Chapter 32 30

It wasn't the fire that worried him. When Edward.Kadeschi rushed out of Lincoln.There was only one thing to worry about when he ran to the fantasy circus tent at the gate of Lime in the shortest distance.He knew that the latest fire protection technology in the circus tent would hinder the spread of the fire, and even if there was a serious fire incident, the fire would not spread too fast.The fire is not dangerous, the real danger is panic, the danger is the broken bones, chest tightness and suffocation caused by the huge number of people pulling, bumping, pushing and trampling each other as they flee

The only way to save the lives of circus goers is to get them to leave the show without haste.In the past, if there was a fire in the circus, the owner of the circus would give a signal to the conductor of the orchestra, asking the conductor to immediately lead the orchestra and play a vigorous John.Philip.Susa's military music, "The Star-Spangled Banner Never Falls," warns clowns, jugglers, and yard workers.At this time, everyone will enter a state of emergency response and calmly lead the audience to leave through various escape exits (of course, these staff members will never only care about their own lives to escape).

Over the years, as the evacuation of the circus tents became more efficient, the emergency tune was also replaced.But if it were a chemical explosive that went off in a circus today, how would the audience react as the ignited chemical shot in all directions?They must have rushed towards the exit at the same time, and thousands of people must have died pushing and trampling each other. Edward.Kadesky rushed into the tent and saw 2,600 spectators already sitting in the stands, expecting his show to start soon. his show. That's what he thinks: this is a show he created with his own hands.Kadeschi had worked as a peddler in a vaudeville troupe, as a curtain boy in a second-rate theater in a third-rate city, and as a payroll and ticket manager in some local circuses that made money by labor.It took him years of struggle to manage and produce a show that was popular with the public, surpassing the general vulgar traveling circus.He achieved this goal once, at the Hobbs and Koehler Brothers Circus, by Eric.The troupe that Will ruined.Now he's done it again with this fantastic circus, his show is a world-famous show, he's built a name, he's established himself.Even those who only attend opera theater, those who only watch news shows and MTV, dare not ignore his achievements.

He remembered the fire in Ohio, the searing flames in the tent, the dead gray soot that fell like snowflakes.He remembered the roar of the flames, and amidst that appalling noise, the troupe he had raised fell dead before him.However, today's situation is a little different from last time: three years ago the circus tent was empty, but today thousands of men, women and children will be engulfed in flames. As soon as Kadeschi entered the tent, his assistant KathleenDu Ni hurried forward.She was a young brunette who had held a high-ranking position at Disney's theme park agency before coming to work for him.She had always had an extraordinary gift: a telepathic sense of what was going on in Kadeski's mind.What's wrong?she whispered.

He took this from Lincoln.Rhyme and the police had word to tell her, and she immediately turned her eyes to the tent, and to the innocent spectators, as he had done, looking in vain for where the bomb might have been planted. What should we do now?she asked succinctly. He thought for a while, and then gave instructions.After finishing speaking, he added another sentence.Then you go right away, get out of here. But you want to stay?just in case Just do it quickly.He said stubbornly, then squeezed her hand again, and said in a soft voice: I will meet you outside, I will be fine. She wanted to go up to him and hug him, but his eyes told her not to.They were standing in full view, and he didn't want anyone in the audience to notice their actions and realize that something was wrong.You walk slowly and keep smiling.Remember, no matter what the situation, we are the best actors.

Catherine nodded and walked first to the lighting controller and then to the orchestra conductor to deliver Kadeski's instructions.After the confession, she walked to the main entrance and exit of the tent and stood by the door. Kadeschi pulls his tie, adjusts the buttons on his suit, looks at the band, and nods.A burst of drums began to sound. The show begins, he thought. He grinned as he strode into the amphitheatre, and the audience fell silent.When he walked to the center of the field, the drumming stopped abruptly, and after a while, two white beams focused on him.Although he had told Catherine to tell the lighting engineer to use the main light to illuminate him, he was still taken aback at this moment, thinking that the bright light was a petrol bomb for a moment.

But his smile didn't change at all, and he regained his composure immediately.He raised the wireless microphone to his mouth and began to say to the audience: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Fantastic Circus.Calm, cheerful, majestic.We have prepared the best program content for you today, before we start, I have something to trouble you, please bear with me.It's a little inconvenient, but I think it's worth it for the best results.We're going to have a special show outside the tent and I'm really sorry we tried to move the Plaza Hotel in here but the hotel manager won't let us do it because some of the lodgers won't like it.

There was a burst of laughter and applause from the audience. So, I ask everyone to grab your ticket stubs and get up and walk out into Central Park. There was a whisper from the crowd, not knowing what program would be performed outside. He smiled and said: Please find a place outside, as long as you can see the building on Central Park South Road, you will be able to clearly see the performance waiting for you. The audience in the stands were all excited at this time.What show is he talking about?Could it be someone who is not afraid of death performing a zip line between skyscrapers?

