Page 31 of King’s Ransom

Bang-bang.

Two small explosive charges on Alexei King’s gravity boots went off and the little boy dropped away from the elevator and fell head-first into the 94-storey shaft.

In the same instant, I jumped out into the shaft.

It was a full-body flying leap right out into the middle of the shaft with the fire hose wrapped around my waist, trailing behind me like a wobbling tail.

(I glimpsed someone on the floor above me lunge out from the open doors, reaching for the boy, but whoever it was missed him.)

And as the boy plummeted past my level . . .

. . . I caught him . . .

. . . in mid-leap.

And then we fell together.

Ninety-plus floors above the world.

The fire hose unspooled rapidly above me.

By then Heidi and Bill had figured out what kind of assistance I needed.

They lunged for the hose and grabbed it, bracing their feet against the floor and—

—the hose snapped taut—

—and I was yanked to a halt, gripping Alexei in my arms—

—while the fire hose folded over the edge of the doorway—

—and we swung back toward the concrete wall of the shaft and—

—slammed into it.

I turned my shoulder at the last moment, shielding the boy so that I took the brunt of the impact with the wall.

I almost dropped the kid, the hit was so strong, but I managed to hang on to him and all of a sudden, our fall was over.

I hung there dumbly against the wall of the vertiginous shaft, high above the drop, clutching the little boy in my arms.

I tilted my head and smiled at him.

‘Caught ya,’ I said.

Then slowly, carefully, one foot at a time, Heidi and Bill hauled us up.

UNKNOWN CALLER

Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.

– Alexander Pope

A minute later, I was back up on the 93rd floor, lying on the glistening marble floor with Alexei King still in my arms, a few feet from the edge of the elevator shaft.

‘Thanks for the assist, guys,’ I said.

‘You’re insane,’ Heidi said. ‘Loveable, but completely insane.’