Earthquake in San Francisco
Chapter 15
1
Officer Eve Whitfield and Mark Sanger crowded into Ed's dark Ford Sedan. Ed was standing near the vehicle trying to convince Katherine to stay in the office. She was having no part of it. She was just as worried as the rest of them, and Ed couldn't blame her for wanting to join them. Katherine just didn't realize if she came along, Ed would worry about her safety. If anything happened to her, the chief would have his hide. Right now he just didn't need the distraction. He had to get to the Tower building and find the chief.
Brown didn't know how he would react if he found Frank Hunt had killed his boss. His first instinct would be to end Hunt's miserable life. But, could he actually do it? Yes, Ed was certain he could. He only hoped his sense of duty and right and wrong would take over. He worried his judgement would be clouded where the chief's life was concerned. Right now, he had to get to the Tower and find Robert Ironside.
Robert Ironside had one thing going for him, and that was Otto. That dog would protect him with his life. Ed had never seen a smarter dog anywhere. It was as if Otto could actually read the chief's mind. He seemed to take silent orders as well as any of the humans that worked around Ironside. If fact, his instincts were probably better. Still, Brown was not willing to trust Robert Ironside's life to a dog, no matter how brilliant that dog was. It did give him some comfort to know the dog was with the chief.
"Katherine, I know you are worried about Chief Ironside, but I have to insist you stay here. I promise to call you as soon as the chief is safe."
Ed's promise had no positive effect on her. She was shaking her head before he even finished the sentence. "I am going with you. If you don't let me ride with you, I'll find a way to follow you."
"I can't let you do that. If anything happened to you . . . "
"Nothing is going to happen to me, but if you think I am going to just sit in Robert's office and worry, you are wrong," Katherine said.
"You would have to stay outside the building and worry there," Ed tried to tell her. "At least here, I would know you are safe. Many of the buildings are unsafe and debris is still falling from them. Some of them are collapsing." Ed could tell from the look on her face that had been the wrong thing to say.
"You don't think the building Robert is in could collapse, do you?"
Ed shook his head. "I am sure the building is just fine." If he had been Pinocchio, he was certain his nose would have grown over a couple of inches. He had no way of knowing what shape that building was in. So, how could he possibly make that kind of guaranty to Katherine. From the look on her face, she didn't believe him anyway.
"Ed, it is a very tall building. How can you be sure it could withstand an earthquake?" Katherine asked.
The sergeant knew he couldn't, yet he had to try to ease Katherine's mind anyway. "It was only built within the last five years, Katherine. Believe me, it was built to withstand even the strongest of earthquakes. Now please, go back into the building and wait in Chief Ironside's office."
Stubbornly, Katherine just stood there. "I am going with you. I don't care if I have to stand outside the building. I have to know Robert is all right. Katherine wasn't sure which she was more concerned about, the earthquake or Frank Hunt. All she knew was she would be less worried if she could be there instead of Robert's office, not knowing what was going on.
This was one battle Ed knew he wasn't going to win. No doubt, if he refused to bring Katherine with him, she would find a way to follow them. That could prove to put her in danger from falling debris. Against his better judgement, he knew he was going to give into this very strong-willed woman. Why couldn't the chief choose a woman who was easier to manage?
"All right, get in the car." Brown took her arm and led her over to his vehicle. The passenger door opened. Mark got out and opened the back passenger door as Katherine slipped in beside Eve.
Ed nodded at Dunlap who as parked next to them. He had brought along a couple of dogs to help. Dunlap had assured Ed that they were excellent attack dogs and could track as well as Otto. Ed wasn't sure that could be true, but even if they were half as good as Otto, they would be an asset in their search for the chief. Dunlap got into the van with the dogs. Officer Duffy opened the passenger door and got in Dunlap's vehicle.
Slipping behind the wheel of his Ford, Brown put the key in the ignition and started the engine. He pulled the vehicle into the street. He could tell right then just getting to the Tower was going to be a chore. Reaching under the seat, he pulled out the siren and placed it on top of the Ford. Although, he doubted it would be much help under the circumstances.
Eve looked over at Katherine. She certainly was different from Barbara. She would have been a nervous wreck. Katherine, on the other hand, seemed to be very calm. She showed no outwardly signs that she was worried, yet Eve knew she had to be. Eve conceded to herself that they were all worried. They had no idea what they would find when they arrived at the Tower.