So let's start with the audience in the first row.Please keep order and leave from the nearest exit in order. The lights in the auditorium came on.He saw Catherine standing at the gate, leading the audience out of the tent with a smile on her face.what did you doHe silently shouted to her in his heart, please get out!run! The spectators stood up loudly and he could only see them dimly in the blinding light.They looked at each other, wondering who should go first, and which exit to take.Then they held the child's hand, took the bag, purse and popcorn box, and checked whether the ticket stub was still in hand.

Kadesky smiled as they stood up and walked calmly to the exit and out of the tent to safety.However, he thought in his heart: In December 1903, Eddie Foy's famous opera troupe gave a matinee performance at the Iroquois Playhouse in Chicago, Illinois.A spotlight ignited a fire, which quickly spread from the stage to the auditorium.Two thousand spectators rushed to the exit in a panic, trampling and pushing each other, completely blocking the exit, and even the fire brigade could not enter the rescue.In that accident, more than 600 spectators died tragically. In July 1944, in Hartford, Connecticut, there was also a matinee.At Ringling Brothers, Barna and Bailey's Circus, just as the famous Valendas were about to start their most popular high-wire show, a fire broke out on the southeast side of the tent.The fire quickly engulfed the entire tent, which had been waterproofed with gasoline and paraffin, and within minutes, 167 spectators died from burns, suffocation, or trampling on each other.

