Jeff Rovin - Vespers

Schrank started jogging toward the steps. “I think you’re both crazy, but I wish you luck. If you change your mind, the hospital is-”

“Wait!” Gentry shouted suddenly.

Schrank stopped.

“No, not you,” Gentry said.

Schrank waved and disappeared down the steps.

Gentry regarded Joyce. “How spry did the bat look to you?”

“You saw. It’s tough to say.”

The floor shuddered. Still holding Joyce’s hand, Gentry turned and followed Schrank toward the steps.

“Where are we going?”

“How far do you think our girl can fly?”

“God, Robert, I don’t know. Why? What are you going to do?”

They started down the rattling steps. “I’m going to find out how bad Kathy Leung wants an exclusive.”

Leaving the ventilation tower and running across the boardwalk, Gentry found Kathy Leung and her brawny camera operator T-Bone Harrold where he knew they’d be: right where he’d left them. Waiting for a story.

The small bats were beginning to swarm around the ventilation tower, and police were asking the reporters to withdraw to the nearby Coast Guard buildings. Several of the print journalists were cooperating but not Kathy, T-Bone, and their small mobile crew. Gentry knew that she wouldn’t be going anywhere without a video of the bat. In fact, he had been counting on that.

As they’d run from the tower, Joyce and Gentry had agreed that they couldn’t go back to Manhattan. With the tunnel fans shut down, the giant bat would be able to backtrack through the tunnel and fight her way back to her nest. Or if she got free of the elevator shaft, she would be able to follow Nancy by air. Either way, it would be bad for the city.

When the bat’s attack became audible on the island itself, Gentry surprised Kathy by asking for a ride.

“Sorry, but I’m not going back!” she informed him. T-Bone had the video camera on his shoulder. Kathy motioned for him to snap on his lights.

“I’m not asking you to go back,” Gentry said.

She seemed startled.

“I’m asking for a ride to Liberty Island.”

Kathy regarded him suspiciously. “Why?”

“Because the big bat made Nancy.”

“The bat what?”

“It knows she’s the one who killed her mate!” Gentry said.

“The bat’s breaking through the tunnel toget to me,” Joyce said. “When we leave she’ll probably follow us. What we want to do is lead her and the other vespersaway from the city.”

“And you want us to take you.”

“Right, Kath,” Gentry said.

“What a story,” Kathy said. “Thank you, God.”

Gentry said, “I’ve gotta warn you, though. Things will get hairy if the bat reaches the island.”

“If?”

Joyce said, “She’s tired and extremely pregnant, and we’re hoping she belly-flops into the sea.”

“T-Bone.”

“I’ll keep my camera pointed in her direction.”

As they started toward the boat, Gentry reiterated that the bat was obviously very determined. Kathy said she understood the risks. T-Bone shrugged his big shoulders and said that he was with the lady.

As large chunks of stone fell from the south side of the ventilation tower, the reporter dismissed her mobile unit. She said that she and T-Bone would go directly to the studio when they had their footage. In time for the morning news show, she promised.

Meanwhile, Gentry and Joyce helped T-Bone load his equipment behind the two pedestal seats of his producer’s twenty-one-foot fishing boat. Gentry knew there was no way he’d be leaving that behind, so he didn’t even attempt to persuade him. The three of them had to stop every few seconds to swat at vesper advance guards. More than the crashes echoing from the tower, the vespers were an indication of how close the female was.

Kathy started the engine and took the helm. Gentry slid into the seat beside her. Joyce and T-Bone crouched in the cramped stern, looking back at the tower. T-Bone pulled a bottle of seltzer from his equipment vest and offered some to Joyce. She declined. When everyone was secure, Kathy pushed the 225-horsepower engine to its maximum speed and tore from the dock.

As the island receded, Gentry ducked low behind the windscreen. He turned and asked Joyce for her radio. Holding it close to protect it from the wild sea spray, Gentry called Weeks.

“Where are you?” Weeks demanded.

“We’re in one of the news boats heading west!” Gentry shouted into the mouthpiece.

“Where west?”

“I’ll explain in a second. What’s the status of your SWAT teams?”

“Their launch is pinned down,” Weeks informed him. “The bats are in an uproar again. What the hell is going on out there?”

Gentry said, “The big bat was nearly through the floor of the ventilation tower.”

“Jesus! What’s that fucking animalmade of?”

“Muscle, mostly,” Gentry replied. “And she’s after Nancy. Instead of coming back into the city we decided to head to Liberty Island. Nancy feels that even if the bat can make the trip, a mile-long flight in strong air currents will exhaust her. What kind of personnel are on the island?”

“Hold on. I’ll-”

“Robert!”Joyce cried.

“Comin’ atcha!”added T-Bone, who had hoisted his camera onto his shoulder.

The detective spun around. T-Bone hadn’t turned on the floodlight so Gentry squinted into the dark.

There was an emergency lamp over the front entrance to the tower. In the small, sharp cone of light Gentry saw the giant bat literally push down the door. A cloud of ethyl chloride followed the animal out, dusting its back with a frigid coat. The bat took two hops toward the sea and vaulted skyward. She flew close to the water, followed by a train of small bats. Occasionally, the bat would rise, glide for a moment, then drop and resume flapping.

“She’s got to be within minutes of giving birth,” Joyce said. “She’s having trouble staying aloft.”

“Not trouble enough! She’s closing the gap,” Gentry said. He turned and looked at the control panel. “Fifty-three miles an hour. Is that the best we can do, Kath?”

“That’s top speed!” Kathy shouted apologetically.

Gentry ducked back down behind the windscreen. “Gordon? Are you still there?”

“Here!”

“The bat’s out and she’s following us.”

“Do you have a weapon?”

“Yeah. An empty one. Listen, we’ll be at the Statue of Liberty dock in less than a minute. What’ve you got for me?”

“Wait,” Weeks said. “Marius is talking to the park police.”

Gentry waited. He glanced ahead. The statue was brightly lit, an ethereal, washed-out green against the starless sky. They were less than a half mile from the low wall that surrounded the island.

Hope,he thought as he looked out at the statue. Wasn’t that what Lady Liberty was all about?

Weeks came back on. “Okay, here it is. Sergeant Julie Gilheany is opening the main door, back of the monument. She and another officer will lay down cover fire for as long as they can. Listen. I’m assuming the bats are going to follow you out there. When they do, we’re going to get our SWAT teams onto the water. If they can get close enough to pick off the giant-”

“I understand,” Gentry said. “We’ll lay low.”

Weeks wished him luck. Gentry thanked him, then put the radio in his jacket pocket. Holding on to the windscreen, he stood, half turned, and told the others the game plan. As he did he could see the giant bat illuminated by the reflected glow of the statue. The thing was roughly a quarter of a mile away and coming after them slowly but doggedly. Her dark army was spread behind her, their numbers growing.

“This is unfuckingreal,” T-Bone said as he videotaped the swarm. “I feel like I’m inThe Outer Limits.”