Control (28 page)

… No way he could outrun
‘
em—he hated to run from people why should he ever have to run from people, people should have to run from him but even when he was a kid he wasn
’
t the running kind, too much of him, he was the power kind, the kind that when he got his hands on you you wished you were someplace else and—

—behind him now they were coming, they were coming, the one ahead of the other and closing—

—and closing—

—the fence—the Cyclone fence around the new building, the fence had a gate and the gate had a lock but shit, flimsy, nothing, nothing to stop him so Billy Boy shouldered his body against it and the fence sagged and the second time the gate was wide enough for him to slip through and inside and run toward the unfinished building, pretty finished, walls and everything done, but no people a long way from people, and now he ripped at the front door and it came open and inside was a sleepy old guy in a blue uniform dozing by two elevators and he said,
“
You, you can
’
t come in here,
”
which just proved what a creep he was since Billy Boy was
already in
there and now the old guy was getting up out of his chair, but he was slow—

—and now Billy Boy was making a fist of his hand and a club of his arm and the arm went high and started down just as the old
guy stood to meet it and he took it flush and silent and then he was on the floor, blood from his mouth, and Billy Boy slammed his fists against the buttons and an^ elevator door slid open, it was creaking and flimsy but it was open and he jumped inside and looked back and they were coming, the two were coming through the gate now heading toward the building as he mashed his fingers against the top-floor button and the flimsy door slid slowly shut but he
’
d gotten a good enough look to know these were^gonna be tough, these two, these were gonna give him more than a little trouble, he wasn
’
t gonna just be able to power his way past them, no, he was gonna have to brain his way past them, well, screw them, he could do that, he could brain his way past anybody when he wanted to, and he would, because he was lucky and when he was lucky he sensed what he needed, and as the elevator slowly rose he knew one thing sure, there was no way these two were going to take him, no fucking way in the world
…

…
“
Leave him!
”
Eric said as Haggerty knelt briefly by the unconscious watchman and Haggerty nodded, stood as the second elevator door slid open, and then they were inside, Eric pushing fifteen, the top floor.

Haggerty scowled.

Eric checked his pistol as the machine slowly moved upward.
“
What
’
s that look mean?
”

“
We
’
re on a snipe hunt and you know it—we should have called for reinforcements and waited down below—how the hell can we guess where he
’
s going?—he probably pushed the fifth floor and when he got there went back down to the street
”

.
”
You finished?
”
Eric asked.
“
I sure hope you are because I
’
m sick of telling you,
I
read this guy.
And he
’
s headed for the top and then the roof—
”

Fifth floor.

Sixth.

“
Shit,
”
Haggerty said.
“
I hate these new buildings.
”

Eric just waited.

Haggerty pushed his big hands against the walls.
“
Feel this— it
’
s nothing—these new buildings, they put them up with cardboard.
”

Eric concentrated on his gun.

“
I wouldn
’
t live in one of these traps—somebody buys a couple
brownstones, tears them down, puts up a fifteen story beaut like this—all the goddam builders,
they
’
re
the ones we should be after.
”

Haggerty rambled on like that and Eric knew what it was about —Frank was a great cop, he
’
s been there, seen it all, but he didn
’
t have a weapon now and that was getting to him. Eric knew that if he gave him his weapon, Haggerty would realize he
’
d been seen through and get pissed.

Nine.

Now ten.

Risking it, Eric said,
“
I don
’
t like using guns in the dark, I
’
m not that good, you
’
re better, take this.
”
He held it out.

Haggerty just froze him with a look.

Twelve.

Thirteen.

“
He
’
ll be on the roof by now,
”
Eric said.
“
If there
’
s another building he can get to, he
’
ll be trying to get to it, if not, he
’
ll be there waiting so be careful—
”

“
—.you
be careful,
”
Haggerty snapped, still pissed about the gun offer.

Haggerty moved up next to the door.

Fourteen.

Eric took a deep breath, tried to relax, but he could feel the tension of his right hand around his gun and tension never did anybody any good at times like this, except the other guy.

Fifteen.

And before the door was halfway open screaming came Billy Boy charging into the elevator, his fists huge and the first swing spun Haggerty into the wall and the second swing caught Eric on the neck and staggered him and Billy Boy seemed to fill the flimsy area, screaming louder and kicking Haggerty and swiping again at Eric who couldn
’
t get his gun up, couldn
’
t move, couldn
’
t do shit but slam back into the wall and his balance began to go as Billy Boy screamed
“
cocksuckers, rotten cocksuckers
”
and he swung his fists and kicked and screamed and Eric thought crazily of
Jaws
when the shark suddenly turns and attacks the boat, and this was like that now, something prehistoric was attacking, something prehistoric and it couldn
’
t think but it knew how to protect itself,
it had survived on that instinct and—

—and then the elevator door began slowly to close—

—and Billy Boy was gone—

—and they started down.

Before Eric could ask it Haggerty answered:
“
I
’
m okay,
”
His face was cut along the jaw line and the blood flowed, but he
’
d lost blood before. His body hurt as he made it to his feet.

Eric was getting up too when he saw it.
“
Look.
”
He pointed.

The twelfth-floor button was lit.

“
You think he did that?
”
Haggerty said.
“
Why the hell would he?
”
He stared at the lit number.
“
Must have been like that from the beginning. These goddam flimsy buildings, nothing works.
”

“
It wasn
’
t lit when we went up,
”
Eric said.

“
It might have been, you don
’
t know for sure,
”
Haggerty answered, louder.

Louder still Eric told him,
“
If it had been lit we would have stopped and we didn
’
t stop!
”

“
I don
’
t want to fight about the twelfth floor, let
’
s drop it, Eric.
”

The elevator passed thirteen now, moving down.

Eric got his gun ready, stood back from the sliding door, waiting.

“
Blast the shit out of him if he
’
s there,
”
Haggerty said.

Now the sliding door was beginning to open.

Slowly. Slowly.

Nothing.

Eric waited a beat, then stepped quickly out into the hallway, pistol in quickshot position. He gestured for Haggerty to follow. The hall was empty and, except for two red Exit signs, dark.

Then came the pounding.

Thunderous rhythmic sounds echoing down. Again. Again.
“
What
’
s he doing up there for Chrissakes?
”

Eric listened as the pounding went on, reverberating down the naked concrete stairwell.
“
We better find out.
”
He pointed back toward the elevator.

Haggerty shook his head.
“
I
’
m not getting back in there.
”

Together they started toward the Exit sign and the dark stairs. Eric led the way up, up to thirteen with only the pounding for company. For whatever reasons, the sound was frightening, partly because of the distortion of the echo, partially because of their ignorance of what it was. Except that they knew who was causing it, and that was frightening too.

But when the sound stopped, it was worse.

“
Shit,
”
Haggerty said.

They were almost to fourteen when it happened.

Then there came a crash, louder than any earlier sound.

“
Shit,
”
Haggerty said again.

They waited a moment before Eric led them up again; he had only just started when the thought crossed his mind that perhaps he wasn
’
t the only one around on a hot streak
…

.