Troubleshooter

Chapter 51 - Knight in Shining Armor (Part 1)

A FIRE alarm in the worst moment possible, Isabelle McAllister thought as she was sitting with two coworkers in a meeting room on the thirty-first floor. They were in the middle of an important telephone conference with a difficult client, a hard sell on numbers and detailed comparisons, who was already grumpy due to the extreme twelve-hour time difference. Additionally, Isabelle was in high heels and her reserve sneakers were stored below her desk, six floors down. So she would need to walk down thirty-one floors either on stilettos or barefoot. Great alternatives.

Her staff looked annoyed, too. Luckily, the siren loudspeaker was not in the meeting room itself, but further down the corridor, so the noise was bearable and inaudible to the client over the speakerphone. Still, they would need to wrap up things quickly and evacuate. She could see other staff already heading for the emergency staircases, but a lot of paper on the desk couldn't be left lying around. Isabelle motioned to her coworkers to start cleaning up silently while she attempted a graceful ending of the call with the client.

The Asian Man first ran up to the twentieth floor, briefly stopped and pressed the fire alarm button close to the elevator bank. Then he continued his way up. When he was on twenty-six, the first people started their walk downstairs, alerted by the alarm. Finally, he passed the thirty-first floor and went up the final stairs to the roof. The steel door slammed open, and he stood in the corner of the roof structure. There was not much room for a helicopter to land due to the air condition condenser units, an array of various antennas, and the window-cleaning rig running on a wide monorail.

He looked around. There it was! The helicopter was already in sight, coming in from Greenwich Hill.

Paul reached the roof just in time to see the helicopter on its approach. There was no prepared landing space like on so many other high-rise building roofs in the City, so the pilot first had to find the best spot. Then he saw the Asian Man crouching at the roof access door, ready to run toward the helicopter as soon as it touched down. Paul ran across the roof, not minding the helicopter. He grabbed a broom that had been left by some crew—something was better than nothing.

The Asian Man saw Paul approaching. Instinctively, he looked for a weapon, too, and found one strapped on the side of the roof door, a fire extinguisher. He ripped it from the wall and lifted it just as Paul came rushing with the broomstick pointing at him. The Asian Man deflected the attack and at the same time tried to aim a kick between Paul's legs. Paul managed to move to the right and received the kick against his thigh. He catapulted off balance and crashed into the roof door. This time, it was Paul's turn to deflect the fire extinguisher that came precariously close to his face. The Asian Man was too confident with the extinguisher to see Paul's kick, sweeping away his legs. They crashed into each other. The broomstick broke in two, the sharp wooden splinters cutting the left hand of the Asian Man. Two nasty, bloody pieces had gone fully through, visibly sticking out from both sides.

The helicopter pilot stopped his approach when he saw the two men fighting on the roof. The violent style and speed of the fight made it clear that this was something serious—nothing that the pilot wanted to happen in his cabin. So he hovered ten meters above and waited for the outcome. He wasn't even sure which of the two opponents he was supposed to pick up.

Paul grunted as he tried to push the Asian Man away with the longer end of his broken broomstick, the extinguisher banging against his head repeatedly. Only the proximity of the Asian Man prevented a full-contact blow each time. Suddenly the Asian Man gave in to Paul's push and moved toward him. He sailed over Paul and rolled, using the momentum to get back on his feet and to run toward the next exit. Paul's head was ringing from the extinguisher blows. He'd been beaten twice in a row, and the SOB was getting away again.