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Hattie smiles.
“We can go forward or we can go back, but either way I keep Nehebkau’s Tears and the Gihon salt.”
“Then we keep going,” I say. I turn to the others. “Agreed?”
Everyone but Delon gives me a yes.
“You have something to say, Paul?”
He looks at his feet.
“I didn’t know about this. I’m not good with heights.”
Beautiful. So Norris Quay is afraid of heights. What an exciting piece of trivia. You’d think fucking Atticus would fix something like that when he made his windup clones. Maybe crossing the Grand Canyon bareback never came up before.
“We’re all going. That means you too.”
“I’m not sure I can.”
“We’re going to need the map in your head when we get across. That means if I have to tie your arms and legs and kick you across like a soccer ball, you’re going.”
“Threats don’t help.”
“That’s not a threat. A threat is when I say if I have to dangle you over the side and drag you across like a sack of dirty laundry, I’ll do that too.”
“Stop it,” says Brigitte. “Can’t you see you’re making it worse?”
“If you can pep-talk him across, be my guest. But we can’t wait around here all night.”
Brigitte talks to Delon quietly. He nods but doesn’t look up from the floor.
I say, “Hattie, you and your boys have done this before. You head across and show us how it’s done.”
“Of course,” she says.
She waves to Diogo and the others and they start across, going one by one. Even for them it’s not an easy crossing. The cables were probably tight once upon a time, but over the years they’ve stretched and the whole bridge has started to go slack. The crossing looks like it’s all about a slow and steady pace, checking your balance with each step. Lean to one side or the other and the whole bridge tips with you. Diogo shows off by tipping both ways during his crossing, righting himself easily each time. It makes my stomach clench each time he does it.
Then it’s my turn. I look across the chasm at the Mangarms. I can’t tell if the bridge is fifty feet long or a mile. I put my right foot on the two cables that form the walkway and test my weight. They hold. I’m kind of disappointed. If the whole thing fell down, I wouldn’t have to go across. Now I have to pretend to be brave. I grab the two side cables and start across.
Each step is a new adventure in bullshit. What kind of sadist invented bridges like this? I’ve seen pictures of them, so I know they exist other places in the world and that people use them every day, scurrying across like squirrels on a telephone line. I’d like to see one of them try it in Kill City over a bottomless pit. There’s no way the other team came this way. With any luck, that means we’re ahead of them. Unless Hattie is taking us the long way around for a laugh, which I wouldn’t put past her.
I don’t know if it’s taken two minutes or a lunar month, but finally I make it across. Hattie’s boys grab and pull me the last couple of feet onto the concrete ledge. I turn back to the others and wave like it was nothing at all, hoping I don’t piss myself before the rest of them come over.
Candy is next. She puts out a foot, grabs the side cables, and crouches like a tiger, getting a feel for the bridge. She stays that way for several seconds. Long enough that I think she’s frozen in place. Then she sprints forward. The bridge wobbles and sways under her, but she doesn’t miss a step. What took me minutes to do, she does in a few seconds. Hattie’s boys reach for her on our end, but she ignores them and jumps the last few feet onto solid ground herself. Cheers start up from the other side of the chasm. Candy waves and bows.
I put my arm around her shoulders.
“Show-off.”
“Scaredy cat.”
Father Traven is next. Except for Delon, he’s the one I’m most worried about. I’m not convinced his footing is all that good on flat ground. While a moving walkway doesn’t seem like suicide, it’s still extremely stupid. There’s nothing we can do but see what happens.
Vidocq and Brigitte shout encouragement as Traven plods across step-by-step. He’s fine until he hits the middle, where the slack in the cables is worst. His feet wobble. He gets a death grip on the two side cables, and teeters, trying to right himself. Each time his balance starts to come back, he loses it again. He’s stuck there, unable to go forward or back.
I’m so focused on Traven that I don’t see Brigitte start across. She’s almost as fast as Candy. When she reaches Traven she stands behind him, moving her weight back and forth, trying to counteract his movements and balance the cables. Gradually it works. Her added weight and sense of balance settle the cables into place. They come across together, a step at a time. When they’re close enough, I pull Traven off the wires to clear Brigitte’s path while Candy grabs her.
Traven walks to the nearest wall and collapses there. Brigitte collapses next to him. He takes her hand and they sit together in the dark.
