The heavy iron door of the dumbwaiter clanged open at the back of the boiler vault.
Sora Takahashi stepped out into the swirling steam, accompanied by two broad-shouldered varsity rowers from the third-floor corridor. Each rower carried a six-foot length of galvanized pipe wrench, their eyes wide as they took in the hissing hull of Boiler Number Two.
“Elena!” Sora called out, hurrying across the wet concrete.
“We heard the concussion all the way up in the first-floor study lounge! Is everyone alive?”
“Everyone on our shift is breathing,” Elena said without looking up from her patient. “Take the zip-ties from my pack and secure Captain Falk to the cold riser pipe behind the desk.
Handcuff his right wrist to the valve wheel. Leave his left arm in the sling.”
“On it,” the taller rower said.
The two students marched up the catwalk ladder. Falk snarled at them, but with a fractured left collarbone and no weapon, he couldn’t offer resistance. Within thirty seconds, the enforcer captain was lashed securely to the eight-inch pipe, his boots dangling inches above the diamond plate.
