Then, to his right, just a dozen or sofeet away, he noticed the stairway down to the turbine floor. He scrambledforward on his left hand and knees. His right arm would bear no weight at all.The heat was intense, the air heavy and stagnant. The pain in his chest wasunremitting. He half tumbled down the steel steps, scrambled across theconcrete, and took cover behind the massive turbine. Ground zero. The droningvibration cut through his body like a chain saw.
Fifteen feet above him, on the corridorfrom the elevator, Perchek leaned over the metal railing, searching. Staying onto kill him was a foolish choice, but clearly The Doctor's pride and hatred hadtriumphed over logic.
Crouching behind the turbine, Harrycircled, trying to keep out of Perchek's line of sight. Behind him was anothersafety railing, and beyond that another drop-off to a lower level. The entirewindowless, three-tiered power plant was as vast as a cathedral. He could hearwater flowing below — probably being pumped in from the river to cool the steamfrom the boilers after it had passed through the turbine. Harry wondered if theconduit returning water to the river was large enough to carry a man out.
Perchek had already moved over to coverthe stairs up to the corridor. The stairs down to the lowest level werevirtually a continuation of those. There was no chance Harry could make iteither way. He continued inching to his left, trying to keep the hideousturbine between him and The Doctor. But at that moment, Perchek spotted him.Harry fell back as the revolver again spit flame. A piece of pipe directly overhis head split open. With a freight train roar, steam under immense pressurespewed out, instantly flooding the whole area and billowing thirty feet upwardto the ceiling. The temperature rose rapidly. The hot, wet air was painful tobreathe. Hell.
Harry knew he was cut off from eitherstaircase. But now, the swirling cloud of steam had completely engulfed theturbine. He pushed through the dense mist on his belly and slipped between thesafety rail. The twelve — or thirteen-foot drop to the lowest level looked likea hundred. But there was no choice. Painfully, clinging to the rail with hisone good hand, he lowered himself over the edge. He hung there for a moment,then dropped to the concrete floor, rolling gracelessly as he hit. Pain shot upfrom his feet through his chest, taking his breath away. It was severalfrightening seconds before he realized that he could still move.
He was at the very bottom of the hospitalnow. Beneath the concrete floor were the water tunnels, crawl space, and earth.The massive pedestal supporting the turbine extended upward from the ground,through the floor to the level Harry had just left. Ahead of him, flush withthe concrete, was a steel grate. Harry crawled over and inspected it. It wasfour feet by three, placed to allow access into a concrete tunnel, which was abouteight feet across. At the base of the tunnel, five feet below where Harryknelt, a stream flowed rapidly, discharging spent coolant water from the powerplant to the river. Beside him, a control post with four buttons permitted the waterto be stopped to service the system in either direction: Open Inflow, CloseInflow, Open Outflow, and Close Outflow. The prospect of trying toescape through the tunnel to the river was not appealing, but it was rapidlybecoming his only option. With the drill-like pain in his chest getting evenworse, it was possible he couldn't make it anyway.
On the turbine floor above him, steamcontinued hissing out. Perchek was up there somewhere, undoubtedly guarding thestairway, Harry's only way out. But now, he realized, The Doctor had anotherproblem. Soon, dropping steam pressure had to set off an alarm. The engineer inthe control room would have to look down and see what was going on. Any saneman would flee right now.
But Anton Perchek was hardly sane.
Harry tried the grate. It was heavy, butmovable. With two good arms, it would have been rather easy. He kept glancingup at the stairs, expecting any moment to see Perchek step down from the cloud.The dreadful ache beneath his breastbone shot up into his jaws and ears. Inch byagonizing inch, he slid the grate aside. He estimated the rushing water belowto be three feet deep. Not much cushion. He was weak, dizzy, and drenched withsweat — probably having a full-blown coronary. There was little chance he couldsurvive dropping into the pitch-black tunnel to follow the outflow to theriver. It would be better to try and hide behind the turbine pedestal. Anyminute, someone had to come down.
He crawled over to the concrete base ofthe pedestal just as Perchek stepped out of the billowing steam and down thestairs. Harry crouched low, out of sight at least for the moment. Beside himwas a rolling metal cart, loaded with tools. He tried hefting a hammer with hisleft hand. It was a worthy weapon, but he doubted he would be able to use iteffectively. Still, it was something. Perchek scanned the area and peered intothe tunnel. The open gate was a giveaway that Harry had been there. But it wasalso a source of confusion for Perchek. He had to make a decision.
Harry gripped the' hammer and watched asThe Doctor crouched by the opening, debating whether or not to jump in. Thepain in Harry's chest was making it hard to breathe and even harder toconcentrate. Then Perchek stood and turned away from the grate, again searchingthe room. Harry cursed softly. He had to do something — maybe attack, maybe tryto sneak back up the stairs. Again, Perchek knelt and peered into the tunnel.
Suddenly, before he fully realized what hewas doing, Harry was on his feet, charging toward The Doctor with every ounceof strength he had left, leaning on the tool cart as he pushed it ahead of him.The hissing steam and machinery rumble covered the sound of the wheels. Percheksensed something and turned, but too late. The cart slammed into his shoulder,sending him over the edge and splashing into the water below. Harry collapsedto the concrete, gasping and perilously close to unconsciousness. Below him, hecould see The Doctor on his hands and knees, groping in the black water for hisgun.
Harry forced himself to move. He kneltbeside the grate and, with agonizing slowness, pushed it back into position.Perchek looked up as the grate clanged into place. For the first time, Harrythought he could see panic on the man's face. Then he remembered the controlpanel. If he could close the outflow, the water would deepen and the gun wouldbe harder to find. Anything that would buy even a little time was worth trying.With great effort he rolled over, reached up, and pushed the button. Fromsomewhere beneath him came the vibration of gears engaging. He slumped facedownon the concrete floor, unable to move, barely able to breathe. The lightsdimmed. The intense noise began to fade.
Time passed. A minute? An hour?
Then suddenly, the grate by Harry's facebegan to move. He opened his eyes and through a gray haze saw Perchek's fingerswrapped around the metal, thrusting upward in short bursts again and again.With the outflow closed, the rising water had floated him upward. His leveragewas poor, but he was easily powerful enough to move the grate aside. In just afew seconds he would be out. Battling the darkness and the pain, Harry forcedhimself to one elbow. Then, with agonizing slowness, he toppled over on to hisback, across the grate. Unable to move, he lay there, arms spread, as Perchek'sfingers tore frantically at his scalp and his neck, and pulled at his shirt.
'Corbett, get off! Get off!'
'Go … to … hell. .'
'Corbett
The Doctor's panicked words were cut off.His movements grew more feeble.
Harry felt the soothing coolness of waterwelling up around him, flowing out over the floor. The fingers clutching themetal beneath his head slipped away. Minutes passed. The water continued risingaround him, now touching his neck, now his ears.