2
Robert Ironside crawled out of the room and headed toward the closest staircase. Elevators were not safe after an earthquake hit. He would have to crawl down 83 flights of stairs. Well, actually it was several floors less. Ironside wasn't sure what floor he was on. And, he would only get down if the stairs weren't destroyed by the earthquake. Before he could do that, he had to find his aunt and Otto. The German Shepherd would protect her, of that he had no doubt. The problem was there was only so much Otto could do. Frank Hunt was armed. He would know the dog was a threat. Hunt would shoot Otto on sight. He wished he had the foresight to at least put a bulletproof vest on the dog. Ironside wanted to not only get his Aunt Victoria out alive, he wanted Otto unharmed as well. He continued to crawl toward the stairs, pushing debris out of his way as he went. When he arrived at the stairs, Ironside discovered the same thing his Aunt had earlier. The earthquake had taken out the stairs. He turned his body around and began crawling down the hall in the opposite direction he started. There had to be another set of stairs on the other side. Safety laws would never allow them only one way out of the building. This would be a lot easier if he had not lost his wheelchair. He could have found a way to get it down the stairs.
Ever since that first time he was confronted with an escalator, Ironside had been determined to learn how to safely get his wheelchair down stairs. At that time, he used his upper body strength to prop himself on the stairs. Unfortunately, once he reached the bottom, he could do nothing but fall flat on his face. The young man they believe had shot him got away. If Ironside had only been able to get his chair down the escalator, the boy might be alive today. Unfortunately, he was murdered by Honor Thompson, the woman who actually shot Robert Ironside.
Along the way, Ironside spotted a utility room that was open. The detective never passed up a chance to check for something that might assist or help protect him. He crawled into the room. Ironside looked up. There were shelves all the way to the top of the utility room. They contained cleaning fluids, paper towels, toilet paper; none of which he could use in self-defense. An item on the fifth shelf caught his eye. A rope could come in handy if there were any problems with his descent to the first floor. Ironside looked around for some way to reach the rope.
Crawling to his left he grabbed a mop. Taking the scrubbing end of the mop in his hand, the detective reached up with the other end. It came up short of reaching the fifth shelf. Ironside pushed himself up, raising his chest as high as he could. At the same time, he attempted to stretch as far as he could, but it still wasn't good enough. He could not reach the rope.
Frustrated, Ironside studied his situation. How was he going to reach the rope? Throwing the mop aside, he grabbed the bottom shelf. Using a considerable amount of his weight, he pulled his body up toward the next shelf. It bowed, but held. Ironside decided to give it the full force of his weight. After all, if it were to give way, he would not have far to fall to the floor, minimizing the chances of getting hurt in the fall.
He continued to pull his crippled body toward the next shelf. It continued to hold. He would have to thank the individual who built and put in the shelves. They were solidly built. Once he had pulled himself even with the shelf, he reached up and grabbed hold of the second one.
One thing the detective had made a priority after he lost the use of his legs was working on his upper body strength. It had paid off, as it helped him defeat attackers who had no idea how strong the detective actually was. And, it was paying off again. Ironside pulled his body up to the third shelf and then the fourth one. Deciding he didn't have to go any higher, Ironside reached up, grabbed the rope on the fifth shelf, but it was stuck. He couldn't pull it down. Holding his body in place with his left hand, he used his right hand to give it a hard yank. When he did, the rope came loose, but along with it came a can of paint. It hit the detective in the forehead, opening a cut over his left eye.
Ironside lost his grip on the shelf and fell to the floor. He hit it with such a thud that it jarred his entire body. Pain shot through his back and head as they hit the floor. He shut his eyes and didn't move; willing the pain away.
After it subsided, he gathered the rope. He spotted a spray bottle on the bottom shelf. Pulling his body back toward the shelf, he reached up and grabbed the bottle. Visually checking everything he could see on the shelves, Ironside spotted a bottle of glass polish. He knew the glass polish would contain hydrofluoric acid. If sprayed in the eyes, it would definitely burn them. Using the rope, he formed a lasso and lobbed it up at the glass polish. The rope encircled the bottle, and Ironside pulled it down to the floor. He then opened the top and poured the liquid into the spray bottle now in his possession. He rounded up the rope into a large circle and put it over his shoulder. Using the sprayer end of the bottle, he hooked it to his back suit pants pocket. Now, he had these plus the fingernail file, and the can of pepper spray. Not exactly the weapons he would choose, but they were what he had available to him.
He looked at the two things he obtained from the utility room. It wasn't much, but it was at least something. Ironside left the room and continued his trek down the hall of the floor. When he reached the stairs, he peered down them. They appeared to be in tack. Listening, Ironside could hear someone coming up the stairs. He crawled behind the door that led into the stairway. Pulling the door after him, he was satisfied he was concealed from Frank Hunt, if it were him.
Then he heard a dog whine. Otto! Ironside immediately called out to his canine companion. "Otto!"
The dog left Victoria Ironside, ran the rest of the way up the stairs and headed straight for the detective. Licking him in the face with his tail wagging back and forth, Ironside looked beyond him to see his aunt come up the stairs. She hurried over to him.
"Oh thank God!" Tears rolled down her face as she reached her nephew. "Hunt said you went out the window to the ground."
