Rewriting the Apocalypse novel · Chapter 20 of 24
Chapter 20: Kessling Falls
Kessling ran while the smoke was still rising off the rack.
Jo saw him go through the haze, the navy suit flapping, his silver hair torn loose by the wind.
He hit the stairwell door with his shoulder and was gone.
"Stay," Eli said, and caught her under the arms. "Jo, stay down."
"No. He's getting away."
"He's not going far. Look."
She wiped her face with her sleeve and looked over the parapet.
In front of the Institute, where the gravel drive met the street, a crowd was packing against the gate.
There were deputies' cruisers, news vans with their masts up, and a long line of donors in black tie, holding their phones.
The livestream had told them exactly where to come.
"Can you walk?" Eli said.
"I can walk."
She could, barely.
He took her weight on his shoulder, and they went down the stairs together, fourteen flights, with her blood leaving drops on every landing.
The lobby of the Corwin Institute smelled of orchids.
The fountain was still running.
Under the glass roof stood the county prosecutor in her green dress, with two deputies beside her.
A crowd of donors packed in at her back, and nobody was talking.
Kessling had made it as far as the fountain.
He stood with his arms spread, in front of two hundred raised phones, and he was smiling his smoothest smile.
"Ladies and gentlemen," he said. "A terrible misunderstanding. A fire in our research wing. A young woman unwell. Dr. Faulk's overreach, which I will address..."
"That's him," said Bess.
She had come out of the freight lift on Sam's arm, wrapped in a deputy's gray blanket, her curls standing straight up.
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