As before, the Maghook's powerful magnetic charge yanked the upwardly flying hook sideways in midair, and it thunked hard against the metal wall of the vent, and held fast.
9:59:22.
9:59:23.
Schofield whizzed up the shaft again.
This time Book II didn't go with him — Schofield didn't have the time to send the Maghook back down for him. He'd have to do this alone, and besides, he needed the Maghook…
Schofield shot up the shaft on the Maghook's rope, the air vent's close steel walls rushing past him on all four sides. He stopped the hook's reeling mechanism as he came to another crossvent three levels up — but still a hundred feet below the main hangar. He charged into the cross-vent.
9:59:29.
9:59:30.
Came to the aircraft elevator shaft again. The underside of the giant elevator platform loomed closer now, only a hundred feet above him. He could hear the gunshot blasts and catcalls of the prisoners up in the hangar and wondered for the briefest of moments what on earth they were doing up there.
9:59:34.
9:59:35.
And then, by the light of his barrel-mounted flashlight, he saw the mini-elevator whizzing up the concrete wall on the other side of the massive elevator shaft. The small figures of Gant, Juliet, Mother and the President were on it.
9:59:37.
9:59:38.
As the mini-elevator drew level with him, Schofield said, 'Okay! Stop there!'
The mini-elevator jolted to a halt, now diagonally opposite Schofield but separated from him by a sheer concrete chasm two hundred feet wide.
And so they faced each other, from opposite sides of the enormous shaft.
9:59:40.
'Okay, Fox,' Schofield said into his radio. 'I want you to fire your Maghook into the underside of the elevator platform.'
'But it's not long enough to swing across on…'
'I know. But two Maghooks will be,' Schofield said. 'Try and hit the platform about a quarter of the way across. I'll do the same from this side.'
9:59:42.
Schofield fired his Maghook. With a loud, puncturelike whump, the hook flew into the air, flying diagonally up into the shaft.
And then — clunk! — the magnetic head of the hook affixed itself to the underside of the elevator platform.
9:59:43.
Clunk! A similar noise came from the other side of the shaft. Gant had done the same with her Maghook.
9:59:45.
9:59:46.
Schofield held his Maghook with one hand. Then he opened the Football, revealing the countdown timer inside it — 00:00:14…00:00:13 — and held it by its handle, folded open.
'Okay, Fox,' he said into his mike. 'Now give the rope to the President. We've got twelve seconds now, so we'll only get one shot at this.'
'Oh, you have got to be kidding,' Mother's voice said.
On the other side of the shaft, Gant gave the Maghook's launcher to the President of the United States. 'Good luck, sir.'
Now, Schofield and the President stood on opposite sides of the great concrete elevator shaft, holding on to the diagonally stretched ropes of their respective Maghooks, looking like a pair of trapeze artists about to perform their act.
9:59:49.
9:59:50.
'Go!' Schofield said.
And they swung.
Out over the shaft.
Two tiny figures, on two equally tiny threadlike ropes.
Indeed, as the two of them swung in mirroring pendulum like arcs, they did look like trapeze artists — swinging toward each other, aiming to meet in the middle, Schofield holding out the open briefcase, the President reaching forward with his outstretched hand.
9:59:52.
9:59:53.
Schofield reached the base of his arc, started coming up.
In the dim light, he saw the President swooping in toward him, a look of sheer terror plastered across his face. But the chief executive swung well, gripping his rope tightly, reaching forward with his right hand.
9:59:54.
9:59:55.
And they came close, rising in their pendulum motion, reaching the extremities of their arcs…
9:59:56.
9:59:57.
…and, four hundred feet above the base of the elevator shaft, swinging in near total darkness, they came together, and the President pressed his outstretched palm against the analyzer plate in Schofield's hand.
Beep!
The timer on the Football instantly reset itself.
00:00:02 became 90:00:00 and the clock immediately began counting down once more.
As for Schofield and the President, having briefly shared the same space of air four hundred feet above the world, they now parted, swooping back toward their respective starting points.
The President arrived back at the mini-elevator platform, where he was caught by Gant, Mother and Juliet.
On the other side of the elevator shaft, Schofield swung back to his cross-vent.
He landed lightly on the edge of the tunnel, breathing deeply with relief, the stainless-steel Football hanging open in his hand.
They'd done it. At least for another ninety minutes.
Now all he had to do was get himself and Book over to the President. Then they'd be back in business.
Schofield reeled in his Maghook, then turned to head back down the cross-vent to get Book -
Shuck-shuck
Three men were blocking his way — men wearing blue jeans but no shirts. They also brandished pump-action Remingtons and they variously had tattooed chests, bulging biceps, or no front teeth.
'Reach for the sky, pardner,' one of the shotgun-toting prisoners said.
Caesar Russell charged through the low concrete Escape tunnel.
The three remaining men from Alpha Unit ran in front of him. Kurt Logan hurried along behind.
They'd just left Harper and the others in the control room to be captured by the escaped inmates, and were now bolting down the escape-passageway, racing for the point where it met the top door exit.
They rounded a bend, came to a heavy steel door half buried in concrete, keyed the code. The door opened.
The top door's exit tunnel appeared before them, heading right and left.
To the right… freedom, via the exit that opened onto one of the exterior hangars here at Area 7.
