“Oh, yeah. One who hasn’t climbed in five years.”
“You still know how. You haven’t forgotten.”
“I’m out of shape.”
“You’re a strong man.” -“You forget my leg.”
She turned away from the window and went back to the door so that she
could listen for Bollinger while she talked. “Remember when Abercrombie
and Fitch had a man scale their building to advertise a new line of
climbing equipment?”
He didn’t look away from the window. He was transfixed by the night.
“What about it?”
“At that time, you said what that man did wasn’t really so difficult.”
“Did I?”
“You said a building, with all its ledges and setbacks, is an easy climb
compared to almost any mountain.”
He said nothing. He remembered telling her that, and he knew he had
been right. But when he’d said it he never thought he’d be called upon
to do it. Images of Mount Everest and of hospital rooms filled his
mind.
“This equipment you chose for the buyer’s guide-”
“What about it?”
“It’s the best, isn’t it?”
“The best, or close to it.”
“We’d be perfectly outfitted.”
“if we try it, we’ll die.”
“We’ll die if we stay here.” “Maybe not.”
“I think so. Absolutely.”
“There has to be an alternative.”
“I’ve outlined them already.”
“Maybe we can hide from him.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know. But-”
“And we can’t hide for seven hours.”
“This is crazy, dammit!”
“Can you think of anything better?”
“Give me time.”
“Bollinger will be here any minute.”
“The wind speed must be forty miles an hour at street level. At least
when it’s gusting. Fifty miles an hour up this high.”
“Will it blow us off?”
“We’d have to fight it every inch.”
“Won’t we anchor the ropes?”
He turned away from the window. “Yes, but-”
“And won’t we be wearing those?” She pointed to a pair of safety
harnesses that lay atop the pile of equipment.
“It’ll be damned cold out there, Connie.”
“We’ve got the down-lined jackets.”
“But we don’t have quilted, insulated pants. You’re wearing ordinary
jeans. So am I. For all the good they’ll do us, we might as well be
naked below the waist.”
“I can stand the cold.”
“Not for very long. Not cold as bitter as that.”
“How long will it take us to get to the street?”
“I don’t know.”
“You must have some idea.”
“An hour. Maybe two hours.”
“That long?”
“You’re a novice.”
“Couldn’t we rappel?”
“Rappel?” He was appalled.
“It looks so easy. Swinging out and back, dropping a few feet with
every swing, bouncing off the stone, dancing along the side of the
building .
“It looks easy, but it isn’t.”
“But it’s fast.”
“Jesus! You’ve never climbed before, and you want to rappel down.”
“I’ve got guts.”
“But no common sense.”
“Okay,” she said. “We don’t rappel.”
“We definitely don’t rappel.”
“We go. slow and easy.”
“We don’t go at all.”
Ignoring him, she said, “I can take two hours of the cold. I know I
can. And if we keep moving, maybe it won’t bother us so much.”
“We’ll freeze to death.” He refused to be shaken from that opinion.
“Graham, we have a simple choice. Go or stay. If we make the climb,
maybe we’ll fall or freeze to death. if we stay here, we’ll sure as
hell be killed.”
“I’m not convinced it is that simple.”
“Yes, you are.”
He closed his eyes. He was furious with himself, sick of his inability
to accept unpleasant realities, to risk pain, and to come face to face
with his own fear. The climb would be dangerous. Supremely dangerous.
It might even prove to be sheer folly; they could die in the first few
minutes of the descent. But she was correct when she said they had no
choice but to try it.
“Graham? We’re wasting time.”
“You know the real reason why the climb isn’t possible.”
“No,” she said. “Tell me.”
He felt color and warmth come into his face. “Connie, you aren’t
leaving me with any dignity.”
“I never took that from you. You’ve taken it from yourself.” Her
lovely face was lined with sorrow. He could see that it hurt her to