Part 30 (1/2)

”Love those considerate engineers,” Jack said as he found the switches and hit the one that illuminated the section below.

”Conserve energy, Jack. Turn off the light in each section as you leave it.”

”You do it your way, Dud. I'll do it mine. I like to see where I've been.”

”Turn me off until you see my handle on the twenty-first floor.”

Jack found the off switch and continued his descent without a running narrative. The only sounds were his soft, echoing footsteps and his breathing. Farther down he found a big ”21” in red marker facing him through the rungs of the ladder. Dud's handle hovered under the curve of the ”2” like a floating eye.

Jack turned on the Walkman.

”Okay, Jack. If you're at the twenty-first floor, it's time to leave the big vertical and enter the laterals via that opening on your left. These get smaller as we go, and unfortunately they're not lit for us, so you'll have to turn on the headlamp.”

Jack swung off the ladder and into the smaller duct. It was perhaps half the width of the vertical. He adjusted the headlamp lens to the widest beam and began to crawl.

”At the first intersection you turn left. I've cleared the dust and left a little directional arrow. I've done that at each intersection-the black arrows for the way in, red arrows for the way out-just in case something goes wrong with the Walkman.”

”What a comforting thought,” Jack said. But he appreciated Milkdud's thoroughness.

He found the first pair of arrows-bracketing Dud's handle-and made the turn.

”And that's basically it, Jack. The arrows will lead you to the return that services Haffner's office. If you need any help, you've got the cell phone. The thing is to move slowly and carefully, easing yourself along. Sudden moves that bang against the sides will send the noise far and wide. Most people ignore an occasional rattle or such from a register. But give them a series of noises moving along above their hung ceilings and they start making calls, asking what's going on. So take it easy, Jack. We've given you plenty of time. Good hacking, man. This is Milkdud, signing off.”

Must think he's Walter Cronkite or something, Jack thought as he turned off the Walkman and continued his crawl.

As he slid through the dark ducts, following the wavering beam of light stretching before him, he came to appreciate the coveralls. Its b.u.t.ton-free front surface allowed him to glide along smoothly and silently.

The ducts, as Dud had warned, did indeed get smaller. But Jack kept following the arrows. He was, he freely admitted, utterly lost. He knew he was on the twenty-first floor of the Hand Building, and that his body was horizontal, but any orientation beyond that was a guess. Was he facing east or west, uptown or downtown? He had no idea.

That Dud had managed to hack this place-doing the elevator thing, and finding his way through this labyrinth of ductwork-on his own was astonis.h.i.+ng.

That anyone could call it fun fun was simply beyond Jack. was simply beyond Jack.

And then Jack came to a left-pointing arrow and saw-literally-a light at the end of the tunnel.

Slim bands of fluorescent glow angled up through the louvers of a register at the end of a small duct. Jack heard voices filtering through from the room beyond, but couldn't catch the words. And even if he could, hearing was not enough. He wanted to see who was in that room, wanted to know who was saying what.

And he couldn't do that from here.

He had to get closer, and that meant moving into this last duct. This small small last duct. last duct.

Jack stared into the narrow confines of the six-foot length of steel... just the length of a coffin. But coffins probably were a lot roomier. What if he got stuck in there?

Milkdud had given him a few hints on how to maneuver in a tight spot. This might be the time to try them out.

Jack turned off the headlamp. Then, with his right arm extended ahead and his left arm close against his side, he squeezed himself diagonally into the duct.

Tight. Very tight.

Now he truly appreciated what Dud had meant about claustrophobia being a deterrent to hacking.

Slowly, silently, he inched forward until he had about eighty percent of the office in view.

A plump, red-haired man in a white s.h.i.+rt-Gordon Haffner, Jack hoped-sat behind the desk, talking on the phone. Jack could hear him perfectly. As he watched, two other men entered. Jack recognized one from the van on Thursday night: Thomas Clayton. The other was new-dark-skinned, dark-haired, bearded, very intense-looking, with an accent from somewhere in the Middle East.

Jack smiled. He figured he was looking at Thomas Clayton's backer-the guy who was killing anyone who stood between him and the Clayton House. Excellent. Now, if they'd all just be so good as to discuss exactly why they wanted the house so badly, Jack could get the h.e.l.l out of here.

But they didn't. They talked about Alicia and how they hoped she'd come up with a sale price this morning so they could settle the matter of owners.h.i.+p, but the reason was never mentioned.

And what was Thomas doing here? Sean had told Haffner that Alicia didn't want her brother present at the meeting. But here he was, and the clock was ticking, getting close to nine-thirty. He was sure Alicia would pop her cork if she saw him here. This was no way to get her to cooperate. What were they thinking?

And then Haffner's intercom buzzed, announcing ”Mr. O'Neill and Ms. Clayton.” Haffner got up, slipped on his suit jacket, and said he'd be back as soon as he finished speaking to her.

Jack's head jerked up and almost struck the ceiling of the duct.

What?

The meeting was supposed to be in Haffner's office, just the other side of the register. Where the h.e.l.l was he going?

Not that the meeting itself mattered. Alicia could fill him in later on anything important. Jack had crawled through these ducts to hear the postmortem. If he had any chance of picking up some choice tidbits of unguarded conversation about the Clayton house, that would be the time.

But if the meeting was being held somewhere else, so might the postmortem.

He listened awhile to hear if Thomas and his Middle Eastern wallet man would drop anything worthwhile, but they didn't seem to be buddies: Thomas read the paper while the stranger stood at the window and stared at the street below.

Jack eased back into the larger duct and checked out his options.

”What are we doing here?” Alicia said as Gordon Haffner ushered them into a mahogany-paneled conference room.

”Having a meeting,” Haffner said. He looked confused as he laid a file folder on the gleaming surface of the oval mahogany table. ”Isn't that why you called? To have a meeting?”

”We met in your office last time, so I thought-”

”This is much roomier.”

Alicia glanced at Sean O'Neill, who replied with a barely perceptible shrug.

”Is something wrong?” Haffner said.

Yes, but Alicia couldn't tell him what. They'd set up this meeting to allow Jack to identify Thomas's backers. But what if the backers met in here instead of Haffner's office after the meeting? Jack would be eavesdropping on an empty room.

If she demanded to meet in Haffner's office, would that make him suspicious? And what would that accomplish if the backers were set to meet here afterward?

Jack needed to know about this conference room. And she could think of only one way to do that.

”Wrong?” Alicia said, letting her voice rise. ”You want to know if something's wrong! wrong! Let me Let me tell tell you what's wrong!” She raised the volume, pus.h.i.+ng it to a shout. ”Your client, my half brother Thomas Clayton, is what's wrong! Do you have any idea what kind of a slug you're representing? Do you know what he did to me Thursday night?” you what's wrong!” She raised the volume, pus.h.i.+ng it to a shout. ”Your client, my half brother Thomas Clayton, is what's wrong! Do you have any idea what kind of a slug you're representing? Do you know what he did to me Thursday night?”

She saw O'Neill turn her way and give her a quick smile and a wink.