Winterland (43 page)

The one incongruous element in all of this, however, the one thing that makes Norton feel like he’s in the middle of an anxiety dream – the middle of a
nightmare
– is the presence of Gina Rafferty.

He walks to the centre of the concourse, a little unsteadily, almost as though he’s drunk. He doesn’t feel as frantic as he did earlier, which is good. But maybe that’s because he surreptitiously popped another three Nalprox tablets in the car as they were approaching Richmond Dock, and as Sullivan was occupied with his BlackBerry.

‘Ah, Paddy,’ Vaughan says, holding an arm out in a gesture of welcome to Norton. ‘Come along, come along. I was just saying to Gina here … when I was a kid, do you know who my heroes were?’

Norton shakes his head.

‘Not Batman, not Superman, not Buck Rogers, no, no, the labourers who built the Empire State, that’s who, the “sky boys” they were called.’ He waves a hand in mid-air. ‘Those young fellas in overalls, you know, the ones who stood on bare girders a thousand feet above the sidewalks of Manhattan.’

‘That so?’

‘Oh yeah. Man, those guys were incredible.’

Norton nods his head, thinking,
How does this old fucker do
it? If I had half his energy …

He glances around.

Standing very close to Vaughan now, right next to him, is Ray Sullivan. Phil has moved in a little closer, too.

Gina is standing there, slightly apart from the others, in her leather jacket – exposed, vulnerable.

He tries to catch her attention, but she won’t look him in the eye.

What is she thinking?

‘You see a part of the problem,’ Vaughan is saying, ‘
I
think, is that people don’t
get
the romance of it anymore, the romance of the skyscraper.’

‘No?’

‘Not in the States anyway, because we’re jaded, we’ve
done
it already.’

‘Done what?’ Gina says, her tone hard to gauge.

‘Look,’ Vaughan says, ‘you’ve got the Woolworth Building, the Wrigley Building.’ He checks them off on the fingers of an outstretched hand. ‘Tribune Tower, the Chrysler, the Empire State,
on
and
on
, the World Trade, Sears, whatever the next one’s going to be. No one cares anymore. But what’s happening now in Dublin, with
this
,’ he throws an arm upwards, in a voilà flourish, ‘well,it makes the whole thing exciting again. It’s like a return to those earlier days, it’s like … what is it Fitzgerald calls it? A fresh, green breast of the new world?’

‘Though of course,’ Gina says, ‘in reverse.’

‘Excuse me?’

‘Well, it
is
like the frontier, I suppose, except that this time you’re heading east, back across the ocean.’ She pauses. ‘I just hope for
your
sake, Jimmy, that you’re not in for too much of a shock.’

Vaughan gives a little shake of his head. ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’

‘Why don’t you ask our friend Paddy here?’

Norton’s insides turn.

‘Ask him
what
? I don’t …’

He stops.

There is a long tense silence, broken only by the hum of passing traffic, the sound of a distant pneumatic drill, the intermittent whistling of the wind blowing in now from the Irish Sea.

‘Please, Gina,’ Norton says eventually, ‘for God’s sake, you shouldn’t be out like this –’

‘Sorry?’

‘You’re not well, we know that, and –’

‘
What?
’

‘Your doctor, he’s advised –’

She leans forward. ‘Fuck you.’

‘OK, OK,’ Ray Sullivan says, stepping forward, arm outstretched, ‘enough already. Come on, miss, whoever the hell you are.’

Gina recoils. ‘Get
away
from me.’

Sullivan stops. ‘Phil?’ he says, quietly, over his shoulder.

‘What’s this?’ Vaughan asks. ‘What’s going on?’

Phil steps forward. Sullivan turns and stands in front of Vaughan, blocking his view.

‘It’s nothing, Jimmy,’ he says. ‘Let me handle it.’

Norton stares at Gina. ‘Don’t make a scene,’ he says. ‘It’s not worth it.’

Phil approaches her. ‘Come on, lady,’ he says, holding out an arm. ‘Let’s go to the car.’

She pulls away again. ‘Don’t you
touch
me.’

