After almost a half hour Deborah couldn't take it any longer. "Have you heard anything or seen any lights?" she asked.
"The only light I've seen has been some flickering through the windows," Joanna said. "There's a light outside that wasn't there before."
"Nothing inside the building?"
"Not a thing," Joanna said.
"I've got to get out of here," Deborah admitted. "Push open the door and try to do it without making any noise."
Joanna pushed on the door. It swung almost fully open without making a sound.
"I'm coming out," Deborah said. "If I put my hand someplace you'd rather I didn't, I'll apologize in advance."
With a lot of wriggling and grunting Deborah managed to ease herself back out of the iron lung. Her eyes scanned the room, noticing that the ambient light had increased as Joanna had mentioned. Then she mopped her forehead with the back of her hand and ran her fingers through her damp, shoulder-length hair. She felt bedraggled and exhausted, yet she knew the night was still young, with more trials ahead. In her mind's eye she could picture the razor-wire-topped fence, and she knew that even if they managed to get out of the building, leaving the premises was not going to be easy.
"How about getting that chair?" Joanna said.
"Oh, sorry," Deborah said. She'd been distracted by her worries. She dragged the chair over to the mouth of the iron lung.
"Did you come up with any ideas about getting out of here?" Joanna asked as she extracted herself from the ventilator.
"I didn't," Deborah confessed. "Jammed in that tube the way I was, I couldn't think. What about you?"
"Something did occur to me," Joanna said. "The power plant could be the way to get out of this building."
"How so?" Deborah asked.
"If they're creating heat over there to heat this building, it's got to get here," Joanna said. "There's got to be a tunnel."
"You're right!" Deborah said.
"I noticed that the freight elevator control had six buttons,' Joanna said. "I hadn't given it any thought until I started thinking about a tunnel. This building must have a sub-basement. Maybe that should be our goal. The more I think about our trying to get to a phone in the Wingate Clinic the more risky I think it would be."
"But I haven't seen access to a sub-basement," Deborah said. "There wasn't any in the stairwell we used tonight when we got here, or the one I used this afternoon."
"Let's check out the freight elevator," Joanna said.
"We can't use that," Deborah said. "It's too noisy."
"I'm not talking about using the elevator itself," Joanna explained. "Usually they have a ladder in elevator shafts. I don't know why, I guess for maintenance."
"Where did you learn this?" Deborah questioned. She was impressed.
"It's thanks to Carlton," Joanna explained. "Mindless action movies are his favorite, and at one time or another I've had to suffer through watching most of them. There've been dozens of scenes in elevator shafts."
"I suppose it's worth a check," Deborah said. "Do you think we've waited long enough?"
"There's no way to know for sure, but since we can't stay here all night, we have to do it sometime. Let me check the hall."
"All right, you do that," Deborah said. "I want to see what this extra light is, coming through the front windows."
While Joanna cautiously made her way over to the archway leading out into the corridor, Deborah crossed the ward. Bending over at the waist to keep her head down, Deborah approached one of the windows. Slowly she raised her eyes above the sill and found herself staring into multiple automobile headlights positioned to illuminate the building. Although the cars were at a considerable distance down the lawn, Deborah quickly ducked out of sight to be sure not to be spotted. She'd caught a glimpse of several uniformed guards silhouetted against the lights. They had large dogs on leashes. The two men in black had called in reinforcements.
Deborah quickly joined Joanna who was waiting for her at the archway and told her what she'd seen.
"Dogs are not good," Joanna said gravely. "These people really mean business."
"I think we already knew that," Deborah said.
"It also means leaving the building underground is suddenly a necessity," Joanna said. She then opened her mouth to tell Deborah the main corridor was clear when the sound of a bullhorn coming from outside startled her.
NINETEEN
MEISSNER AND Deborah Cochrane!" A voice echoed against the front of the building. "There is no need to extend this charade. Don't make us come into the building with dogs, which we will do if you don't come out on your own accord. The Bookford Police are on their way. I repeat! Come out immediately."
"So much for our carefully crafted aliases,' Deborah said.
"If I thought they'd turn us over to the Bookford police, I'd walk out of here in a heartbeat."
"They're not going to turn us over to anyone," Deborah said.
"That's my point," Joanna said. "Come on! Let's check out the freight elevator before I lose my nerve."
Gaining some familiarity with the building, the women retraced their route back through the fourth floor to the stairwell they'd used earlier. At first they tried to descend without turning on the flashlight but quickly realized the risk of knocking some of the unseen debris down the stairs was greater than the risk presented by the shielded flashlight. They turned it off again before they entered the third-floor corridor. While in the corridor they heard the bullhorn message again.
They had to turn the light on again in the freight elevator vestibule. The elevator was exactly the way they had left it with the doors half open. Joanna shined the light into the car. Through the wire-mesh of its back wall a ladder was visible attached to the brick of the elevator shaft.
"You were right about there being a ladder," Deborah said. "But how do you get to it?"
Joanna moved the light beam to the side wall of the elevator. Attached to the cab's wall were ladder rungs. The rungs led up to a wire-mesh trapdoor in the elevator's ceiling.
"All we have to do is climb to the top of the elevator,' Joanna said.
"Is that all?" Deborah questioned sarcastically. "Where are you finding this sudden chutzpah."
"I'm pretending I'm you,' Joanna said. "So let's do it before I revert back to me."
Deborah gave a short, derisive laugh.
The women stepped over the half-open lower elevator door. Joanna held the light while Deborah climbed the ladder rungs. While holding on to the top one, she pushed up the trapdoor. Just beyond ninety degrees it hit up against a stop and stayed open.
Joanna handed up the flashlight, and Deborah placed it on top of the elevator before hauling herself up. The elevator swayed slightly when she stood up, forcing her to grab the supporting cables, which were covered with grease the consistency of petroleum jelly. A moment later Joanna came up through the hole. She stayed on her hands and knees rather than standing up.
The ladder ran along the back wall of the shaft and cleared the elevator car by only twelve inches.
"Well, what do you think?" Deborah asked.
"I think we should give it a try," Joanna said. She shined the flashlight down the shaft. It wasn't strong enough to reach the bottom. The ladder merely disappeared into a murky haze.
"You first," Deborah said. "And you keep the light."
"I'm not going to be able to climb and hold the light at the same time."
"I know," Deborah said. "But you have a pocket, and I don't."