Michael Palmer - Oath of Office

Lou cried out as he dropped to one knee, but his momentum carried him flailing into Stone, who was bowled over backwards. The pistol went clattering across the catwalk and slid under the railing. Lou pounded the cop in the face again and again. Blood gushing from Stone’s nostrils flowed into blood streaming from the hole in his neck. Still, the man was able to shove Lou off and make it to his feet, pulling Lou up by the shirt and squeezing the air and life out of him with the strength of a python.

Quickly, Lou’s strength began to fail. Stone swung his hips to the right, lifting Lou’s feet off the catwalk and slamming him against the railing. Lou, now nearly helpless, tried and failed to drop down to avoid being thrown over the edge. The pressure of Stone’s thick arms was unbearable. His face, teeth gritted, was a bloody mask.

Lou pushed against Stone’s chest with all his strength, but failed to put any distance between them. He was now aware of a burning pain from the muscle where the bullet had torn through. At that instant, Lou’s knees went slack and he experienced the horrific sensation of his feet leaving the catwalk. Before he could make another move, he was over the top of the railing. Frantically, he forced his fingers through the steel chain link of the catwalk wall and gripped it as tightly as he could.

Every breath was an agonizing effort. His feet dangled down, precariously close to the hordes of termites milling below him. His palms stretched until they burned. His arms quivered from exertion and utter fatigue. Grateful for the hours of training under Cap’s tutelage, Lou managed to stretch up with his right foot and slip it over a support beam beneath the walk. At that instant, Stone appeared above him, his face a hideous mask of gore. Blood, dripping down into the pit below Lou, sent the colony clicking and scurrying about. Grinning ferociously, Stone tapped the toe of his heavy boot against Lou’s fingers, sending electric pain shooting down his arm.

“Fast or slow?” Stone asked. “Your choice.”

He emphasized his question with another light tap. Though he tried, Lou failed to keep himself from crying out. His left hand fumbled to improve his grip on the metal. The tightness in his palm intensified.

Emmy, I’m so sorry, baby. So sorry.

Lou tried to will himself to hold on, but felt his grip starting to release. Perspiration was stinging his eyes. His left hand was about to let go when he heard a scream from above, followed by the sound of running footsteps that shook the catwalk.

“No!” Edwin shouted as he charged the police chief.

Buoyed by the attack, Lou managed to tighten his grip. He craned his neck and looked upward just in time to see Edwin swing the metal extension pipe, connecting heavily with Stone’s temple. A second blow landed on the side of the man’s neck.

Stone staggered back from the sidewall. Swinging his weapon wildly, Edwin charged after him, stumbling against his broad chest. The two men grappled on the catwalk, spinning in circles, with Stone screaming in both rage and pain. Lou tried to pull himself up, but his arms were shaking from fatigue.

Emily.… Come on, you idiot, do it for your kid. …

He gained a little more purchase with his foot and then finally was able to adjust the position of his hands. Overhead he could see Stone beginning to maul the much slighter Edwin.

He had to get up to help.

At that moment, Edwin made a move, almost certainly unexpected, that spun Stone around and rammed his back into the upper railing of the catwalk. In an instant, locked in each other’s arms, the two of them went over, brushing past Lou as they fell.

The heavy thud beneath him was dreadful, and was quickly followed by the unremitting shrieks of Gilbert Stone. But Lou was too weak to turn and look. He hoped that the lack of sound from Edwin meant that the man had been knocked unconscious.

The clicking and cracking from the termite jaws, reverberating off the steel walls, became deafening.

Inch by painful inch, Lou advanced upward along the outside of the catwalk wall, using his foot to push and his fingers to pull. Finally, he was upright, hanging on to the wall. Fearing what he was going to see, he finally had the strength to look down. The two adversaries lay supine, a foot from each other, their hands nearly touching. Edwin was motionless, a pool of insect-covered crimson expanding from beneath his head.

Stone was moaning and squirming with pain. His eye sockets were already filled with termites, and dozens, if not hundreds of them seemed to be forcing their way into his mouth. His lips were moving as if he were trying to speak, but no recognizable words were emerging.

Lou hung on until his wind had somewhat returned. Then he swung his legs over the top railing of the catwalk wall and dropped to his side on the metal grate, his chest heaving with exhaustion. The bullet wound to his thigh burned, but he knew that with time, the scar would be a memento of what had been the worst day of a life that had experienced more than its share of them.

Below him, the clicking and grinding of thousands of Macrotermes bellicosi had built into a turbinelike crescendo. Still laboring for each breath, Lou stumbled to his feet and grabbed the extension pole Edwin had used to save his life. By the time he returned to the spot where he might have had a chance to reach the man, it was way too late.

The bugs were busily eating.

And the scion of Chester Enterprises was already dead.

It took eight minutes for the Macrotermes bellicosi to finish most of their meal.

Exhausted and battling pain in his sternum, thigh, and a dozen other areas, Lou sat on the catwalk and averted his eyes. From his days on the streets and in the ER of a tough city, he had seen more than his share of death in its various forms. The images never sat well with him and never would.

When he did manage a glance down, what might have been hundreds of thousands of insects were done. The sounds of the carnage, of human bones being pulverized by insect jaws, would never leave him. Aside from a few shreds, all that remained of the two men below were metal-belt buckles, Edwin’s brace, Stone’s badge and gun, and two sets of car keys.

Lou was thinking about retrieving the keys when another sound set his heartbeat racing.

An alarm buzzer began throbbing from somewhere beyond the laboratory. Somehow, Stone had managed to avoid the alarm, but whoever had just entered did not know how, or hadn’t bothered.

A light fixture encased in a metal cage and mounted just above the entrance to the catwalk began to flash.

Not good.

Lou ran through his various escape options, quickly ruling out going back the way he’d come in. There was a door at the end of the other arm of the catwalk, but if it was locked, he would essentially be trapped. The only other door in the termite lair would bring him into the radiation area. He’d have no time to don a protective suit, but the risk was unavoidable. There had to be an emergency exit someplace, and the radiation lab seemed a good bet.

First, though, he had to get through the door, and then get away from whoever had just entered the lab. Running was not an option. He needed wheels.

Using the extension pole, Lou considered going for Stone’s gun, but went fishing for Edwin’s car keys instead. If it seemed there was time after snagging the keys, he might take a crack at the pistol. The choice proved to be a good one. The heavy pole was cumbersome to use and was probably intended to grasp much larger objects. Prodding the bloodstained ground near to where Edwin’s body once had been, Lou struggled to grasp his keys. The drone of the alarm seemed to be getting more urgent.