Sunspire (The Reach, Book 4) by Mark R. Healy Page A

leaned back again.
    “I’ll try a bypass.”  He pointed upward to where a length of cable had been spooled around a hook.  “Can someone climb up there and drop that cable down?”
    “On it,” Roman said, vaulting into action.  He braced himself between the spire and the wall of the apartment block behind it, working his way nimbly upward until he reached the cable.  He loosened it with a deft flick and sent it curling downward.
    “Got it,” Yun said, grasping the cable and feeding it in toward the panel.  “This won’t take a sec.”
    Silvestri watched over his shoulder for any sign of trouble, but a moment later the sound of Roman’s voice drew his gaze upward.
    “Woah,” the boy said, looking out across the city.  “This is…”  He trailed off, and for a moment there was nothing to be heard but the distant chatter of gunfire.  A flaming piece of debris lit the sky for a split second, then burned up above the city.  “Oh, damn,” Roman said finally.
    “What is it?” Talia called.
    Roman pointed.  “That smoke out there… that’s Grove.”  The boy sounded distraught.  “It’s got to be.”
    Talia watched the plume of smoke for a moment, then looked up at Roman compassionately.
    “I’m sorry, Roman.”
    “They destroyed it.  Torched it.  Fucking bastards .”
    “You should come down, Roman,” Silvestri said.
    “I had friends there,” Roman said, his grief turning to anger.  “Good people who just wanted to live in peace.”
    “Grove would have been the first target hit by the slummers,” Duran said.  “Your friends would have known that.  If they had any sense, they’d have left before it happened.”
    Roman tilted his head downward at Duran, eyes blazing, but at that moment Silvestri’s holophone lit up.
    “That’s it!” he exclaimed.  “I’ve got a signal!”
    “Then do what you have to do,” Zoe suggested from where she stood watch over the entrance to the alley.  “We should keep moving.”
    Silvestri dialled the number he had memorised for Captain Ngozi, and Talia pressed close to him to get a better view of the screen.  The call was answered almost immediately, and the face of a dark-skinned man with a glinting, shaven head appeared.
    “Mr. Silvestri,” the man said in a deep voice.  He grinned, flashing a set of very white teeth.  “What’s going on down there?  Sounds like all hell has broken loose.”
    “Captain Ngozi,” Silvestri said.  “It’s good to see your face.”
    Ngozi leaned back in his chair comfortably, taking a sip of blue liquid from a shapely glass container.
    “Is it, now?  Why do you say that?”
    “Because you’re the one who’s going to get us off this rock.”
    Ngozi’s smile faltered.  “Not from what I’ve heard, my friend.  They’re saying the habitat was destroyed, that the Wire was cut.”
    “It was.”
    Ngozi frowned, perplexed.  “So how exactly am I supposed to get you out, Mr. Silvestri?  We were supposed to rendezvous at the Consortium habitat.”
    “Change of plan,” Silvestri said.  “We’re going to meet you somewhere else.”
    “Oh really?  Where?”
    “Another elevator, a placed called Sunspire.”
    “Sunspire?”   Ngozi placed the drink on the counter before him and began to tap on his console.  “What is that, exactly?”
    “A space elevator.  It was decommissioned a few decades ago, but we’re hoping to get it working again.  We have people up there who can help.”
    Ngozi seemed to pore over the data feed before him, then laughed.  “This is some kind of joke, right?  You’re not seriously asking me to try docking at this relic?”
    “Yes, that’s what I’m asking.”
    Ngozi sighed. “I’m sorry, old friend, but I was just about to pull the cruiser to somewhere safer.  Things have gone nuts on Tranquility Two since that explosion at the habitat .  In fact, the entire moon is a hotbed.  Absolutely crazy.  The Consortium is paranoid that–”
    “You can’t