Chapter 23 #2
The officers led the way, Noah with the firehose in tow, Cowboy with the live news broadcast of David’s apocalyptic prophecies. With the help of a crowbar from the maintenance closet, they managed to pry open the doors to an empty elevator bay, a cold, wet breeze blowing up from the abyss.
“Cowboy, get a safety harness. You’re going to help me.”
The officers rigged Austin to a steel eyehole in a beam with a twenty-foot metal cable. “I’ll lower myself down, then Cowboy will follow.” He turned to Cowboy. “You hang on to me while they unhook my security rope, then we find a new anchor and continue on.”
Noah piped up. “The news is estimating she’s about a hundred and fifty feet down.”
“We have to hurry,” said Austin, lowering himself onto the elevator track and climbing a scaffold similar to a widely rung ladder. An old prayer came back to him.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.
He didn’t know if God was telling him to be fearless or if he was about to die.
I guess it doesn’t matter.
Cowboy was right behind him, and they executed the first switch. Cassidy was below them, blowing from side to side in the harsh wind.
The men moved as quickly as they could, executing several switches without incident when suddenly Austin fell.
A rung was slippery with thick grease, and he plummeted twenty feet before slamming to a stop and crashing into the steel structure.
He was too high on adrenaline to feel any pain.
“Grease,” he warned Cowboy, their shoes now slippery, making the descent more dangerous.
“Austin,” Cassidy called.
“I’m coming.” He couldn’t look at her, needing total focus on every movement he made. It wasn’t until the final switch that he dared lift his head, his heart in his throat. There with the city of Seattle and Elliott Bay in the background hung the woman he loved.
Their relationship flashed through his mind in its entirety.
The amazing weeks they’d shared all those years ago and what a fool he’d been to let her go.
The picture her mother had pushed across the HERO Force conference table like a punch to the gut.
Making love to Cassidy here, there, and everywhere, the way his soul felt melting with hers.
And now he could lose her.
He saw how precarious her grip was on the steel rope. She had no harness like he did—she simply had a loop around her torso like a lasso on a colt.
It must hurt like hell.
He imagined the cable digging into her skin and forced the image from his mind. He couldn’t function if he thought of her like that. Couldn’t stand it.
He unhooked his carabiner and braced himself on Cowboy, just as a tremendous wind caught his body and pushed him away from the steel. Cowboy grunted with the effort it took, but he held on, slowly pulling Austin back around, his feet gaining purchase.
Austin finally hooked onto the last eye in the steel he would need to descend. “Send down the hose!” he yelled as loudly as he could.
Cassidy’s voice was weak and trembling. “I don’t know much longer I can hang on. I love you…”
“Don’t give up. Do you hear me?” he yelled. “You hang on and you don’t give up.”
“I’ll try.”
“Don’t try. Do it.”
She nodded.
The hose made it down to Cowboy and he wrapped it around and through Austin’s harness, securing it with a thick knot. “The metal fitting will help hold it in place.”
Austin took two more steps down before the hose tightened enough to support his weight. His stomach flip-flopped at the thought of what he had to do next. He pushed off the Space Needle and lunged for Cassidy, grabbing her by the waist.
The crowd down below went crazy, but she was still attached to the cable line and it snagged her backward, out of his grip. She nearly fell.
“Again,” Austin called. “This time I’ll grab you lower. Lift your arms and let the cable slide over your head.”
Her face crumpled. “I’m scared.”
“I won’t let anything happen to you, Cassidy. I love you.”
She nodded her head. “Ready.”
He pushed off the tower again, grabbing her lower torso. She lifted her arms and the cable flew free.
“Hang on tight! We’re going to hit the tower.” He turned his body so he took the direct hit. Cowboy steadied them. The sound of a metal whip cut through the air as the cable she’d been hanging from dropped to the ground.
Cowboy lifted his head to the officers above. “Lower it down,” he called. The firehose moved slowly and Cassidy buried her head in the crook of his neck.
“You’re okay now,” Austin cooed. His eyes met Cowboy’s over Cassidy’s shoulder. They weren’t out of the woods just yet, and they both knew it.
Their feet hit the ground and reporters swarmed them. “Out of the way,” Austin belted and the sea of people parted before him. He made his way back into the building with Cassidy right behind him.
The officer in charge met Austin’s stare.
Something was terribly wrong. “What is it?”
“He got away.”
“How the fuck?”
“Hang glider off the top of the needle. Must have been one of those folding models.”
Fly like an angel.
Austin smacked his hand on the wall. “Son of a bitch.”
“You need to leave the building,” said the officer. “Bomb squad thinks they got all the explosives, but we need to clear the building just in case.”
The group walked outside, again avoiding the press. When they made their way out of the crowd, Austin saw Noah walking toward them in the distance, his sniper rifle case hung over his shoulder.
“He fucking got away,” said Austin.
Noah frowned. “You don’t say?”
“Why you got your rifle?”
“Huntin’ ducks.”
Austin looked to Cassidy, who seemed as perplexed as he.
“Got me a big yellow one, flew right off the top of the Space Needle,” said Noah. He grinned widely.
“You got him?” asked Austin.
Noah nodded. “Seattle’s finest had the firehose secure without me. I came down here and got my rifle. The coast guard can fish him out of the Elliott Bay any time now.”