Similar mishaps have occurred in many cities, not just Chicago and Hartford.Over the years, thousands of people have died in theater or circus fires.What about today?How will it end here?Could it be that the circus troupe created by him will always remain in people's memory in that tragic form? Spectators leave the tents one after another, but the price of avoiding panic is that the evacuation is too slow.Many people are still in the tents, and it seems that many people are still in the seats, apparently preferring to miss the outdoor performance rather than get up from their seats.After most of the people left, he had to personally tell these people the truth of the matter. When will the bomb detonate?Maybe it won't explode right away.Will would give latecomers a chance, give them time to find a seat, and do the most damage.It was ten past two, and perhaps he would set the detonation at an equivalent moment, say fifteen or thirty. Also, where is the bomb hidden? He's completely at a loss as to where Will, hoping to do the most damage, will plant the bomb. He looked beyond the inside of the tent to the crowd crowded at the main entrance, and he saw the figure of Catherine, who was waving at him, motioning him to leave quickly.But he can't go yet.In any case, he must evacuate all the people in the tent. Even if he has to push and pull, he must push the rest of the audience out; as long as there are people inside, even if the tent has started to catch fire, he will Also rush back to rescue those who are still inside.He will definitely be the last to leave the tent. He grinned at her, shook his head, then held up the microphone and continued to advise the audience that there was going to be a performance out there worth the price of admission.At this time, a burst of loud music interrupted his words.He looked back at the band seats. The musicians had completely followed Kadesky's instructions and had all evacuated from the tent at this moment. Only the orchestra conductor was still standing in front of the computer sound console that sometimes played some pre-recorded music. The four of them They met, and Kadeski nodded in agreement.So the veteran circus conductor immediately puts in a tape and turns the volume up.In an instant, the military music of "The Star-Spangled Banner Never Falls" sounded in the tent. Emilia.Sachs squeezed into the fantasy circus from the crowded exit, and rushed to the center of the tent.She heard loud military music and saw Edward.With the microphone in hand, Kadeski enthusiastically encouraged the audience to hurry out and enjoy the special, which she knew must be an excuse to avoid panic. What a clever idea, she thought, and could imagine the disaster if so many people rushed to the exit at the same time. Sachs was the first police officer to arrive at the scene, and the sound of approaching sirens outside told her that other rescuers were about to arrive.But she didn't want to wait, and immediately started searching alone.She looked around, wondering where would be the best place to plant the bomb.She thought that if she wanted to do the most damage, the gangsters would place the bomb under the seats near the exit. This bomb (or these bombs) must be bulky.Unlike gunpowder or plastic explosives, petrol bombs have to be large in order to inflict serious damage.Such bombs may be hidden in large shopping bags, in large cardboard boxes, or even inside oil drums.She caught a glimpse of a plastic trash can, a large one that she estimated must hold at least fifty gallons.The trash can was placed next to the main exit, and dozens of people who were about to leave the tent walked slowly past it.Inside the tent, Sachs noticed, there were perhaps twenty to twenty-five trash cans like these, and the dark green containers were excellent candidates for stashing bombs. She ran to the trash can closest to her.The trash can has an inverted V-shaped swivel lid that prevents her from seeing the inside of the trash can.But she knew that opening the lid would not trigger or ignite the detonator, because they knew from the copper filings she had collected that the gangsters were using a timer.She pulled a small flashlight out of her back pocket and shone a beam into the dirty, fetid trash can interior.The bucket was already half-filled with confetti, popcorn wrappers, and empty disposable cups, preventing her from seeing the bottom of the trash can.She had to lift the barrel slightly. The barrel was too light, even a gallon of gasoline weighed more than that. She looked up to the rest of the tent.There were hundreds of people inside the tent, and they were slowly leaving through the exit. She checked more than a dozen trash cans in a row, and then rushed to the next one without stopping. But at this moment, she stopped suddenly, squinting at something in front of her.Under the grandstand, near the south exit of the tent, was a square object about four feet long, covered with a black tarp.She immediately thought of Will's technique of using cloth to make himself invisible.Whatever was under the tarp was practically invisible, and it was big enough to hold hundreds of gallons of gasoline. Near this object, about twenty feet away, there is also a large group of people slowly walking towards the exit. Outside the tent, the siren of the police car became louder and louder, and then gradually fell silent as it had driven near the tent.Firefighters and police swarmed in.She flashed her police badge to the nearest police officer and said to him: Is the anti-explosion team here? It will be here in about five or six minutes. She nodded and told them to go through all the trash cans, but she went to the tarp-covered box instead. At this moment, something happened. The bomb didn't explode.What exploded was panic, as fast as a bomb exploded. Sachs didn't know what prompted the panic.Perhaps it was the emergency vehicles parked outside the tent and the firefighters pushing in from the crowd that made some viewers feel uneasy.Immediately after, Sachs heard a loud crackle outside the main gate—she had heard it yesterday, the patter of the great banner of the comic Harrogan being blown by a strong wind.However, the spectators near the exit of the tent mistakenly thought that someone was shooting outside and hurried back to the tent, wanting to leave through another exit.All of a sudden, there were various sounds in the tent, like a gasp in fear, first a low rustling, then a humming. Then, panic spread.Screams and roars sounded, and the crowd desperately squeezed towards the exit.Sachs was suddenly pushed forward by the panicked crowd behind her, and her cheek slammed into the shoulder of a man in front of her, making her dizzy.There was a round of terrified yells, people shouting about fire, bombs, and terrorists. don't push!She shouted, but no one heard her.The crowd has become an unstoppable torrent, thousands of individuals have merged into a single whole.Although some people inside wanted to escape from this destructive group, they could only be trapped in this torrent under the constant pushing from all sides, becoming a part of this group of wild beasts frantically rushing towards the light of the exit. It took a lot of effort for Sachs to pull his arm out of the squeeze between the two flushed and horrified teenagers.Her head was pushed violently again, and when she lowered her head, she caught a glimpse of some broken flesh and blood on the ground.She gasped, thinking a child had been trampled to the ground.But luckily, it was just a piece of broken balloon.Also on the floor she saw a baby bottle, a green rag, scattered popcorn, a clown mask, and a Walkman crushed to pieces by the weight of the crowd.If someone fell at this time, they would be trampled to death within a few seconds.However, at this time, Sachs felt that he was unable to balance and could not control his movements, as if he might fall helplessly to the ground at any time. Her feet were indeed completely off the ground.She was caught between two sweaty bodies, a fat man in a blood-red IZOD shirt holding a sobbing child above his head, and a woman who appeared to be passing out.The screams became louder and louder under the stimulus of panic, and the voices of children and adults were all mixed together.The hot air enveloped her, and soon she couldn't breathe, and the pressure on her chest reached the point where her heart stopped beating.Claustrophobia (one of Emilia Sachs' worst fears) had now stretched its firm arms around her, making her feel engulfed in an unbearable sense of confinement. □□□ As long as you move, they can't catch you □□□ But now she couldn't move.She was surrounded by a group of wet bodies, tightly strangled by a suffocating force.At this moment, this is no longer a human body, but a bunch of co-structures made of muscles, sweat, fists, saliva, legs and feet, pushing her harder and harder into the depths of this co-structure. No!don't want!let me move!Let me pull my hand out, let me breathe a breath of fresh air! She thought she saw blood, thought she saw ripped muscles.Maybe it's all from her. Under fear, panic and suffocation, Emilia.Sachs felt like he was about to pass out. No!Don't pass out!Never fall! please! She couldn't breathe at all, not a breath of air could get into her lungs.Then, just inches from her face, she saw a man's knee.The knee hit her cheek and stuck to her face like a root.She smelled dirty jeans and saw a worn-out boot. Don't let me fall. But only then did she realize that maybe it was too late.