“Look,” Sam cried, pointing to the sky. “There’s an extra moon, the one that
disappeared!”
An air raid siren sounded twice throughout the facility.
“Primary systems activation in ten. Nine. Eight. Seven,” Allie’s mechanical voice began counting down the activation timer over the loudspeaker.
Grabbing Sam’s hand, Gabriel looked to Allie. “Which way?”
“One,” the mechanized voice said.
Suddenly the laws of gravity no longer seemed to apply. Gabriel felt his feet leave the floor. Then gravity was pulling him in the wrong direction. He dropped toward the railing and open space beyond.
“Hold on,” he shouted to Sam as he gripped her hand tighter.
As they dropped past the railing he hooked his elbow around it, and their fall jerked to a halt. The Apostle slammed into the rail and it seemed to bring her back to her senses. She managed to grab on just in time. The metal screeched and the railing bent outward slowly under their combined weight.
Gravity righted and they dropped, the rail sawing at Gabriel’s elbow as he
strained to hold on. The Apostle hung only a few feet away by one hand, her sword in the other. She could run him through and there would be nothing he could do to stop her.
Sheathing her sword in a well-practiced motion, the Apostle showed no outward
sign that her current predicament bothered her in the slightest. Using both hands, she scrambled rather gracelessly back onto the catwalk. Standing, she stared back down at Gabriel and Sam without expression as she wiped blood away from a completely healed cheek. Without a word she turned and walked away, her cloak flaring out in the wind like a cape. She disappeared through one of the doors leading onto the catwalk.
Allie peeked over the edge at them as the railing screeched again and dropped
Gabriel and Sam down another foot. Sam screamed in fright as they jerked to a halt again.
“I do not mean to alarm you, but that railing was not made to hold so much
weight. I would suggest climbing up immediately.”
“Tell me something I don’t know,” Gabriel growled. “I’m working on it!”
Trying to lift Sam up one-handed proved futile. She was too heavy and he had no leverage. Plus, someone seemed to be using his skull as part of an extended drum solo.
“Cat,” Gabriel growled. “Climb up!”
Mister Mittens did as he was told, scrambling up Gabriel’s arm, his claws digging into the leather of his coat for purchase. He jumped onto the top of Gabriel’s head and from there leapt up onto the catwalk. Turning, he peered down at them next to Allie, amusingly matching her posture and expression.
“Sam,” Gabriel called down.
Hyperventilating, she stared around wild-eyed.
“Sam! Look at me! Look at me! Don’t look down, just look at me and listen!”
Panting rapidly, Sam looked up at him, tears streaming from her eyes.
“I’m really afraid of high places! I don’t wanna fall. I don’t wanna die!”
“You’re not going to fall. I’ll lift you up, but I need you to use your legs and push against the side of the tower. See how it slopes outward. Brace your foot against it and push while I pull you up. Got it?”
“I can’t! I’m scared! Don’t let me fall!”
“I’m not going to let you fall, but I can’t pull you up on my own. I need your help. Put your foot against the wall. Do it!”
Looking at the wall for a long second, Sam appeared too frozen with fear to
understand. Swearing under his breath, Gabriel strained to lift her again, but it was pointless. Then, nodding to herself, Sam reached toward the wall, bracing her foot against the black metal, pushing against it.
Immediately, Gabriel felt the lessening of pressure on his elbow and lifted Sam with all of his strength. She rose slowly past him until she was high enough to get her leg over the railing and climb the rest of the way up.
Lying flat on her belly, Sam reached out for him with her hand. Taking it, he began to climb upward, very aware of the sound of twisting metal coming from the railing as he moved. Just as his hand caught the edge of the catwalk there was a pop and the support posts snapped. The railing fell, clanging against the side of the tower all the way down.
Scrambling the rest of the way onto the catwalk, Gabriel drew a heavy, relieved breath. Sam threw her arms around him and he hugged her back.
“It’s officially Miller time,” Gabriel groaned, falling flat on his back. Allie leaned over into his line of sight and peered curiously down at him. “What the hell was that?”
“Activation of the facility’s primary systems caused a momentary hitch in the
flow of gravity in this area of space,” Allie explained. “It never was solidly stable to begin with.”
“Who are you talking to,” Sam asked, following his line of sight.
“Allie,” Gabriel replied.
“Where did the Apostle go,” Sam asked.
“That way,” Gabriel pointed to one of the doors.
“It is a good thing that we came after her,” Mister Mittens said. “She was about to kill you when we knocked her out.”
It was just like a cat to act like he’d done all the work himself!
“We have to hurry,” Sam said. “If the Spires of Infinity were activated that
means they’re drawing power from the sun!”
“She is right,” Allie nodded. “Follow me. We need to disable the computers at the moment the black hole is created. The longer we delay, the more irreparable damage will be done to the sun.”
Thankfully Allie walked toward the door opposite of where the Apostle had gone.
Struggling to his feet, Gabriel offered a hand to Sam and pulled her up.
Pulling her along behind him, he started to follow Allie, but before he could take more than three steps, the door opened and disgorged several black-uniformed soldiers, all with rifles pointed at them. The door on the opposite side of the catwalk also opened and more soldiers moved to block off escape from that direction.
Raising his hands, Gabriel did his best to keep them away from his weapons.
Obviously considering whether she should draw her own pistol and fight, Sam gratefully followed his example. Gabriel didn’t see Mister Mittens anywhere. The little black cat seemed to have disappeared.
“Who are you,” one of the soldiers yelled in Gabriel’s face with the most horrific case of bad breath that he’d ever had the displeasure of inhaling. “What are you doing here! This is a restricted area.”
“Do something,” Gabriel mumbled to Allie who stood watching with that “I told
you so” look that women did so well.
“You’ll have to find a way to escape on your own,” she replied. “I can’t uplink with the computer without alerting her to my presence.”
“Answer me,” bad breath shouted, driving the butt of his rifle into Gabriel’s
stomach, knocking the wind from him again.
Wheezing, Gabriel tried to speak, but all he could do was choke for breath.
“These must be the ones that the Purple Haven terrorists threatened would blow up the facility today,” one of the others suggested.
Bad breath nodded. “Cuff these tree huggers and take their weapons. I want
them in separate cells for questioning. Meanwhile, have Allison run a search on the control tower for explosive devices that may have been planted before we caught them.”
Chapter 36: Questioning