Freedom's Ransom Part 11

'Yup. The weekly dispensation. You guys got good timing,' the guard said, taking another bite from his roll and urging them into the foyer.

This was evidently a prime location to judge by the sophisticated stalls set about. 'Outta the way. Official business.' He had cleared customers away from the stalls to the voluble complaints of the merchants. Then they were at the elevator banks and with a flourish the guard punched the b.u.t.ton. The light in the cracked display above the door came on. The elevator had been called.

Kris was not so sure about the noise that was coming from the shaft but she had not thought about having to walk up eighteen flights of stairs, much less coming back down.

'Both ways?' Eric asked.

'Only if you ain't got no more weight than you took up,' the guard informed him. 'Thing's ancient and stubborn. Has a tendency to get cranky and stop between floors. Pa.s.sengers get to wait hours.'

Eric sighed. 'It would have been a squeeze with my units,' he said diffidently and was happy enough to step into the car, watching Jelco and Dover as they cautiously entered with the upright lift platforms.

The door creaked shut, and after Eric had punched the floor b.u.t.ton with an air of importance, an alarming amount of chain rattling, hissing and bucking ensued until the elevator began to ascend. Kris's eye caught on the inspection card that most elevators displayed. This was an Otis, which she knew to be a reliable make, and a hastily penned notation informed that it had last been inspected on 2 July 1992.

For the life of her, Kris couldn't remember what date this day should be. The weather had been warm but the forsythia bloom she had seen suggested early spring. Time seemed to have stopped... at least recordable time. It had been so for so long that she endured one day at a time and was thankful to live through each one, week after week as they added up to months and then years, but she couldn't have said what day, week, month, or year - Anno Domini - she was currently living in. Nor did she wish to embarra.s.s herself by asking. Anyway, Botany time was different from Earth time.

The elevator lurched to a stop, terminating Kris's anxiety about getting stuck between floors. The elevator had not only ascended but also had stopped at the desired destination. There, as proof, on the wall opposite were the figures, gold, framed in black, that identified the eighteenth floor. Eric stepped out first, the others following quickly on his heels as he led the way to the right. Office doors on either side of the dark corridor were ajar, which lit their way, but also showed them that few offices had escaped pilfering. Mostly chairs had been taken though Kris rather thought some of the stalls in the foyer had once been tables in the upper levels. Torn curtains flapped in whatever breeze whined around the eighteenth floor.

Eric let out several startled exclamations. He did not need the keys he had brought with him, for his outer door, too, had been forced open. But as he charged forward into the inner office, he let out a cry of relief as he spotted his dental chair and the tower, which held the drill apparatus. Relief changed to mild expletives as he saw that the drawers of his accessory cupboards were pulled out.

'They only looked and saw nothing they could use,' he cried after a closer examination.

'Now, where's your electrical supply? Like the man said, it's on and I don't want to electrocute anyone, especially me,' Herb Bayes said, lumbering forward.

Eric showed him both the panels and then where he would have to disconnect the tower and the chair, which could be adjusted by the dentist as needed. Kris remembered such a unit, with its foot controls, from visits to her own dentist. They had to pull up the carpet and unloosen the bolts that held the two pieces to the floor.

'If you'd help me, Kris,' Eric said, 'I have more in my workroom.' He pushed open the door to a small anteroom with worktops and drawers in wall cabinets, many of which had been opened. As he examined one cabinet, he exclaimed again in relief. 'Enough jaw trays, I think, and some of them must fit Catteni-size maws,' he was muttering to himself. He opened a wall cabinet and hauled out some paper shopping bags with the Saks Fifth Avenue logo on them as well as some bubble wrap. 'Here, help me package these things, Kris. And I've more in the storeroom - I hope.' He pulled out the drawers he wanted her to empty and then disappeared into a closet. 'Good, good,' he said, pulling some of the bubble wrap nearer so he could wrap mortars, pestles and other items for which she had no names.

'Now, if only Eddie Spivak has anything left, we'll be in business even in benighted Barevi. You don't know how lucky I feel right now, Kris,' Eric said, almost crowing with success.

'One for our side, Eric,' she said encouragingly.

By the time they returned to the main office, the men had finished disconnecting the dental chair and had the lift tilted up to take its burden. Zainal was explaining the controls of the apparatus, embedded in one long side of the platform. They secured the chair with the rope that Chuck had tossed into the truck.

