Ice Station - Matthew Reilly [40]
Another inch. Just another inch . . .
‘Mister Book! Don’t let me fall!’
And then suddenly the bright orange line of fire cut across Riley’s field of vision and he yelled in frustration.
‘No!’
The firetrail sped across the railing in front of him, right underneath Kirsty’s hand.
Riley watched in helpless horror as the little girl squealed with pain, and then did the only thing her body knew to do when it came into contact with fire.
She let go.
Kirsty dropped fast.
But as she did so, Buck Riley released his grip on the catwalk above him and lunged forward after her. He dropped three feet straight down – one arm pointed down, the other pointed up. His lower hand snatched the wool-lined hood of Kirsty’s pink parka, while his upper hand caught the flaming railing behind him.
Both of their bodies jerked to a sudden halt, and Riley did a jarring 180-degree spin that nearly pulled his arm out of its socket. He was now right-side-up, hanging from the same burning railing that had, only seconds earlier, caused Kirsty to fall.
And oddly, despite the searing heat seeping through his leather-gloved hand, he managed a relieved smile.
‘I gotcha, baby,’ he breathed, almost laughing. ‘I gotcha.’
Kirsty just hung there below him with her arms held out awkwardly on either side of her body, held up only by Riley’s grip on the wool-lined hood of her parka.
‘All right,’ Riley said to himself, ‘how the hell are we gonna get out of this –’
There came a sudden popping sound and abruptly Kirsty lurched downwards. She only dropped an inch, and for an instant Riley couldn’t understand what had happened.
Then he saw it.
His eyes zeroed in on the join between Kirsty’s pink parka and its pink, wool-lined hood.
Riley’s eyes went wide.
The hood wasn’t actually part of the parka.
It was one of those removable hoods that could be connected to the collar of the parka whenever the wearer so desired. It was only attached to Kirsty’s parka by six clasp-like buttons.
The popping sound that he had heard had been the sound of one of those buttons unclasping.
Riley began to feel sick.
‘Oh, that’s not fair. That’s not fucking fair,’ he said.
Pop!
Another button unclasped.
Kirsty dropped another inch.
Riley was at a loss. He didn’t know what to do. There was nothing he could do. He was already hanging from the lowest point on the railing, so he couldn’t lower himself any further. And Kirsty was hanging from his other hand, so he couldn’t reach any further either.
Pop! Pop!
Two more buttons unclasped and Kirsty screamed in horror as she dropped sharply and then jolted to a sudden stop.
The pink hood began to stretch. Only two buttons held it to the parka’s collar now.
Riley thought about swinging Kirsty in toward the C-deck catwalk below them, about four yards away. But he quickly dispelled the thought. The wool-lined hood was now only tenuously connected to the parka. Any movement would almost certainly unclasp the remaining two buttons.
‘God damn it!’ Riley yelled. ‘Can’t anybody help me!’
‘Hold on!’ another voice yelled from somewhere nearby. ‘I’m coming!’
Riley turned his head, and saw Schofield on the far side of the C-deck catwalk, inside a small alcove of some sort. Next to him was Fox. Schofield seemed to be directing her to go down the nearest rung-ladder and head for the pool deck while he took care of Riley and Kirsty.
Pop!
One of the last two buttons snapped open and Riley turned his attention back to Kirsty. Grimacing, he held tight and he looked down at her. The little girl was scared out of her mind. Her eyes were red, filled with tears. She stared into his eyes, and spoke through teary sniffles: ‘I don’t want to die. Oh my God, I don’t want to die.’
One button left.
The hood was stretched taut, straining under Kirsty’s weight.
It wasn’t going to hold . . .
A second before it happened, Buck Riley felt the weight of the little girl pull on the hood and he said softly, ‘I’m sorry.’
With a sudden pop, the final button snapped open and Riley watched helplessly as Kirsty fell away from him in a