Norton swallows. Sullivan looks around. They’re very exposed here, but –

All very quickly, it happens. Phil lunges for Gina. It’s like a rugby tackle. He goes for her waist. He tries to restrain her by binding her arms together inside his own and then lowering her to the ground. But she manages to get one arm free and to wallop him on the side of the head a couple of times. The extra leverage this gives her causes Phil to lose his balance. Locked together in a wrestle, they turn and fall.

Norton looks on in horror.

Still trying to block Vaughan’s view, Sullivan catches a glimpse, over his shoulder, of what is happening.

‘Paddy,’ he says, ‘Jesus,
do
something.’

But Norton is paralysed. He watches Phil and Gina struggle on the ground, hears grunting, heavy breathing, is aware, too, on the edge of his vision, of an alarmed stirring – one or two of the construction workers rushing forward, the reception committee in sudden disarray.

Then there is a sharp, loud crack. It is followed by a single, brief yelp of pain. The construction workers pull back, as though reacting to the force of an explosion. The two bodies on the ground prise apart. Phil rolls sideways, remaining on the ground, and clutches the lower part of his left leg. Gina rolls the other way, but faster, with more purpose, and rises to her feet. She takes a few steps backwards, both arms held out.

In her right hand she is holding a gun.

Sullivan is saying, ‘Oh Christ, oh Christ.’ Vaughan is pale and looks confused.

Norton takes a couple of tentative steps over to where Phil is and bends down as though checking to see if the man is all right. ‘Have you got a gun?’ he whispers.

Phil nods, his face contorted with pain.

‘Then
shoot
her.’

Gina is looking around, and behind her. It’s clear to Norton that she has no idea what she is doing.

‘In the head,’ he says to Phil, ‘and
quick
.’

He withdraws.

‘Tell me,’ Vaughan is saying to Sullivan, ‘
tell
me … what’s going on?’

‘I don’t know, Jimmy, I don’t know. Let’s just get you back to the car.’

Slowly, Sullivan starts manoeuvring Vaughan around.

‘
Don’t move
,’ Gina shouts.

They stop.

Out of the corner of his eye, Norton sees Phil struggling to get something out of his pocket, then turning and raising his arm.

But in that same moment, Gina rushes over and flicks her leg up. She manages to kick the gun out of Phil’s hand and send it flying across the concourse.

Phil yelps in pain once more and collapses back onto the ground.

Gina then grabs Vaughan by the arm and sticks the gun into his side. Ray Sullivan steps backwards, arms up.

‘No,’ he says. ‘For Christ’s sake.’

Norton steps away as well. He can’t believe what’s happening. He’s right there, watching it, but feels detached from it.

The two construction workers in the distance remain frozen – undecided, terrified, useless.

Gina moves, taking Vaughan with her.

‘You, too,’ she says to Paddy. ‘Come on, let’s go.’

‘
What?
’

‘Come
on
.’

‘Where?’

‘Inside.’

Norton follows.

They walk across the concourse towards the building. Vaughan is an old man, so progress is slow and tense. As they approach the arched glass entranceway, the reception committee disperses, left and right. Norton is aware of the others behind him, following at a discreet distance. He glances over and sees one of the construction workers talking on his mobile.

They go through automatic doors, along the entranceway and into the vast atrium.

Still pale and a little shaky, Vaughan nevertheless seems to be OK. He stares ahead, very intently, and remains silent. Gina has a drawn, anxious look to her, as if she knows that this act of stupidity and desperation can only end badly for her.

Which, of course, it
will
.

Because soon enough the Special Branch and Emergency Response Units will be here, and they’ll all be armed, and seeing as how she’s already shot someone and taken two hostages, one a frail old man – what kind of a chance does she stand?

Norton only hopes that it’s quick and efficient – and final.

They move across the vast atrium, which has been cleaned up since he was last here. Shimmering, pristine, the place is ready for occupation by an army of consumers and office workers – but right now it feels eerie and uninviting.

Gina stops and looks around. ‘Those over there,’ she says to Norton, pointing to a bank of six elevators. ‘Are they working?’

‘Gina, look, this is insane. What do you –’

‘
Are
they working?’

He is struck, and a little disturbed, by how calm she sounds.

‘Yes.’

‘OK.’

They move towards the elevators.

