Terribly, terribly wrong.
Will Bollinger talk if he's caught? Billy wondered uneasily.
Will he implicate me?
He would have to go to work without knowing how badly Dwight had failed,
without knowing whether or not Bollinger would be-had been?-apprehended
by the police. He was going to find it difficult to concentrate on his
job tonight; but if he was going to construct an alibi to counter a
possible confession from Dwight, it would help his case if he was calm
tonight, as much like himself as he could be, as thorough and diligent
as those who knew him expected him to be.
Franklin Dwight Bollinger was getting restless. He was bathed in a
thin, oily sweat. His fingers ached from the tight grip he had kept on
the Walther PPK. He'd been watching the stairwell exits for more than
twenty minutes, but there was no sign of Harris or the woman.
Billy was gone by now, the schedule destroyed. Bol linger hoped he
might salvage the plan. But at the same time he knew that wasn't
possible. The situation had degenerated to this: slaughter them and get
the hell out.
Where is Harris? he wondered. Has he sensed that I'm waiting here for
him? Has he used his carnival act, his goddamned clairvoyance to
anticipate me?
He decided to wait five minutes more. Then he would be forced to go
after them.
Staring out of the office window at an eerie panorama of gigantic,
snow-swept buildings and fuzzy lights, Graham said, 'It's impossible.'
Beside him, Connie put one hand on his arm. 'Why is it impossible?'
'It just is.'
'That's not good enough.'
'I can't climb it.'
'It's not a climb.'
'What?'
'It's a descent.'
'Doesn't matter.'
'Can it be done?'
'Not by me.'
'You climbed the ladder in the shaft.'
'That's different.'
'How?'
'Besides, you've never climbed.'
'You can teach me.'
'No.'
'Sure you can.'
'You can't learn on the sheer face of a forty-story building in the
middle of a blizzard.'
'I'd have a damned good teacher,' she said.
'Oh, yeah. One who hasn't climbed in five years.'
'You still know how. You haven't forgotten.'
'I'm out of shape.'
'You're a strong man.' -'You forget my leg.'