'Hey, don't use it all on this,' Eric exclaimed. 'The drill rig is more important than the chair.'

'Whyn't you say so?' Bayes retorted huffily, tugging at a knot to be sure it was firm.

'See if you can find something else to tie it down with, Kris,' Eric said, waving his hand towards the corridor.

Kris went out, as much to escape the tension in the room as to be useful. She hadn't a clue where to find more ropes - someone would have found such a prize long before they arrived. But she did find some dusty draperies of a heavy fabric, and wondering that they had been left untouched, she hauled three pairs down. It must have been an attorney's office, to judge by the bindings on the books on the shelves. It was almost a travesty to have to use the draperies but once back in Eric's office, she asked him for something sharp to cut with and he provided her with a knife. She didn't ask what it was originally intended for, but with it she managed to tear the fabric into strips, which she then connected into a rope of sorts. She had yards of it, ready in time for the tower to be secured to its platform. Several of Eric's wrapped bundles were secured by adhesive tape (which he had also found a quant.i.ty of in his stores) to the empty s.p.a.ces on the lift. They added a scatter of text- and reference books, nurses' uniforms, and some ap.r.o.ns. There were still more parcels for herself and Eric to carry. Zainal took several from those at her feet and then they felt ready to make the long descent.

The men, with Zainal showing them how to guide their c.u.mbersome bundles, manoeuvred into the corridor and towards the stairwell. Fortunately the powered units were easy to manipulate though the first landing on the way down took some angling, but once they found the trick to it, they proceeded at a fair pace down the stairs. Without the lifts they never would have managed. Even so, by the time they reached the last landing, everyone was sweating and winded, even Zainal. Kris leaned heavily into the final stair post, struggling to slow her heartbeat and pulse.

'Not as fit as I thought I was,' Eric admitted, wiping his sweating forehead on his sleeve. 'You guys have been splendid,' he said, beaming at the team.

'Yeah, yeah,' Dover said in a caustic tone.

'Free dentistry for your entire family?' Eric asked.

'If you got to start here, you'd never finish, Doc,' Dover remarked, 'but kind of you to offer.' His tone was nearly sarcastic but he caught the look Jelco gave him and nodded his head.

Their reappearance, not to mention their odd cargo, caused a complete silence in the foyer as they reached the ground floor. A few nasty looks were cast in Zainal's direction but he ignored them. The silence continued as everyone watched the levitated heavy equipment float to the front doors. These were gla.s.sless but Dover pushed the frames open, hauling the front of his lift with 'Hey, what'll you take for one of those things?' a bearded man asked, pulling at Eric's sleeve.

'No one has that much money,' Eric replied.

'I wouldn't insult you by offering you money, man,' was the retort.

'That's enough, Mac,' the Cardinal head guard said, moving swiftly between the two men. Kris idly wondered what the man would have offered as she followed the others out of the foyer. The fresh breeze cooled her face and smelled of newly mown gra.s.s and other, less salubrious odours.

'What's in there?' the guard asked, pointing to the Saks carriers.

'Oh, there was a sale on,' she said whimsically and deposited them in the truck bed on one side of the dental chair. Her wrists and arms ached from lugging the oddments down so many flights. If they hadn't had the floats, how would they have managed? With great relief, she hauled herself back into the front seat and reached for the bottle of water that she had seen earlier. She was parched. She handed it to Zainal when he slid in beside her. Murray pulled another container from the door pocket on his side and took a long swig before a whistle reminded him that a guard was clearing the pavement and street so they could depart.

'Where to now?' Murray asked.

'One-twelve East Thirteenth Street,' Jelco said, con sulting his notepad. 'Eddie Spivak's Dental Supplies.'

'A snap,' Murray said. 'We can go right down Ninth, or would you prefer Broadway or even Fifth?'

'Most direct route, Murray. We gotta conserve petrol, y'know,' Jelco said repressively.

'Gotcher!'

'Murray, is Macy's still there?' Kriss asked softly. 'Yeah, but it still don't talk to Gimbels, which ain't,' and he bestowed another of his frightening toothless grins on her, reminiscent of Popeye.

'Oh!'

There was more traffic on the street now - most of it handcarts, many of them heaped with clothing and rolls of fabric. Kris remembered Floss and wondered what she had to trade for some blue cloth. As they pa.s.sed a cart, she saw the blue had a huge stain down the middle of the bolt and she shrugged the incident aside.

