Vespers

After several long, long seconds, the giant bat finally moved. It looked down, though Gentry wondered it if was even aware of them. Slowly, it rose on violently trembling legs and opened its wings as though it wanted to fly. It lifted its head and looked up-at its nest? Gentry wondered.

Its wings opened wider, to their fullest extent. The left wing rose and touched the copper skin of the statue’s foot. Sparks and a sound like crumbling paper rolled up the side, in and out of the folds of her robe, lighting the statue as it rose. The electrical wave ran into the statue’s arm and up the torch and ignited the cluster of thousand-watt bulbs behind the yellow and red glass of the flame. It burned, bright and brief, as the rising sun lit the millions of windows in the countless buildings across the breadth of Manhattan.

And then the electrical fire died. The bat relaxed. Its burned wings descended like shrouds, and its eyes shut and its legs crumpled. Smoke rising from its flesh, the bat did a slow pirouette as it dropped into the narrow space between the staircase and the pedestal wall. It fell for just a moment, landing hard on a cross-section of metal struts, and then everything was quiet. The light of the sun quickly diluted the strong orange glow of the bats that burned on the steps around them. The surviving vespers flew off quickly to the top of the statue.

Only now did Gentry become aware of the fact that Nancy was crying. He continued to crouch where he was and hold the young woman.

“Gentry! Hey, Detective, you guys okay?”

“We’re fine, T-Bone,” he said. “Good work. Thanks.”

“You’re very welcome,” the big man said as he walked around the column. He was smiling broadly.

Kathy Leung came ru

“I did it all for you, Kath.”

“Were you able to get some of those fireworks?” T-Bone asked.

“Oh yeah.” Kathy looked up at Joyce.

“Cool,” T-Bone said. “There’s your transfer and my raise.”

Kathy regarded Joyce. “Doctor, is there anything I can get you?”

Gentry lifted his arm. Joyce slipped from under it. “No thanks.”

“You sure?”

She looked at Gentry and smiled faintly. “I’m sure.”

T-Bone looked over the side. “Kath, you may want to shoot this too, before the SWAT guys get here and seal it all off.”

“We will,” she told him.

“Hey, and thanks for listening to me, Detective,” T-Bone went on.

“What do you mean?”

“Didn’t Itell you not to bring that motherfucking bat down here? Man, that is some nasty smelling fried animal.”

“Sorry,” Gentry said. He looked at Joyce. “The airis a little foul in here. You up to walking outside for some of the fresh stuff? Assuming I can get my legs to work.”

“Not just yet,” Joyce said. She rose unsteadily. “There’s something we have to do.”

Forty-Six

The walk back to the statue’s crown was slow and painful. It also hurt because Joyce knew what she and Gentry were going to find when they got there.

Joyce wasn’t sure she would have been able to kill the spawn of the giant bats. But when Gentry told her about the charge that had flowed up the statue, she knew that that probably wouldn’t be necessary.

They were breathing heavily, their nostrils stinging from the tart electric smell that hung inside the statue, as they dragged themselves up the final leg of the climb-the stairs that led along the right side of the crown. As they ascended toward the landing, they saw a sky turning blue through the twenty-five small windows and sunlight skimming across the bay. The sun warmed the crown, though Joyce felt cold as they stepped onto the studded steel floor. It was singed black in spots where the electricity had shot through it.

When they finally entered the small chamber, neither Gentry nor Joyce was looking at the floor or even at the new day. They were looking at what was on the opposite side.

“Aw, jeez.” Gentry stopped walking and turned away.

Two enormous baby bats were lying spoonlike on their sides. They were nearly three feet long and facing the back of the crown. Their eyes were shut and their heads were resting near the newcomers. Their fur was off-white and their wings-relatively small for their size-were translucent and folded around them. Neither of them was moving. Their faces were turned out slightly as though they were watching for someone…waiting.

Joyce continued toward the bats.

“Are you sure they’re dead?” Gentry asked.

“Pretty sure,” she said.

“ Nancy -”

“It’s okay. If they were breathing rapidly, normally, the windows would be steamed up.” She reached the bats and knelt by the one in back. She reached around it, put her hand gently on its chest, and felt for a heartbeat. After a moment she leaned over it and felt the chest of the bat in front. “They’re dead,” she said quietly.

Joyce let her fingers linger on the pup’s fine fur before rising. It was like touching the surface of a bubble bath, the fur was that soft. And it was that i

She felt miserable.

“So history won’t quite be repeating itself,” Gentry said.

“No,” Joyce said sadly. “It won’t.”

Gentry limped up behind Joyce and put his hands on her shoulders. “I’m sorry. I can’t even imagine everything you’re feeling right now.”

She reached across her chest and rubbed the back of his hand. “You’d be surprised what I’m feeling right now. Come on,” she said. “We’re finished here.”

They went back downstairs where they were met by the incoming SWAT team. The heavily armored police officers ushered them outside quickly, as though they were in danger. Joyce and Gentry were taken to the administration building first aid center. Kathy and T-Bone were already there, sitting in plastic chairs as a pair of paramedics examined them. T-Bone had his camera on the floor and Kathy had the tape in her hand. She refused to put it down.

After receiving emergency medical treatment for cuts and burns, the four were bundled onto a harbor boat. Kathy and T-Bone stood in the front of the boat; Joyce and Gentry sat on an equipment locker in the stern. They watched as the last remaining vespers scattered through the bright daylight, headed for shelter.

As soon as they were underway, senior police officer John Esty brought a radio to Gentry. It was Weeks. Gentry held the radio between them where Nancy could hear.

“That was a very nice fireworks display,”Weeks said.

“You should have seen it from the inside,” Gentry replied.

“I’m sure. You both okay?”

“We’re a little banged up, and we’ll have to do the rabies shot thing, but we’re alive,” Gentry said. “A lot of good people aren’t.”

“I hear you,”Weeks said. “There are going to be a lot of questions when you get back, about the museum attack, the tu

“Thanks,” Gentry said.

Joyce asked what was going to be done with the remains of the bats.Weeks informed her that their disposition would be decided in a day or two and that Al Doyle was on his way over to collect them. She said that she wanted to be part of any team that was put together to examine the remains.

“Of course,”Weeks said. “Absolutely.”

Weeks said he’d see them in a few minutes. He and the mayor had a few matters to attend to, like making sure traffic could start coming into the city again, that any remaining vespers were cleared from the subway, and that Albany and Washington sent people and money to help clean up guano, fix the tu