Vespers

Forty-One

When the Statue of Liberty was dedicated in October of 1886 it was the tallest structure built since the Pyramids of ancient Egypt.

A gift from France celebrating the hundredth anniversary of American independence, the152-foot-tall statue was designed by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi. It portrays a woman stepping from broken chains and raising a torch of freedom. In her arm is a tablet representing law; on her head is a crown whose seven spikes represent the seven continents and seven seas over which it was hoped the light of liberty would shine. She looks toward one of those seas, the Atlantic, from atop a 152-foot-high pedestal.

Three hundred thousand rivets hold the statue’s beaten-copper skin to a metal framework designed by Gustave Eiffel. These supports function like springs, designed to give in winds reaching up to 125 miles an hour. This crisscrossing skeleton is attached to a central metal core that runs up the center of the statue. The core also supports a 168-step spiral staircase that enables visitors to walk from the foot to the crown. Only the upraised arm that holds the torch is off-limits to tourists. When the statue was first constructed, a design miscalculation caused the spikes of the crown to pierce the arm. The framework of the arm had to be reconfigured on the spot, weakening it.

The statue’s stone pedestal rests in the center of the starshaped Fort Wood that once guarded the entrance to New York Harbor. More than a century after being decommissioned, the fort was once again guarding the lives of those inside.

According to Gordy Weeks, the giant bat was using her hooks to make her way up and around the statue’s pedestal, and she appeared to be holding a human body in her claws. Weeks told Gentry he’d update him in a moment.

Sergeant Gilheany moaned when she heard about Officer Berk. She started for the door.

“Where are you going?” Gentry asked.

“No way am I letting that thing take him.”

T-Bone got in front of her. “You can’t do anything about it now.”

“Like hell. I can kill that monster.”

“No,” T-Bone said, “you can’t. You can get your own ass seriously killed though, and I ain’t gonna let you.”

“Sergeant, the man’s right,” Joyce said. “If you step outside, those little bats will be all over you.”

The sergeant looked from T-Bone to Joyce. Then she looked ahead as she wiped blood from a gash across her nose.

“You dumb rookie,” she said to the door. “I ordered you to come back. Why the hell didn’t you listen?”

“Because he knew what every cop knows,” Gentry said. “If we don’t block the shot, the bad guys score.”

“Save the pep talk for the cadets, Detective. If the four of you hadn’t come in like a bunch of-”

“What? Scared people who just got our butts kicked?”

“Yeah, something like that…”

The sergeant stopped speaking as a new sound came from above. It was high, muffled, and continuous. It sounded like a dumpster lid slowly being opened and shut.

“What the hell?” T-Bone said.

Weeks came back on. “Detective, it looks like the bat’s gone into the pedestal.”

“We’re hearing that,” Gentry said.

Just then the creaking stopped. A moment later so did the scratching outside the lobby.

“Now what?” Kathy asked.

“Maybe it’s naptime,” T-Bone said.

“No,” Joyce said. She turned quickly to Gentry. “It’s birth time. The statue’s right on the water. It’s cold down here, warmer up there. By how much, Sergeant?”

“About thirty degrees.”

“Which would make it well over eighty inside,” Joyce said. “That’s perfect for a new nest.”

“Detective, is that Dr. Joyce?” Weeks asked.

“It is.” Gentry held the radio closer to her.

“Tell her the small bats are starting to leave the statue. Some are heading back, some to Jersey, some to the other islands. Ask her if she has any idea why.”

“I do,” Joyce said. “The big bat’s dropped out of the ultrasonic range. She’ll be making vocal sounds while she gives birth, which means we’ve got to take her outnow. Otherwise we’ll have to deal with herand her wailing brood.”

“I hear you,” Weeks said. “I’m sending the SWAT teams right away.”

“They won’t get here in time,” Joyce told him. “If the bat’s like a normal vesper, we have about ten minutes to get to her.”

Gentry turned to Gilheany. “How do I get up there?”

“You don’t.” She came forward, her fingers wriggling for the shotgun. “This is my beat. I’m going up.”

Joyce fell in beside her. “I’m going with you.”

“I take it you’re a scientist?” Gilheany asked.

“Yes.”

“Good,” the sergeant said. “Then you can tell her ‘fuck you’ in bat talk before I blow her away.”

Gentry looked from Joyce to Gilheany. “All right,” he said as he handed the officer the shotgun. “But I’m going with you.”

“No you’re not. You’re limping.”

“I’ll be fine.”

“You’ll slow us down. And you don’t have a weapon,” Gilheany pointed out. “I can’t watch your back and hers.” She pulled her radio from a loop in her gunbelt. “Besides, I may need you down here. There are security cameras in the communications center. It’s located in the administration building about two hundred yards directly behind the fort. Code 6453359 will get you in. Go there. We’ll stay in touch.”

Gentry hesitated. He looked at Nancy.

“Robert, we haven’t got a lot of time,” the scientist said.

Nancy was right. What rubbed Gentry raw was not that she was going. It was that she was going with an officer who was on the warpath. And he was afraid that saying something about calming down or being careful would only piss Gilheany off more.

So Gentry just nodded. Then he and Gilheany set their radios on the same channel.

The women turned and jogged toward the short staircase that led to the pedestal as Gentry brought Weeks up to date. Then he switched the radio back to Gilheany’s frequency.

Kathy and T-Bone wished them good luck as they passed. T-Bone had picked up his camera and was video-taping their departure.

Before they disappeared through the gate at the top of the stairs, Gentry thoughtFuck it and called after them. “She’s going to smell you coming, Nancy. Don’t forget that!”

“I won’t!” she called back. “I’m counting on it.”