They turned left on Fourteenth to Second Avenue and then turned right, and Kris noticed there seemed to be few vehicles. Maybe one-way streets were no longer required as traffic controls. She didn't remember this area at all, if she'd ever been in it. There were three- and four-storey houses, all made into tenements to judge by the fire escapes, interspersed with concrete-block buildings that would house family-owned businesses of some sort. There were two cafes: she could see people at the counters eating whatever it was, and drinking. Coffee? She licked her lips. A cuppa would taste nice right now. Give her some energy. She was beginning to sag with fatigue. She wondered how the rolls were holding up and if there were enough to 'do lunch' for everyone. They still had two trays of rock squats.

'One hunnert and twelve,' Murray said with some pride, pointing to a three-storey building that had a store front clearly marked EDDIE SPIVAK, DENTAL SUPPLIER.

Eric sighed with relief. Some of the ground-level stores on both sides of the street looked empty from looting. Eddie Spivak's windows boasted iron grilles and there was a pull-up aluminium shutter across the front, a certain deterrent to pilfering. Murray pulled over to the side and instantly people's heads popped out of the upper-storey windows.

'Neighbours!' he said with some disgust as he turned off the motor. 'So?'

Eric had already vaulted out of the truck back and was running down the narrow walk between Eddie's and number 115. He pounded on the door.

'Eddie? Eddie Spivak? It's Eric, Eric Sachs. Are you there? Open up! Is he home?' Eric craned his neck up, looking through the iron slats of the fire escape at the observers. 'I'm a dentist. An old customer of Eddie's. Where is he?'

'He's in. Leastwise,' an old woman cried in answer, 'ain't seen him or his missus today,' she added warily.

'EDDIE!' Eric put his hands to his mouth to shout. 'IT'S ERIC SACHS!' He rattled the doork.n.o.b and then stopped, peering through the grille on the small window set in the door, trying to see inside.

Suddenly the door was pulled in and an old man stood in the doorway, staring at what to him was evidently an apparition. He had a scalpel in his raised hand that he immediately lowered after recognizing his visitor.

'Dr. Sachs!' The man came forward, embracing Eric enthusiastically. 'I can't believe my eyes and ears. It's been years! Where did you go to?'

'Long story,' Eric said, 'but do you still have any supplies? I'm setting up my office in a new location and I need a few things... if you have them.'

'Who'd rob a shop like mine?' Eddie said, shrugging. Then he saw the truck and its load. 'You really are moving, aren't you? Sudden?'

'Sudden,' Eric said, grinning as Kris and Jelco joined them, Zainal following more slowly. 'These are my friends Kris Bjornsen and Jelco. And Zainal behind them -312is also.'

'What's a Greenie doing on this side of the Hudson?'

Eddie asked, suddenly half-closing the door as if he feared Jelco might barge into his premises.

'Escorting us. We had to work through coord channels, you might say,' Eric said with a dismissive flick of his hand.

'Haven't done much business,' Eddie said in a gloomy tone. 'Who has time for dentistry when the world has gone to pot?'

'I do,' Eric said. 'How's Suzie? The grandkids?'

'Suzie's been ill, and I don't know where my son, the lazy wretch, has got to.' Evidently the shortcomings of his son was an old topic of conversation between them but Eddie stepped back and gestured politely for Eric to enter.

Kris, a spare pack with more than a dozen rolls in it looped over her arm, followed. There was an acrid smell in the air, similar to the one in Eric's small laboratory. Every profession has a special kind of odour attached to it, she thought.

However, nothing was wrong with Eddie's olfactory senses because he sniffed, probably catching the odour of the rolls.

'I need some porcelains. Some of the good Liechtenstein ones,' Eric said. 'The darker shades, if you still have any.'

Eddie gave a shrug. 'Darker shades aren't that much in demand. Come.'

He beckoned them farther in and flipped at a wall switch. Lights came on.

'Well! Whaddya know. Lights. Lights, Suzie. She's been doing some knitting, you see. Someone supplies the wool, she supplies the hands,' he said, again shrugging off such a necessity. 'No one teaches girls housewifely arts any more, you know.'

The lights showed a small foyer with two stools and a countertop. Eddie lifted the edge of the section near the wall and walked back into an area where he stored his wares.

'Good to have light. You'll be able to see the Vitapan shade chart.' He rooted under the counter for a moment and then handed Eric a piece of cardboard with what looked to Kris like teeth inserted around the edges. Eric immediately started examining it, glancing from time to time at Zainal. Then, as if recalling himself to the task at hand, Eric pulled a piece of paper out of his shirt pocket.

