Nine

“Moriarty teach you how to climb a rope?” Alex asked.

“I don’t know anything about rock climbing or equipment or knots,” he said, “but I’ve climbed a rope in a gym, if that’s what you mean. Moriarty showed me how to shimmy up one.”

“Good. That’s all you need to know,” Alex said. Following Alex’s instructions, Kit put the coiled rappelling rope around his shoulders. “You’ll need to use it to pull yourself closer to the platform up there,” Alex said. “You climb first. Yell when you’re even with the platform. Go.”

Kit stood on the railing. They heard another chime, another rolling ball, another snap.

“One thing at a time,” Alex said, with a calm he wasn’t feeling.

Kit took the nearer bell rope between his i

Because the other end of the bell rope was tied to the center of a beam, the higher Kit climbed, the farther he moved away from the walls and closer to the center of the tower. He was just about even with the bottom of the platform Spooky watched from. It was darker up here.

“Kit!” Spooky yelled.

“We’ll be out of here soon,” he said, climbing a little higher. “Okay, Alex!” he yelled.

“Toss one end of the rappelling rope to Spooky. Have her wrap it around the rail, then pull yourself closer to her.”

Spooky missed on the first try but caught it on the second.

“Wrap it as many times as you can,” Kit said.

When she had done so, Kit called to Alex again, who helped to control the bell rope as Kit pulled himself along to her and finally climbed onto the platform.

“You made it!” she said.

“You think I would leave you up here? Where’s Chase?”

Chase was already moving out toward him, his face and arms bruised and scraped.

“He’s doing better now,” Spooky said. Kit thought he looked confused. To his amazement, Spooky put an arm around Chase’s waist. Chase put an arm across her shoulders, leaning on her for balance. “Where’s my uncle Alex?”

Kit glanced down as he took the rappelling rope from his shoulders and said, “On his way up.”

But suddenly, Kit heard a loud snapping noise. “Alex!”

Alex had heard it, too-the breaking of hemp. He reached for the second rope and caught hold of it just as the first one gave way. He slid several feet, unable to stop, the friction of the rough rope burning off the skin of his palms. Spooky screamed as he fell, and for terrifying seconds he envisioned becoming a human detonating device on the sandbags below. But he managed at last to wrap his legs around the rope, stopping his descent. Although the rope swung wildly with his sudden weight, he kept his grip on it. He repositioned his legs around it so that he was once again in climbing position, then forced himself to smile up at the group above him, who were looking at him with eyes wide with fear.

He heard another chime.

“I’m fine,” he said, and prayed this rope would hold.

The burn in his raw palms was unrelenting as he gripped the rope, but he forced himself on and reached the level of the platform a second time. Kit had unwrapped the end of the rappelling rope from the rail and now tossed it to Alex. Alex caught it, and Kit worked with him, pulling him to the platform.

When he reached it, Chase held tightly to him. “It’s going to be okay,” Alex said. “We’re all going to be okay. But we’ve got to hurry, all right? You sit next to Spooky, and I’ll make a harness.”

Spooky took Chase in hand and guided him to a place away from the edge. She sat next to him.

Alex leaned out of the narrow window. Meghan was below with the climbing bag. He lowered the rappelling rope, and Meghan tied the climbing bag to it. Alex pulled it up. He took out his harness, stepped into it, and quickly adjusted it to fit over his clothing. He tied a large loop into one end of the rope, making a simple adjustable sling. He attached a carabiner to his harness and an ATC-an “air traffic control” device, a belay brake that would allow him to control the speed of descent.

All the while, Alex was talking to the other three. He told them about leaning back with their knees slightly bent, keeping their legs almost perpendicular to the wall, their feet about shoulder width apart. He showed them how to hold the rope. “Use your feet against the wall, not your hands, and walk down it-don’t bounce.

“I want you down there first to help on the ground,” he said to Kit, knowing that Spooky and Chase would feel more confident if Kit led the way.

Alex placed the loop over Kit’s head and shoulders, feeding Kit’s arms through, so that it wrapped around his back just beneath his armpits. Alex checked to make sure the knot was close to Kit’s chest, so that he wouldn’t slip out. “Spooky and Chase, watch how Kit moves, okay?”

Kit squeezed through the window. Alex braced himself, then rapidly top belayed Kit down.

Meghan was below. “I couldn’t make the calls,” she said, as Kit came closer. “Everett cut the phone line and microphone line for the PA system.”

“We’re beyond that now,” Kit said, reaching the ground and quickly freeing himself of the rope. He signaled to Alex that he was clear of it. He watched as Alex rapidly pulled it back up. “Where’s Gabe?” he asked Meghan.

“Helping a wounded FBI agent.”

Up in the tower, Alex heard another chime. Seven of the nine co

“She’s doing okay,” Chase said. “Kit has her!”

As Kit released Spooky from the rope, he turned to Meghan. “Take her out of here-please, Meghan! Go to the stables-run-get as far away as you can. You should be safe with Gabe.”

“Promise you’ll be right behind us.”

“I promise.”

Spooky opened her mouth to argue with the plan, then shut it and gave him a quick hug as she left with Meghan.

Alex pulled the rope up again.

“As fast as you can, Chase,” Alex said.

“Sure.”

Alex helped him secure the loop of rope beneath his arms, all the while afraid that he was asking too much of him in his present state. “Are you feeling dizzy?”

“No,” Chase said, smiling at him. “I’m fine.”

“Talk to me as you go, all right?”

Chase began the descent without trouble, calling as he went. It seemed he would manage after all. But when Chase was nearly to the base of the tower, Alex felt a change in the rope, and heard Chase’s cry of pain even as the belay device locked under the sudden load. “Chase!”

“He’ll be okay,” Kit called back. “I think he’s hurt his leg, though. Can you keep lowering him? I can almost reach him.”

Alex slowly eased the rope out. He could feel the moment Kit had Chase, and hurried to look below. Kit had lifted Chase into a fireman’s carry. Chase wasn’t small, but Kit seemed to hold him easily.

“His ankle,” Kit called up to him. “I think he’s broken it. He passed out when he tried to put weight on it.”

Another chime sounded below.

“Get him away from here!” Alex shouted. “Go, now!”

Alex heard the eighth ball snap into place.

“I don’t want to leave you behind!” Kit shouted.

“I’ll catch up. Kit-for God’s sake, if anything happens to that boy-better one of us than all three. I’ll make it. Just go!”