The Blade Itself

He sucked in his lower lip and bit until he tasted blood.

The pain clarified. Reestablished focus. He stared at the beam as though it held all the mysteries of life. Slowly, fingers tingling and arms shaking, he forced his right hand to move. Pushed with both feet. A tiny bit at a time. There is no up. There is no down. There is no Evan. There is no you. There is only this.

Again.

Again.

Again. Whatever the cost.

And then his hand bumped into something. A crossbeam. He’d reached the top floor. He edged his legs up twice more, until his arms were almost horizontal. Guts roiling, he slid his right hand off the girder and onto the beam. The instant the tension released, his legs swung free, kicking out over fifty feet of nothing. He felt a hot flush of panic in his bowels as he dangled by one hand. His shoulder screamed and his sweaty fingers slowly began to slip.

He flung his other arm up, fumbling for the horizontal strut. His right hand began to lose its grip, the ragged steel cutting into his fingers. For a moment he hung there, left hand on the way up while right fought not to come down. Some removed part of himself wondered which would happen first. Then his left banged against the metal, fingers locking on. With a last surge of strength he hauled himself up onto his belly and rolled his legs off the edge. He lay panting on his side, fingers stiff and brittle, arms on fire, chest heaving.

He’d made it.

Then he heard Evan’s voice.

45

“Stop there.” Evan’s voice was commanding.

Da

“Under the light there. Lift your jacket and turn around.” Evan’s voice again, still loud. But also muffled. Then it clicked. Evan wasn’t shouting at him. He was on the lower floor, yelling instructions. Richard must have arrived while Da

Moving as quickly as he dared, Da

Da

“Shhhh.” He put one finger to his lips, the other hand digging for the mini-Swiss Army knife on his key ring. He pulled the duct tape off Karen’s mouth and cut the bindings on her hands. She threw her arms around him, body shaking, tears ru

It was the best he’d felt in he couldn’t remember how long. But there wasn’t time. He extricated himself, locking eyes and smiling at her. Then he turned to the boy.

“Tommy, I’m with your father. We’re going to get you out of here. But you have to be quiet. Understand?”

The boy’s eyes were huge in the moonlight. He nodded quickly, and Da

Below them, the yell sounded again. “Good boy, Dick.” Evan amused, firmly in control. “Come on up.”

When the building was finished, there would be escape stairs at each end, but right now, only the central set beside the empty elevator shaft was in place. No telling for sure where Evan was. But Da

“Okay,” he whispered, “here’s the plan. We’re going down these stairs. Be as quiet as you can. I’ll go a little bit ahead. Karen, you take Tommy all the way down.” He tried to put in his eyes all the things he couldn’t say in front of the boy. “Get in Richard’s truck and get out of here.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I have to get off on the third floor.”

“Why?”

He kept his gaze steady. “To help Richard.”

She shook her head, alarm in her eyes. “That’s crazy.”

“It’s the only way. It’ll be two on one, and Evan doesn’t know I’m coming.”

“No.”

“Karen.” He smiled at her, made a tiny motion toward Tommy with his eyes. She had to understand. “Please.”

Her lips trembled, and she looked away. Slowly, she nodded. He leaned in and kissed her. Her lips were cold but her tongue was warm and sweet. One for the road.

And in that moment, he realized that he didn’t expect to get out of this.

Did it matter?

Breaking the kiss, he put a hand to her cheek, cupping her face. A bedroom tenderness they’d shared a thousand times.

Did it matter? Not as much as getting them free. As cleaning up his mess. If his life was the cost, so be it.

“I’ve got to go.” He stood. “Count to thirty and then follow me.”

Da

“I brought the money.” Richard’s voice, not too far. To the left? The echo made it impossible to say.

“Show me.” Evan sounded calm. Good news. If he suspected Richard wasn’t alone, Evan would be keyed up and at his most dangerous; hopefully, facing a man he didn’t consider a threat, he’d lower his guard. Da

Twenty feet away, Richard stood facing him, holding the bag open. Evan had his back turned, the gun in his hand. The two were outlined against the glowing plastic. Half-walls and piles of building materials lived as shadows in dim light.

It was as good an opportunity as he could hope for.

Praying that Richard wouldn’t give him away with a glance, Da

Then he saw Debbie.

She stood a dozen feet away, her back to a girder, a nervous cigarette dancing in her hand. Her hair was messy, and in the faint light, the dark circles on her cheekbones made her look like a corpse. The prom queen from a zombie movie.