'I gotta list of other things I'll need. Jaw trays. Sizes one and two, mandibular-oh, twenty-one through twentyfour.'

Eddie gave a little guffaw. 'Whom are you doing dentures for? Neanderthal man? Don't know if I have any jaw trays those sizes. But maybe I have...' He walked straight to a row of cardboard boxes, neatly extracting one about halfway down with such a deft yank that none of the ones above it were disturbed. It clattered when he put it on the countertop.

'And some bonding gel. Several tubes of that, please.'

'Hmm. Got that, and you're lucky,' he added a moment later, four tubes flat on his hand. 'Last I got and who knows when more will be made. Not that there's such a big demand for this either. Where are you setting up practice?'

'Botany,' Eric said, then tapped the porcelain teeth. 'I'll have all the colours from B-four through D-three.'

'Done.' Eddie was pulling out yet another drawer: they could hear the clicking of gla.s.s against gla.s.s, and then he started pulling individual vials out, setting them on a tray.

'Next? You don't know what a relief it is to be back at work,' Eddie said with a huge sigh.

'Who's dere wid you, Eddie?' asked a querulous female voice from the small hall that led to the back of the building.

'Eric Sachs, Suzie.'

'Eric? But I heard he got transported.'

Eddie gave Eric a wide-eyed stare.

'I was, but I'm back, Suzie. Good to hear your voice,'

Eric said, raising his to be heard.

'Oy, Eric, you wouldn't believe what we've been through,' Suzie said, and a very frail-looking woman came into the light of the foyer. Her hair was skinned back from her face and bundled into a neat chignon. She clutched an old plaid dressing gown around her and her face looked pinched with hunger and sorrow.

'I have a little idea, Suzie m'dear, and it must have been dreadful for you,' Eric said sympathetically.

'Don't kvetch, Suzie. This is business,' Eddie said, evidently to forestall a litany of disasters.

'How's Molly keeping?' she asked, willing to exchange information as well as kvetch.

'I don't really know,' Eric said, darting a glance at Kris.

'We may be able to find out today,' Kris said, hoping that Dan Vitali might have a connection to the Florida coords so Eric could check the registry lists of the area.

'So many friends dead, and gone who knows where?' Suzie said, her tone plaintive. 'How are you finding clients these days, Eric?' She pointed with a worn and arthritically gnarled hand at the tray Eddie was filling.

'I find those I can,' Eric replied. 'It's good to contemplate being useful again.' He shot a grin at Zainal, who was still in the shadows of the doorway.

'Useful is good,' Suzie agreed and sat down abruptly on one of the stools. It rocked under her and Eddie steadied her by the arm. She wasn't a big woman but awkward. She hauled a handkerchief out of her pocket and blew her nose. 'Always a cold. Never am warm enough these days. I could have gone to visit Becky in Florida before IT happened. At least I would have been warm.'

'Stop with the kvetching, Suzie. Who's been warm this winter? No one.' He evidently asked and answered many questions out loud, for she shrugged and inched herself to a comfortable position on the stool, hugging her thick dressing gown around her. Then she sniffed, looking round.

'I smell bread. Oh, G.o.d, I'm going out of my mind. I can smell bread.' Then she looked at Kris. 'I haven't smelled bread in months!'

'We have brought bread and some other food to trade for these items,' Eric said. 'We thought that was better than money.'

'Never thought anything would be better than money,' Suzie said, rubbing her fingers together in an age-old gesture.

Though neither Eddie nor Eric had mentioned paying for the items that were now displayed on the countertop, Kris opened the backpack and, indeed, the odour of fresh bread wafted out. Kris offered Suzie a roll.

'I baked them myself,' she said, almost apologetically, and pa.s.sed the roll to her. The old woman tentatively reached out for the bread, glancing at her husband as if she didn't dare complete the gesture until he had agreed. He nodded.

'Take it,' Kris said and extended her hand until the roll was nearly in the woman's fingers. They closed on the bread as if the woman was afraid Kris would s.n.a.t.c.h it away from her.

'Would you excuse me?' Suzie said, holding the roll protectively against her chest as she backed out of the room.

Kris placed the backpack on the counter and offered a roll to Eddie, who eyed it as Murray had, with longing.

'I've nothing to offer you to drink,' Eddie said wistfully.

'We have all we need,' Eric said soothingly.