go up. How's that better?'
'We can't play cat and mouse with him for twenty-seven floors. The next
time he catches us in the shaft or on the stairs, he won't make any
mistakes. But if he doesn't realize we're going up, we might be able to
alternate between the shaft and the stairs for thirteen floors, long
enough to get to your office.'
'Why there?'
'Because he won't expect us to backtrack.'
Graham's blue eyes were not as wide with fear as they had been; they had
narrowed with calculation. In spite of himself, the will to survive was
flowering in him; the first signs of the old Graham Harris were becoming
visible, pushing through his shell of fear.
He said, 'Eventually, he'll realize what we've done. It'll buy us only
fifteen minutes or so.'
'Time to think of another way out,' she said. 'Come on, Graham.
We're wasting too much time. He'll be on this floor any second now.'
Less reluctantly than the first time, but still without enthusiasm, he
followed her into the elevator shaft.
On the platform he said, 'You go first. I'll bring up the rear, so I