Norton looks over his shoulder and across the atrium. There are five people standing just inside the entranceway now – three construction workers, Ray Sullivan, and Norton’s director of development, Leo Spillane.

No one is moving or speaking.

Gina looks quickly at the elevator cars. Norton can see at once that she’s confused. Each car has a touch-screen terminal in front of it and operates on a digital control system that depends on traffic patterns, but since these patterns have yet to be established, the system hasn’t been fully programmed. She steps forward to one of the terminals and enters a number, but nothing happens. She’s about to get annoyed, and turn to Norton, when she sees that the last car doesn’t have a terminal in front of it. On the wall to the side, there is a plain silver push-button marked ‘Express.’

She steps over and presses it.

The door opens immediately.

Norton’s heart sinks. This could get very complicated.

‘
GINA!
’

Norton looks around.

Leo Spillane is stepping forward. He worked closely with Noel and would have met Gina at the funeral.

‘
Gina
,’ he says, ‘please … whatever this is –’

‘
Stay back
.’

Spillane stops.

Gina shunts Vaughan and Norton into the elevator car. She leans her back against the door to hold it open. Standing half inside the car and half out, she raises a hand up into the air – the one with the gun in it.

‘Pass this message on to the police,’ she says, speaking directly to Spillane – and again Norton is alarmed by how composed she sounds. ‘Tell them I want to speak with Jackie Merrigan. Detective Superintendent Jackie Merrigan.’

Then she withdraws into the elevator car. The door automatically whispers shut.

She presses a button.

Vaughan clears his throat. ‘Gina,’ he says, ‘I don’t und–’

‘
Shut up
.’

Vaughan hesitates, looks as if he’s about to continue, but thinks the better of it.

Norton’s heart is racing. His palms are sweaty. As the car starts its rapid, hushed ascent, he closes his eyes.

When they step out of the elevator car into the middle of Level 48, Gina looks around and tries to get her bearings. The tower’s main elevator shafts are located in its central core. But the last time she was up here – with Norton, two weeks ago – they used a service elevator that was located at the end of the building, and the
back
end, the one facing north.

Behind where they are now.

She waves the gun at Vaughan and Norton, directing them to move forward.

Vaughan hesitates.

‘I’m not sure,’ he says, turning to her, ‘that you fully appreciate who I
am
.’

Gina raises her arm and points the gun at his head. ‘I told you to shut up. Now
move
.’

‘OK.’ He holds a weary hand up. ‘OK.’

As she follows the two men, she looks around – left, right, ahead, behind. There doesn’t seem to be anyone else up here. She notices, too, that a great deal of work has been done since that last visit. All the windows, floors and ceiling panels have been fitted, and the place no longer looks like a building site. It’s still an open space, but it’s a lot closer to becoming the teeming ecosystem of reception areas, office suites and conference rooms the architect no doubt intended it to be.

At the end they stop next to a tall stack of what look like prefabricated wall or partition units. The windows are floor-to-ceiling, and the view, as before, is spectacular.

But also a distraction.

Gina turns around. She leans her head back onto the glass and immediately starts wondering how thick it is, and how easy it would be for a trained marksman perched outside on the jib section of the crane to pick her off. Then again – she thinks – someone in here could probably do the job just as easily. They’d come up in the service elevator and position themselves on either side of the central core, or behind any one of the nearby supporting columns.

All of which means one thing: she doesn’t have much time.

‘Right,’ she says, turning to Vaughan. ‘Where were we?’

Norton glares at her.

Vaughan sighs peevishly. ‘I don’t remember.’

‘Well then,’ Gina says, ‘let me remind you.’ She taps the floor with her right foot. ‘This building you have such a big stake in, that you’re here to inspect? I was saying I hope you don’t get too much of a
shock
when you do.’

Vaughan looks at Norton and shrugs.

‘What’s she talking about?’

‘I don’t know, Jimmy. She’s deranged. Look at her. I feel sorry for the bitch.’

Gina says nothing. There is a long pause.

‘Oh, what is this?’ Vaughan says eventually. ‘Listen, I’m not a well man. I have a blood condition.’ He looks at his watch, and then at Gina. ‘I have meds to take. Can we cut to the chase here,
please
?’