“Suit yourself,” he said shortly. He and Thelma were lying together, and he suddenly put his arm around her and pulled her closer.
They would either make it or they wouldn’t, and, if they didn’t he wanted to feel her body against his one last time.
“Listen,” Thelma whispered. The cables overhead were singing in the wind. Suddenly one fell past the cage. The elevator sank an inch and Leroux tightened his hold on his wife. A second cable lashed past the cage and disappeared into the night.
“The next one will be the last one they’ll cut,” he said quietly to Thelma. “Let’s pray their splice is good.”
The last cable parted and the cage dropped for half a foot.
Somewhere in the mass of bodies on the floor a woman choked off a half-scream.
The car swayed alarmingly for a moment and then began to inch up the side of the building. There was a frightening scraping and banging sound and Leroux felt his own heart start to beat uncontrollably. It wouldn’t be long now, he thought. They were almost there. What incredible irony if in the last moment … No, he mustn’t think of that.
They were abreast of the utility floor now and he could see the smoky red of the flames. Then they started to swing out from the building until they seemed to be floating over the city below, wrapped in pounding snow and driving wind. The cage -swung loose in the wind and then a particularly strong gust swung it far enough away from the building so there was a perceptible tip to the floor.
It occurred to Leroux then what was going to happen and he screamed, “Get down, get down!” They had begun to swing back now and they ere still in line with the building. There was an abrupt jolt and a shattering sound and almost immediately afterward a scream that quickly faded away into the distance. A voice shouted, “I’m cut!”
and a sudden gust of cold air told Leroux what had happened. They had hit the building on the side again and the one glass wall had shattered; the heavy-set man who had braced himself against it had nothing to hold onto and had fallen out.
Leroux closed his eyes and whispered to himself, “Oh, my-God.”
Then the cage had stabilized. He could feel it still ascending as the helicopter continued to lift it, then the slight g as the cage was positioned over the roof and finally he could sense it slowly dropping.
He was tired -too damn tired to even watch.
A moment later the cage touched down heavily on the roof. Leroux tumbled forward with the impact, his head hitting the cage wall and momentarily stunning him. Then everything was silent except for the whistling of the wind.
They were safe, he thought. Safe.
There were the sounds of men outside now, gently pulling the remnants of broken glass out of the one side wall. Then people were struggling to their feet and helping hands were pulling them out of the cage.
Thelma said, “We’re safe, Wyn,” and suddenly she began to cry.
He wrapped his arms around her for a moment and then they -were stepping through the shattered side wall.
His mind was already on other things.
They were all safe, he thought. All but himself. On the ground below would be the reporters and the fire inspectors and probably a team flown in from Washington.
All safe, he thought again.
Except for himself.
CHAPTER 69
Barton was still struggling into his aluminized proximity suit when the evacuation U.H-1 settled down on the plaza to discharge its passengers. Infantino was already into his suit and impatient for Barton to finish.
“Any more information from the Sikorsky?” Barton asked.
“Just that Burleigh is working at the linkup. By the time we get up there, maybe they’ll have beat us with the elevator. One thing for sure; we can’t blow these charges with people on the roof. Here, let me help you with your respirator.” He stepped behind Barton and adjusted the straps.
“Did you get your men out of the stairwells?”
“The upper floors have been cleared-I don’t think we need to worry about the lower ones.”
“What about the streets below?”
“The police have been given their orders.” He frowned.
“I shouldn’t be letting you go on this one.”
“You have somebody else who knows how to handle explosives-and who knows the building?”
The copilot of the waiting U.H-1 ran up. “Okay, they’re all off but the elevator passengers. You men ready?”
Barton nodded. He recognized the copilot from his weekend reserve work when he had been with the squadron but couldn’t remember his name.
He’d won thirty dollars from him in a poker game one night-that he recalled. But the name was a blank. He gathered up the heavy canvas satchel containing the explosive charges connected by the primacord.
Infantino finished the adjustments on, his own respirator, then picked up the other satchel. Once they were on the Observation Deck, they would have to connect the two explosive arrays together.
They walked clumsily across the plaza toward the waiting U.H-1, its blades cutting cleanly through the snow-thickened air. The copilot helped Infantino and Barton climb inside and then belted into his own seat.
The pilot glanced back briefly at Barton and said, “All comfy, Captain? Here we go.” Barton nodded and the pilot felt for the four antitorque pedals with his feet. Then he checked the position of the collective, a two-foot stick centered in its left-hand panel, and the cyclic stick above him. He nodded at the copilot who was now on radio, and moved the collective. The ‘copter rose and hovered for a second, slowly turning as he corrected the torque.
Then they were airborne, rising quickly into. the black night.
“I can’t set it down too close the the restaurant,” the pilot yelled at them. “They’re loading another U.H-1 up there and that Sikorsky is still overhead-its downdraft would rip us apart.”
“Try the penthouse,” Barton shouted back. “There’re some gardens separating it from the Promenade Room you won’t be able to set down there. You’ll have to use its roof.” He turned to Infantino and said in a musing voice, “That was going to have been the best address in the city. Got any idea what that penthouse would have rented for?”
Infantino didn’t look impressed. “Right now it’s only good for one thing and after that, it won’t be good for much of anything.”
“We’re coming in!” the pilot yelled. The ‘copter slipped sideways toward the glistening rooftop, sailing over a loading U.H-1, and then settling down on the,small snow-covered roof of the penthouse.
Infantino and Barton unbelted and Barton tugged open the door.
They got out quickly and Barton glanced back at The Promenade Room roof in time to see the Sikorsky swing the elevator cage in and slowly lower it toward the roof. Two figures ran over to it and pried the doors open.
People straggled out to clamber on the waiting U.H-1; several of them had to be carried.
Even at a distance he could recognize Leroux. The commanding figure and the white hair, caught for a moment in the spotlights from the rescue craft, were unmistakable. Barton’s heart suddenly leaped with relief.
Behind Leroux was Jenny, and she was looking over at them.
Probably wondering who they were and what they were up to. There was no chance that she would recognize him, dressed as he was in the mirror-bright proximity suit. He started to wave but she and Leroux had already disappeared into the waiting rescue ‘copter. Another U.H-1 was hovering alongside the building to take off the last of the passengers..
Infantino was busy pulling. the satchels out of their own ‘copter.
The last item he took out was an electric lantern, which he flicked on.
“Got everything?” he asked.
“Everything,” Barton said. He reached to put on his respirator, then paused a moment. “Be sure the
