by Paul Byers
Excited, he gently pulled on the rope to set the hammer. When the line went taunt he slowly pulled harder, making sure the line was secure. With one last tug, he eased himself out of the tunnel, pulling himself up with the rope. Slowly and deliberately he placed one foot against the side of the hull, then hoisted himself up and planted his other foot.
Taking tiny, deliberate steps so as not to slip, his progress was slow and tiring as he pulled himself along. Panting heavily halfway up, he vowed that if he survived, he would cut back on the mochas and the Kripsy Kreams and use his exercise bike in the spare room for something more than just hanging his laundry on.
Ten feet from the top, Pike heard a noise. Looking up, he saw a pair of arms magically appear and come to rest on the railing. He couldn’t see the face but the arms belonged to a blonde wearing a heavy, dark overcoat. She had a distant look as she gazed out over the ocean and though he couldn’t see her expression clearly, the shadows from the moonlight seemed to cast a sad light on her face.
He stared at her intently for a moment and thought she looked like Tabatha but couldn’t be sure. Should he call out to her for help? Could he trust her? Sadly he shook his head because he knew he couldn’t; he just didn’t know how much she had sold out to Mallory. He wrapped the rope around his arm several times then lowered his feet and hung by his arms, pressing himself against the side of the iceberg. One thing for sure was that if she looked down, he was done for.
“You’re up late.” Pike heard a male voice say. Pike shook his head in frustration. What, are they having convention? It’s freezing out here people, take it inside, he shouted in his head.
“Man, that was some story we broke huh?” He heard the man continue.
“Yes it was, Pete.” The woman replied.
Pike mentally snapped his fingers. It was Tabatha and she was talking to Toupee Man, Peter Wright! He let out a small sigh of relief that he didn’t trust her and call out, it sounded like these two were working together. He looked up and saw that she had turned around to face him. Thank the Lord for small favors, he whispered.
“That story will flash around the world before we even reach New York. Can you believe our luck catching Pike red-handed standing over the Senator with a knife in his hand?”
“Yeah, pretty lucky.” Tabatha’s reply was flat and emotionless.
Pike could hear the smug arrogance in Wright’s voice but he heard no joy in Tabatha’s, instead he heard more doubt than triumph.
“Doesn’t it seem odd that we just happened to walk in at exactly the right moment with our cameras rolling?” She questioned. Pike nodded; it sounded like she wasn’t buying everything Mallory had told her.
“Hey, I’m not looking a gift horse in the mouth. If lady luck wants to smile on me, who am I to question? Speaking of luck,” Pike heard Wright moved closer, then saw him lean against the railing with his back facing the water. “You were pretty lucky yourself tonight, catching the story with me. You know,” he said, moving closer to her, “I can help you in your career.”
“Oh please,” Tabatha replied. Pike couldn’t see her face but having known her for just this short a time, a smile crossed his lips as he could just image her rolling her eyes at him with a sarcastic give-me-a-break look.
Pike heard a scuffle as Wright reached over and grabbed her in his arms. “Listen Tabby,” he said forcefully, “I’ve been making and breaking cub reporters like you for longer than you’ve been alive. You want me as your friend, not your enemy.”
“I don’t want you at all.” Tabatha answered. Pike heard a grunt then saw Wright collapse to his knees and a second later, something hit Pike in the face. He had to stifle his laughter as he saw that it was Wright’s own toupee! Tabatha had kneed her esteemed colleague in the groin then ripped off his hairpiece and thrown it at him. Pike smiled; he still didn’t know if he could trust her but he had to admire her style. He heard her storm across the plaza then heard the door slam. A few minutes later he heard Wright shuffle to the door and enter quietly.
Pike felt like a slab of beef hanging from a butcher’s hook, his arms aching beyond belief. With the drama gone, he carefully he got his feet back onto the iceberg and painfully pulled himself up the rest of the way.
