Silent Assassin(95)

“The bomb squad is on its way,” said the policeman. “If that’s your wife up there, they can save her.”

Morgan saw a half-dozen more policemen making their way through the crowd. They’d have snipers on him within minutes.

“Okay, jammer’s in place,” said Shepard. Morgan noticed that one of the policemen was fiddling with his radio. Seemed like the jammer was working.

“You’re surrounded,” said the policeman. “Where are you going to go?”

Morgan pulled Lisa backwards into the construction site, looking back to locate the elevator.

“I’m going up,” he said.

He released Lisa and dashed behind a piled of bricks, as shots rang out behind him. Hidden from view, he fired two shots in the air. That should keep the cops busy. He ran around the corner of the building, out of sight of both the cops and the sniper, to find the construction hoist. It was a yellow elevator, with a cage at the bottom and a tower that stretched to the top of the construction. He opened the door to the cage and flipped the lever, but the power was off. It took him a split second to consider the stairs, and then looked at his watch. Three minutes to go. He’d never make it in time.

“Shepard, I need information on this elevator. It’s a Palson D-zero-five-five. Meanwhile, what’s the status on that sniper?”

“We’ve got two possible locations. Tactical is on their way.”

“Good. And that info on the elevator?”

“Got it here. What do you need?”

“I’ve got no power, and I need a way to make it go up. Fast.” He looked back, and fired two more shots into the air.

“Where’s the cage?”

“At the bottom with me.”

“Safety?”

“Not really my number one concern right now.”

“Okay,” said Shepard. “You’re going to want to release the brakes. This model only has emergency brakes on free fall, so once you do that, the counterweight should take you all the way up. There should be a lever next to the motor. Pull that first, all the way. That’ll allow the cables to move freely, independent of the motor.”

Morgan found it, outside the cage next to the tower structure, and pulled it. The steel cable tensed audibly. “Done.”

“All right. Now, get inside the cage. There’s another lever there, should be at ground level, along the edge.”

Morgan moved inside the cage. He saw the policemen rounding the corner carefully, guns drawn. He closed the door to the cage.

“Drop your weapon, and get on the ground!” one yelled.

“I need to get moving, Shepard!”

“You just have to pull the lever. Remember to keep hands and feet inside the vehicle at all times, and hold on to your—”

Morgan didn’t hear the rest. The elevator jerked so violently that the upward force kept Morgan pinned to the floor. Mere seconds went by until the counterweight hit the ground with a deafening clang that reverberated upwards along the structure of the hoist, shaking it so violently that Morgan barely noticed for a second or two that he felt no gravity. The cage stopped abruptly at the top of the tower. Morgan’s back collided painfully with the ceiling of the cage, and then he hit the floor again as the emergency brakes kicked in.

“—organ, Morgan, come in. Are you okay?”

There was no time to answer. He pulled open the doors to the cage. The brakes had arrested its ascent some ten feet above the highest floor. Well, no time to think about how much this is going to hurt. He pushed off the edge, and there was no ground beneath his feet.

He rolled as he fell on hard concrete. He immediately ran for cover behind a pillar. He heard a buzz as the sniper’s bullets flew past him, and two hit the concrete pillar, making dull thwips. He looked at his watch. Its face had shattered in the elevator, and his wrist was red and swollen, although he couldn’t feel any pain. He checked his pocket for the detonator. It seemed to be in one piece. He felt his other pocket for his knife. It might save his life again that day.

“Shepard, I need that sniper taken out now!” Two more shots whizzed by. “How much time do I have?”

“Just over two and a half minutes! Stay put, they’re almost at his room!”

Morgan counted the seconds off in his head, and they were the longest of his life. He looked at the ledge, and saw the crane that was hanging off the building. Jenny was there. She needed him.

He counted almost thirty agonizing seconds until Shepard’s voice came in his ear. “Okay, Cobra, you’re clear. They’ve taken out the sniper.”

Morgan took off running, and asked, “Novokoff?”

“Not there,” said Shepard. “They had some kind of camera setup for him, apparently.”