The world shrank beneath James Clancy with startling speed.The parking lot where he had been standing moments ago was already far below, the FBI agent and his partner reduced to tiny figures beside their car.The abandoned grocery store looked like a model, like something built for a toy train set.
He rose higher and the city spread out around him in all directions.The industrial buildings of Vernon gave way to the denser urban landscape of Los Angeles proper.He could see the downtown skyline to the north, the tall buildings catching the late afternoon sun.To the west, he caught glimpses of the ocean, a line of blue-gray stretching to the horizon.
There was no fear.No terror.Actually, he was coming to understand that this was the most exhilarating moment of his life.
Clancy had spent thirty-seven years afraid of heights, had structured his entire existence around avoiding elevation—yet he’d been so intimately obsessed with it.And now he was soaring hundreds of feet above Los Angeles, suspended beneath twenty enormous balloons, and he felt nothing but freedom.He felt godlike.
The irony was not lost on him.The Elementalist had promised to help him overcome his fear, had given him a mission that would force him to confront it.But Kane's true gift was not courage.It was manipulation, a carefully crafted delusion that turned Clancy into a weapon.So, in the end, maybe the FBI agent, Sterling, had been right.
Regret settled over him like the cold air at this altitude.He wished he could go back.He wished he could undo everything, return the victims to their lives, to never have become ensnared in the Elementalist's trap.He had been so certain that he was doing righteous work that he was serving a higher purpose.But now, floating above the city with nothing but sky around him, he saw it clearly.
The Elementalist had used him.Had taken his fear and his loneliness and twisted them into something monstrous.
Clancy looked at his watch.He had been airborne for over an hour.The time had passed in a blur of ascent and changing perspective.He could see his breath now, small clouds of vapor that dissipated quickly in the thin air.The temperature had dropped significantly.His fingers felt numb despite the afternoon sun beating down on him.The buildings below were barely recognizable anymore.They looked like scattered squares and rectangles arranged in geometric patterns across the landscape.The streets were thin lines connecting them.The ocean to the west sparkled in the sunlight, its surface appearing infinite and smooth.
He continued to rise.The air grew thinner with each passing minute.His breathing became labored, each inhalation requiring more effort.The familiar tightness in his chest was there, the sensation that had defined so much of his life.But this time there would be no inhaler to provide relief.
A loud pop echoed through the air.One of the balloons had ruptured, unable to maintain its integrity at this altitude.Clancy felt a brief jolt as the remaining five balloons adjusted to the changed weight distribution.
His breathing grew harder.The air was too thin now, lacking the oxygen his body desperately needed.His vision began to blur at the edges.The cold had spread through his entire body, making every movement slow and difficult.
Another balloon popped.The sound was sharp and clear in the thin air.Four balloons remained, still carrying him higher despite the reduced lift.And even as he looked up, another one popped.
James Clancy smiled.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Miles sat on the edge of the hotel bed, staring at the wall without really seeing it.The image of James Clancy ascending into the Los Angeles sky played on repeat in his thoughts.The way the balloons had surged upward with such violent force.The way Clancy had looked down at him with that expression of relief.The final words thanking Miles for helping him do what he could not do alone.
Sixteen hours had passed since then.
In that time, several things had happened—bits of news that had come to him as his body had finally started to demand rest.First of all, Vic had been cleared to leave the hospital, but her doctors had advised against flying back to DC for at least three more days.The concussion was healing well but air travel could complicate things.She had taken a room down the same hall he was on, with Kim sharing Vic’s adjoining room.Vic was insisting she was fine despite the nasty bruising that still colored her forehead.
Miles had booked the hotel rooms immediately after returning from the parking lot where Clancy had launched.He had barely made it to his room before exhaustion overtook him.Ten hours of uninterrupted sleep had followed; it was the deepest rest he had gotten in weeks.He woke feeling refreshed in a physical sense, though the mental weight of the case still pressed down on him.He felt like he had failed.In the end, it wasn’t his investigative prowess that had won the day…it was the determination of Lisa Anderson and the incompetence of James Clancy.
The Coast Guard had located Clancy and the balloons within an hour of the launch.Their tracking systems had picked up the cluster of helium-filled spheres rising through controlled airspace, drifting out toward the sea.But by the time they scrambled a helicopter, there was nothing they could do.Clancy was already too high, ascending through altitudes where rescue was impossible.
Five hours after launch, while Miles and the team were finally getting some rest at the hotel, the balloons had reached approximately one hundred thousand feet.At that altitude, the atmospheric pressure was so low that the balloons could no longer maintain their integrity.They burst one after another in rapid succession.
Clancy's body had plummeted into the Pacific Ocean miles offshore.The Coast Guard had immediately initiated search and recovery operations, deploying boats and aircraft to comb the area where they calculated he would have landed.Despite extensive efforts over the following days, Clancy's body had not been found.The search was still ongoing but the chances of recovery diminished with each passing hour.
Detective Morales had called Miles five minutes ago with the latest update.Her voice had been weary, drained from coordinating the multi-agency response.She’d said the Coast Guard would continue searching for another forty-eight hours before officially suspending operations…but she hadn’t seemed very optimistic.
Miles stood and walked to the window.The Los Angeles skyline was visible in the distance, the buildings catching the early morning light.It was just after six in the morning and the city was beginning to wake up.Here and now, before the traffic and the noise of the day truly kicked in, it was quite beautiful.
This case felt different from the previous ones.Clancy had technically gotten away, escaping in the most final way possible.He had chosen death over capture, had turned his own methodology against himself in a twisted act of devotion.There would be no interrogation, no trial, no answers about how many other disciples might be operating or what Kane had told him in their communications.
A knock at the door pulled Miles from his thoughts.He crossed the room and opened it to find Sarah Kim standing in the hallway.She wore jeans and a light sweater, looking tired but alert.
"Hey," she said."Just wanted to check in to see how you're doing."
"I’m good.Come on in."Miles stepped aside and Kim entered the room.She glanced around at the generic hotel furnishings before settling into the chair by the small desk.
"I keep thinking about yesterday," Kim said."About Clancy going up like that.It's hard to process.This case…I mean, the ruined state of the first two victims and then the way Clancy decided to go out.God…Miles, I don’t know.I don’t think I’m ready for this sort of thing.I think maybe I belongalwaysbehind a computer, at a desk."
“Nonsense.You have a nose for investigation.And you’re an awesome lock-picker.”
She smiled and then, after some thought, asked: "Do you think it will affect the other disciples?Knowing one of them chose that kind of endaftertheir leader was captured and put away?"