With a desperate swipe of his arm, he reached up and grabbed the stanchion and just held himself there, too weak to pull himself up. Summoning his last ounce of strength, he swung his leg up over the side and rolled under the wire railing. Half-walking, half crawling, he made his way to the corner of the building and collapsed behind a small forest of potted trees.
His arms and shoulders were on fire, from the pain, and his legs felt like rubber. He knew he didn’t have much time but he had to rest. After a very short ten minutes of rest, it was time to move. He had to get to the one place where they would never think to look for him, but the only trouble was is that it was on the other side of the iceberg. It would be too risky to go inside, so his only other option was to go up onto the roof.
Wearily, he climbed onto one of the pots and by standing on his toes; he could barely reach the edge of the roof. With a slight jump, which was all he could muster, he got a firm grip on the roof then heaved himself up onto the roof.
The light cast by the quarter moon was both a blessing and a curse, a blessing because it illuminated all the vents and piping on the roof making his journey faster and safer but a curse because Cain, looking down from his Tower of Mordor, could see him scurrying across the roof top. Keeping a wary eye on the tower, Pike moved from heating duct to ventilation tower to electrical box, staying in the shadows as much as possible. Once when he looked up, he could see Cain, silhouetted in his perch. A moment later he was joined by another shadow, which Pike could only assume was Mallory. She handed him a drink and the two of them talked for a while. At one point he thought they were going to come together in a lovers’ embrace but after thinking about it he knew that wasn’t the kind of relationship they shared. It was more like a teacher-student relationship but with an almost religious reverence. Mallory didn’t worship him per se but her devotion was undeniable.
As he was watching them, he saw Cain’s head turn sharply, then he and Mallory disappeared; he knew his escape had been discovered. He moved as quickly as he could, weaving in and out between the obstacles on the roof. With time running out, Pike picked up his pace. In his haste, he tripped twice over low-lying ductwork that lay hidden in the shadows like landmines. He had to be careful: not only did he not want to hurt himself but he also didn’t want to alert everyone to his presence by thumping around on the roof like a drunken Santa trying to land his sleigh.
He made it to the other side of the roof and peered over the side at the windows below. The rooms on this side of the iceberg were for the staff and last minute guests...like K.D. His luck was holding; he passed only three until he found what he was looking for: K.D.’s logo window sticker for the Mariners.
K.D. was a Mariner’s fanatic and could even quote stats from players who played years ago that no one had ever heard of. When the Mariner’s announcing great, Dave Niehaus, died, she said it was like losing a close friend. She, like so many other people credited him for their interest in baseball and in the Mariners. He made the game come alive for her she said as she would listen to her tiny transistor radio stuffed under her pillow when she was a kid, listening to the game instead of sleeping.
Ever proud of her team, she brought the window sticker with her because when all the cameras were showing pictures of the iceberg, they would see her Mighty Mariners logo.
He took his makeshift rope and tied off one end around a larger heat exhaust blower and tied the other end around his waist. He walked over to the brink and looked down at the rushing water below and tightened his grip on the rope. He was just about to lower himself over the edge when suddenly all the lights on the roof came on. He really hadn’t noticed it before, but all the glitzy casino lights that were window-dressing for the cameras had been off.
Suddenly, b
rightly colored lights began glowing and flashing and at any moment Pike half expected carnival music to start playing. If nothing else, Cain was thorough so Pike knew the roof would be searched soon. He quickly slipped over the side before he was spotted.
He came down just to the left of the window and took out the flathead screwdriver he had taken from the toolbox and slipped it under the window panel and started prying. Just as the pane popped out, a gust of wind caught it and it spun him around like a wind chime. He slammed into the side of the iceberg with such force that the impact caused the window panel to slip out of his hands. He watched as the pane sliced through the surface of the water and disappeared. He wanted to save the glass to replace it once he got inside to cover his tracks, but there was nothing he could do about it now.
Grabbing the lip of the windowsill, he hoisted himself in and slipped into the room. Suddenly, there he was. It had been one thing to sit in his make-shift cell and plan on coming here but an altogether different thing to actually be here, to be in the room where K.D. had died.
