Chapter 13 - The Broken Cable
The rig dropped ten feet and jerked violently to a halt, hanging by a single frayed steel cable that was stripping its braided strands against the sharp edge of the concrete parapet.
One strand snapped with a vicious twang. Then another.
Mark threw himself onto his stomach over the edge, grabbing the steel cable with both bare hands just below the fraying point. The weight of the cradle—carrying Clara, the baby, and Sterling—jerked his shoulders almost out of their sockets. His hands tore open, blood lubricating the greasy steel wire.
"Mark!" Sterling screamed from below, holding baby Hope against his chest while trying to keep Clara from rolling out of the tilted basket. "The cable is going!"
"Hold on to her!" Mark screamed back, his teeth grinding together so hard he tasted copper. He wrapped the cable twice around his right forearm and braced his boots against the parapet wall.
Every muscle in his body burned with agonizing pain. The roof behind him was collapsing into the seventh-floor inferno; a wave of scorching heat washed over his back. He was the only thing standing between his family and an eight-hundred-foot drop.
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Ten feet below, the manual hoist winch on the cradle was just within reach if someone could crank it to reach the external maintenance catwalk on floor 78.
"Sterling! The red handle on the winch! Pump it! Now!"
