DUALITY /#Wattys 2021

Chapter 49

Six a.m. Dressed in her warmest pants over her luge suit and her thick coat, the weapon Reb had put in Chi's luggage for her secure in its holster at her hip, Ridley secured her rope around a balustrade on Chi's balcony. Snow still drifted down, which she hoped would help cover her tracks as she made her way over to the fence. Reb had made sure the rope would be long enough to double, so she could remove it after she had climbed down, then either hide it or take it with her. Ridley had enough to worry about in the next two hours; she decided to hide it in the snow. Checking inside her coat to be sure she hadn't forgotten the papoose sling, Ridley swung each leg in turn over the rail and started down the wall.

She landed at the bottom and her boots sunk into about an inch and a half of snow. She coiled the rope up and used it to mask her tracks; then she saw, in the shadows cast by a security light several yards away, that the rope had made swish marks in the snow. With any luck, the falling snow would cover them before the sun came up.

She turned for the wall, glancing about for any sign of patrol, and then noticed footprints in the snow where a patrolman had recently come past. Using his tracks to cover her own, she made her way as close to the wall as she could before his tracks turned in another direction. Then she walked backwards to the wall, using the coiled rope to smooth the snow behind her. Once she got there, she placed her own boot tracks close to the wall.

In a few moments she reached the hedge. Trying to place her boots as close to the bushes as she could while being careful not to knock snow from them, she followed them to a tall evergreen tree with thick branches from top to trunk. She squeezed between the branches and crouched down close to the trunk, confident her dark green coat, pants, and hat would camouflage her.

Then she waited, peering between the pine needles as the sky went from black to indigo to gray. The snow still fell heavily enough that she knew it would be cloudy outside until it stopped. As soon as it was light enough, Ridley scuffled around and found the doll under the hedge, and scouted through the bushes to locate the ladder that rose to the luge shed some two stories above.

A grounds patrolman strode by in the snow, close enough to look right into her face if he'd been paying attention. Ridley peered at her watch. Seven o'clock. Any time, now. She resisted the urge to stand up to keep her legs limber, worried the guard might pass again on his way back.

A long time went by. Ridley's nose went cold, then her cheeks. The cold seeped into her gloves and up her arms. It curled around her calves.

Two more patrols went by. Ridley checked her watch again. Seven forty-five. Chi was late.

Her legs felt stiff in the cold. Ridley stood up and paced a little, straining between the pine boughs for the approach of another patrol. As soon as she saw one, she returned to the trunk and crouched again.

The cold reached deeper into her clothes. Eight o'clock came and went. Eight-thirty. Nine.

Ridley began to panic. Something must have happened, she thought. But: was it something Chi could work around? Would he still make it out here? How long would it take him? How long should she wait before she gave up? And, if she gave up, what should she do next? She had no way to climb back up to Chi's suite, and even if she did, would he look for her there? Would he come out here later to find her and explain?

Worst thought of all: How the hell would she get out of here if he didn't? And, would she ever find out what had happened?

Cold and stiffness gripped her calves and her hip flexors, driving icy knives toward her bones. She didn't want to give up on Chi yet, but her watch inched toward ten. What could have happened? A dull roar above her ears came closer and closer; a hovercraft of some sort. Why? Does that have anything to do with this?  She heard the hovercraft some ten minutes; then the sound receded into the distance.