His eyes shot directly to the bed with bitter sweetness, glad her body wasn’t there, but sad because he didn’t have time to say good-bye. Next, his eyes darted to the spot where the senator had been slain. There was a large, dark stain on the carpet; thankfully his body was gone too.
He let out a long sigh and clenched his fists, a thousand different emotions swirling inside him; anger, rage, pity, loss, but the ball on his spinning roulette wheel of emotions didn’t land on any of those, instead it landed on resolve. Like the throwing of a switch, he now knew that nothing or no one would stop him. He would succeed, not only for himself, but as he looked over at the empty bed, for her too.
He threw open the curtain to gain as much light as possible, not wanting to turn on any lights. He started going through her dresser trying to find her cell phone. He felt like a thief sneaking around like this but he had no choice. He had to warn the authorities about Cain’s plan. He quickly found the phone in the top drawer but his joy was short lived as he got no signal.
Disappointed but not totally unexpected, he quickly moved on and found K.D.’s lap top on the table and turned it on. Not as good as a phone call, he thought, but an emergency email would still work. He waited impatiently for the desktop screen to pop up, and as soon as it appeared, he tapped the Internet Explore icon and…he got the message, ‘unable to connect to the Internet at this time.’ Cain must have cut all outside communication the moment he’d learned of his escape.
Out of frustration, Pike pounded the table with his fist and instantly regretted it. The sound of his fist slamming into the table echoed like a clap of thunder. Immediately he spun around and faced the door, checking to see if the shadows of approaching people would darken the flow of light creeping under the doorjamb.
After a few tense moments, he gasped, not realizing that he had been holding his breath. He relaxed for a moment, knowing he was not in any immediate danger but he also knew he was far from being out of the woods.
He was just about to turn off the computer when one of the desktop icons caught his attention; it was labeled, Hot Shot. Pike felt a stab of pain when he read it. With mixed emotions he clicked on the icon and opened the folder: he was amazed at what he saw.
K.D. had collected all the news articles and interviews that he had done since he had become the Blast from the Past. There were dozens of photographs and news stories ranging from the major papers all the way down to his hometown newspaper with interviews of people he didn’t even remember claiming to have grown up with him and how they were the best of friends.
He had to laugh. It was amazing; everyone they talked to knew that he would grow up to be something great one day. He just wished they would have told him that sooner and saved him a lot of time and effort.
Looking at the pictures, he saw that she had taken a great deal of time to arrange them all in chronological order. He smiled, that was the engineer in her, always putting things in their proper places. He closed the file and was just about to shut it down when another file caught his attention; it was labeled, DD. It was a word document but it was pretty good size; maybe she was writing a book. Then it struck him…Dear Diary.
He started to move the mouse, but the closer the arrow got to the file, the more his hand started to tremble. When the arrow was resting on the icon, he suddenly let go of the mouse as if it were electrified. He just sat there and stared at the file. He could feel the floodgate of emotions beginning to open. These were probably her last thoughts before she was…killed. He desperately wanted to know them, to know what she thought of him, but that would never happen now.
These were her thoughts and he felt like he was invading her final moments by opening them up and casually reading them just like the Sunday paper. As much as he wanted to know, needed to know, he just couldn’t bring himself to open the file. He hadn’t had time to grieve over her loss yet and as much as he wanted to, now was not the time either.
Taking several deep, sobbing breaths, he moved the mouse to shut the computer down then stopped. He noticed that the icon for the internet was still running and he could have sworn he’d closed it. He opened it again and the window popped open with the progress bar blinking, showing it was still trying to connect, but there was something else too.
There was another progress bar below the first one and it indicated it was 50% loaded. Pike’s heart leapt as he watched and the bar moved to 60%. He would soon be able to send his message and warn the authorities, then all he had to do was to hide out until the Cavalry showed up. With a smile, Pike sat down and waited, perhaps Cain hadn’t thought of everything after all.