"I did, but not to the ground. The flagpole stopped my fall. I was able to get into a window," he explained.
"Your chair?" she asked.
"On the street below, I suspect," answered Ironside. "Now, where's Hunt?"
"I ran into him a couple floors down. He was going to shoot me, but your dog saved my life," she told him.
Ironside reached up and ran his thumb lightly over Victoria's eye. It was swelled almost completely shut. She took hold of his hand. "It's all right, Robert." She pulled a handkerchief from the pocket of the jacket she was wearing and wiped the blood from his face. His aunt looked down at his leg. "You're bleeding."
"The window. When it broke, a large piece of it penetrated my leg. Don't worry, I can't feel it."
"You might not be able to feel it, but it is still bleeding." Victoria removed the scarf from the outfit she was wearing and tied it around her nephew's leg. "We have to get help. That maniac is determined to kill us."
Ironside reached into his pocket and pulled out the can of pepper spray. He handed it to Victoria. "It's not much, but it is better than nothing at all." She nodded and put the spray in her pocket.
"What floor are we on?" asked Ironside.
"The 74th floor," she answered.
"Well, that's better than the 83rd." Ironside looked down the stairs. It dawned on him that Victoria was coming up instead of down. "Why didn't you go down the stairs instead of coming back up here?"
"About two floors down the stairs are out," she replied.
"Damn it!" Ironside growled.
"Watch your language, Robert," Victoria scolded.
"We have to find a way to get out of here. Where's Hunt?"
"About two floors down. At least that is where I left him."
"Victoria, the stairs that were out. Is there a chance we could lower to the next floor by rope?" he asked her.
"Well, I could see the floor below. Yes, it might be possible. Where did you find the rope?"
"In a utility room. Hopefully, there are utility rooms on all the floors. We might need to find more rope."
"But how are you suppose to get around, Robert? "You can't crawl your way to safety."
"I don't have a choice. My chair is 74 floors below us, and probably destroyed. I certainly can't walk down 74 floors," he said.
Victoria's eyes lit up. Ironside noticed the change immediately. "What is it, Victoria?"
"Executive chairs! Aren't most of them on wheels?"
"Yes, but I don't have any way to maneuver one. I can't pull myself along these walls. There is nothing to hang on to."
"Robert, stop being so independent. I can push you."
"What good would that do? We will be going downstairs. It's not as if we would be traveling only in the halls," he pointed out.
"Maybe not, but I know you have been practicing going down stairs with your wheelchair."
Ironside thought for a moment. It might work. Then again, he might go crashing down a floor if the chair slipped even a bit. What difference did it make? If they didn't get out of here, Frank Hunt would find them, and then they would die for sure. "All right, Victoria, we'll give it a try."
She smiled. "You stay here, I'll see if I can find an open office."
"The second one from the end of the hall on the right. That is the one I crashed into," Ironside shouted. Victoria left him and hurried down the hall. "Go with her, Otto." The dog whined as if questioning Ironside's order, but left him and ran after Victoria.
Victoria Ironside arrived at the office her nephew had mentioned. The door was open. She went inside. There was an executive chair behind the desk. She looked at the window, or the spot where the window used to be. It had been smashed inward. Victoria could see the flagpole outside. It had a rather large crack in it. She wondered how the pole ever held up under Robert's weight. He was not a small man after all. She estimated he weighed 230 to 240 pounds. He must have broken the window with his body. It would explain the injury to his leg.
That leg wound of his worried her. It was still bleeding; not heavily, but still bleeding nevertheless. She had to get him out of this building and find some help. He needed medical treatment. She looked down at the floor. There was a large piece of glass covered in blood . . . Robert's blood. Victoria raced over to the desk, went behind it, and checked out the chair. It was on wheels. Just what they needed. Victoria grabbed the chair and wheeled it out of the room and back to where she had left her nephew.
"You found one," Ironside said.
"Obviously," Victoria responded. "Now, how do we get you into it?"
Ironside looked at the railing. He grabbed the chair from Victoria's grasp and pulled it over to the railing. "Let's hope the earthquake didn't loosen the railing. You keep the chair steady, and I'll pull myself into it."
Victoria took hold of the chair as her nephew placed both hands on the railing. He pulled himself upwards. The first try was unsuccessful as he almost fell to the floor, but he was able to raise his body into the chair.
Victoria smiled. "I knew you could do it."
"I still think it makes more sense to just crawl down," the chief said, looking down the stairs.
"And if Hunt shows up, how would you get away from him?"
"I wouldn't and neither would you. Well, we might as well get started," Ironside said. "Only 73 more floors to go."
"I'll go first in case you slip." As Victoria tried to pass the detective, he grabbed her arm. "If I slip, you would go down with me. I'll go first. You stay behind me. By the way, how many floors can we get down before we run into the floor where the stairs are destroyed?"
