Face of Fear by Koontz Dean

Author:Koontz, Dean [Koontz, Dean]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Berkley Books
Published: 1977-05-01T06:15:32+00:00

26

Six business offices occupied the thirty-first floor of the Bowerton Building. Graham and Connie tried a few doors, all of which proved to be locked. They knew the others would be shut tight as well.

However, in the main hall near the elevator alcove, Connie discovered an unmarked, unlocked door. She opened it. Graham felt for the light switch, found it. They went inside.

The room was approximately ten feet deep and six or seven feet wide. On the left was a metal door that had been painted bright red; and to one side of the door, mops and brooms and brushes were racked on the wall. On the right, the wall was lined with metal storage shelves full of bathroom and cleaning supplies.

“It’s a maintenance center,” Graham said.

Connie went to the red door. She took one step out of the room, holding the door behind her. She was surprised and excited by what she saw. “Graham! Hey, look at this.”

He didn’t respond.

She stepped back into the room, turned and said, “Graham, look what—”

He was only a foot away, holding a large pair of scissors up to his face. He gripped the instrument in his fist, in the manner of a man holding a dagger. The blades gleamed; and like polished gems, the sharp points caught the light.

“Graham?” she said.

Lowering the scissors, he said, “I found these on the shelf over there. I can use them as a weapon.”

“Against a gun?”

“Maybe we can set up a trap.”

“What kind of trap?”

“Lure him into a situation where I can surprise him, where he won’t have time enough to use the damned gun.”

“For instance?”

His hand was shaking. Light danced on the blades. “I don’t know,” he said miserably.

“It wouldn’t work,” she said. “Besides, I’ve found a way out of the building.”

He looked up. “You have?”

“Come look. You won’t need the scissors. Put them down.”

“I’ll look,” he said. “But I’ll keep the scissors just in case.”

She was afraid that when he saw the escape route she’d found he would prefer to face the Butcher armed only with the scissors.

He followed her through the red door, onto a railed platform that was only eighteen inches wide and four feet long. A light glowed overhead; and other lights lay some distance away in a peculiar, at first unidentifiable void.

They were suspended on the side of one of the two elevator shafts that went from the ground floor to the roof. It served four cabs, all of which were parked at the bottom. Fat cables dangled in front of Connie and Graham. On this side and on the opposite wall of the cavernous well, from roof to basement at the odd-numbered floors, other doors opened onto other tiny platforms. There was one directly across from Graham and Connie, and the sight of it made them realize the precarious nature of their perch. On both sides of the shaft, metal rungs were bolted to the walls: ladders connecting the doors in each tier to other exits in the same tier.

The

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