Pike stopped; suddenly the sight of the bar moving to 73% didn’t excite him anymore. This was Cain he was talking about here, the man didn’t make too many mistakes, he thought again. Then suddenly with the reality of water being thrown in his face, Pike realized that he was the one who had just made a mistake, a big one! The computer wasn’t connecting to the internet, the second progress bar was a tracking signal, Cain was tracking the location of anyone trying to connect to the internet after he had shut it down.
Frantically Pike pushed the keys trying to turn it off but he couldn’t. The bar read 93% complete when he tossed the laptop out the window. He wasn’t sure if the trace was complete or not, but he couldn’t take that chance, he had to get out of their now! He had no other choice now; he had to get to the Yankee Clipper.
He stuck his head out the window and listened for sounds of anyone tracking him from the roof. He couldn’t hear any voices over the churning water so he was just about to climb out the window when something caught his eye. He hadn’t noticed it on the table before because it was hidden behind the laptop.
He smiled as he reached over and picked it up. It was one of K.D.’s most prized procession, a team autographed baseball from the Mariner’s 2001 season where they set the American league record for the most wins with 116. He put it in his pocket as he climbed out the window and grabbed the rope to climb back up onto the roof.
Chapter Forty Seven
The Blast from the Past was beginning to fizzle out as he barely managed to get his legs up over the side and roll onto the roof. As he was surveying the roof, he noticed that the glowing lights from the distant cities were getting brighter.
The clock was running.
Taking several deep breaths, the cool air felt good, helping him refocus on what he had to do. He forced himself onto his feet and quickly and cautiously made his way toward the stern. He had just reached the edge of the roof and was overlooking the driving range and sunning area when he heard a clunk. His heart stopped as he spun around and saw the legs of a ladder coming up from the pool area, just 15 feet away. Frantically he searched for cover but this section of the roof was clear of any ductwork. He had no choice but to go down.
He lay down, then swung his legs down and slipped over the edge, hanging on with his hands. Dangling for a second, he let go and fell to the deck.
He landed hard in front of the golf pro shop but managed to break a little of the fall by rolling when he landed. Pike scampered behind a golf cart and watched and waited to see if anyone had heard his fall. He had thought the idea of having a golf cart a bit much since there was no place to drive it, but Cain had reminded him that image was everything and right now he was sure glad Cain felt that way.
When men in black didn’t come storming around the corner of the building or repelling down from the roof, he slowly crept along the side of the building until he came to the corner. Crouching down, peering around the edge, Pike saw a man holding a ladder while a pair of legs disappeared onto the roof. As soon as his partner was on the roof, the other man followed his partner up and he too vanished on the roof.
Pike had heard the term “killing field” before, but now he fully understood what it really meant. He was trying to get to the Yankee Clipper but to get there he had to run across 20 to 30 yards of slippery ice, all open area with no cover. If they saw him; he would be the proverbial sitting duck. Once again he chanted the mantra, desperate times called for desperate measures, trying to psych himself up… that and the fact that he really didn’t have any other choice.
Taking several deep breaths, he looked up and saw no one on the roof and he was just about to make a mad dash for the Clipper when a guard suddenly appeared from behind the plane; and he wasn’t alone. With him was the largest German Shepherd he had ever seen; it was big enough to pass as a Shetland pony at a kids ride.
Pike spun around and sat down on the ice, his back leaning against the wall, shaking his head. What was he going to do now? He might be able to sneak up on the guard, but not the dog. Just then a blast of wind swirled across the deck and Pike shoved his hands in his pockets to keep warm. As he put his hands in, he felt the baseball he taken from K.D.’s room and he took it out. Immediately he had a flashback to the charity ball where he had thrown the baseball and hit the gumball machine, stopping the jewel thief. As he held it in his hand, a crazy thought came to him. He shook his head, thinking that his idea would never work and he tried to push it away, but the idea refused to go. He grasped the ball firmly in his hand, looking at it. He hated to do this with K.D.’s treasure, with his new treasure, but with what was at stake, he knew she would understand.