"Three floors," she revealed.
"That will put us on the 71st floor before we have to reassess our problem. We better get started. Otto, you go ahead of us. Go, boy."
"Why are you sending him first? Shouldn't he follow us down?" Victoria asked.
"No. We know Hunt is below us. Otto can warn us if we are about to run into him. I would prefer to avoid that if we can."
"That makes sense. Well, Robert, I'm ready if you are."
Ironside held on tightly to the railing. He began pulling the chair forward, allowing some wheels to reach the next step. The wheels were swiveling presenting a problem. He had trouble controlling them. They weren't hitting squarely on the stair. If he got out of this mess, he was going to find a reason to arrest the person that invented the swiveling wheels. He went down a couple more stairs with the same problem, almost losing the chair a couple of times.
Their progress was just plain too slow. By the time they got out of the building, San Francisco would be rebuilt and functioning normally. Ironside conceded that was a bit of an exaggeration. Still, they would never get out before Frank Hunt found them, and he didn't want to run into him with no reliable way to defend himself and his aunt. Ironside grabbed the railing and pulled himself out of the executive chair. He allowed it to go tumbling down the stairs.
"Robert!" Victoria screamed.
"It's all right, Victoria. It just wasn't working." Ironside lowered his body until he was sitting on the stair. "I will go down on my tail." He avoided saying his ass as he knew Victoria would scold him for the language.
"You don't have a tail," Victoria said.
Ironside ignored the remark. Still holding the rail, he began lowering his body to the next step. The process was still slow, but faster than trying to use the chair. Now, only if they could avoid Frank Hunt.
3
Patience was not always a virtue as far as Ed was concerned. Every time they tried getting down a street, they were stopped by debris in the way, forcing them to find another route. All he could think of was getting to the chief. God only knew what the earthquake had done to the Tower. And if that wasn't bad enough, the chief was trapped in the building with two men who wanted to kill him. Ed almost forgot about Victoria Ironside. She was also in danger, and Hunt would use her against the chief. Ed had known the chief long enough that he would put her life ahead of his own. That worried him more than anything. Robert Ironside would sacrifice his own life to protect hers.
He turned down another street, but it was blocked by a fire engine putting out a fire in a high rise. Maybe, cities along the San Andres fault line should never be able to build them higher than 4 or 5 floors. As much as the standards for building in earthquake areas had improved, they still were not earthquake proof and never would be.
Brown turned his Ford down another street where he was stopped by a uniformed cop. "You can't go down this street. There are power lines down."
Ed nodded and backed up his vehicle. The same cop headed over to his car. The sergeant stopped and waited for him to reach them. "What is it, Officer?"
He pulled the walkie-talkie from is belt and asked for a path to the Tower. Another police officer gave him instructions and what streets to avoid. "Got that, Sergeant?" the officer asked.
"I got it, and thanks," Ed said.
"Sergeant. Find the chief and bring him out alive. Be careful, I understand Frank Hunt and Roland Hubbard are in that building with the intent to kill him."
Ed couldn't say anything. He just nodded and drove away from the officer. He followed the directions the police officer had given them. Within a few minutes, they reached their destination. Everyone got out of the car. When another police officer tried to turn them away, Lieutenant Carl Reese hurried over to him. "It's all right. These people work for Chief Ironside."
Katherine's heart sank when she spotted the mangled wheelchair she recognized to be Robert's. She took off on a dead run toward the chair. There was a man lying on the ground covered with a tarp. "Oh my God, no!" she cried.
Carl Reese grabbed her around the waist. "Easy, Katherine. It's not the chief. Someone shot and killed one of our officers. We have every reason to believe the chief is alive."
Ed, Eve and Mark joined them. "That's the chief's chair," Eve said.
Carl pointed up toward the top of the building. "There appears to be a broken window on the top floor. That is probably the window the chair went out. Down several floors where the flagpole is, there is another broken window. It looks like the chief must have been able to stop his fall with that pole. He likely broke that window to get back in."
"What about Hunt and Hubbard?" Mark asked.
"Don't know, but I am guessing only one of them are in the building. This officer," he said, pointing at the dead man on the ground, "likely tried to stop one or the other and was shot for his trouble."
"What about the stability of the building, Carl" Ed asked.
"It is being checked now by the fire department. As soon as they give us the go ahead, we're going in."
"We're going in now," Mark said as he tried pushing his way past Carl.
Reese grabbed the young man. "No, we're waiting until we can be sure the building is not going to collapse, and then we are going in."
"The chief is up there with two maniacs who are trying to kill him," Mark shouted.
"Don't you think I know that? We won't save the chief if the building falls and the rest of us will get killed in the process. We wait. Is that clear?" Carl's tone made it clear he would stop any of them who tried.
They had arrived, but there was nothing they could do but wait.