He held the tool steady, changed his grip, and pushed.
The latch released with a sharp metallic crack.
The pane moved outward.
Daniel withdrew the tool and pulled the window clear.
Smoke spilled through the upper part of the opening. He lowered himself beneath it and looked inside.
The sill was empty.
So was the narrow patch of floor he could see.
He reached below the sill.
His glove touched the inner wall, then the edge of something soft. A fallen curtain, perhaps. He moved it aside.
No cat.
He could hear the steady sound of his own breathing inside the mask. Nearby, a radio spoke, the words briefly swallowed by other noise.
He paused his hand.
From somewhere low in the room came a small sound.
Not the desperate cry he had seen through the glass.
This was weaker.
Shorter.
But it was there.
Daniel turned toward the right.
There it was again.
He lowered his head, trying to find a clearer angle beneath the smoke.
At first, he saw only a chair leg.
Then a second one.
Between the chair and the wall, something pale moved.
The white patch beneath the cat’s chin.
The animal had backed into a narrow space beside a low cabinet.
Its body was pressed close to the floor, head drawn inward, paws tucked beneath its chest. It had chosen cover after leaving the exposed sill.
Now the furniture stood between it and the open window.
Daniel stretched toward it.
His fingers stopped short.
The cat pulled farther back.
He withdrew his hand a little.
He had frightened enough animals in his career to understand that a rescuer could still look like a threat. The mask hid his face. The gloves enlarged his hands. Every movement carried unfamiliar sounds.
He could not explain any of that to the creature beneath the chair.
He could only stop making the distance worse.
He held his hand still.
The cat watched.
Daniel spoke quietly, though he knew the mask muffled him.
“All right. Stay there.”
It blinked once.
His colleague Mara arrived beside him.
“Where?”
“Right side. Under the chair.”
She leaned toward the opening, then checked the position of the window and the space around Daniel.
He pointed without reaching again.
“There. White under the chin.”
Mara saw it.
The two of them worked with the economy of people who had spent years learning how not to crowd each other. She steadied what needed holding and kept the opening clear while Daniel adjusted his position.
Inside, the cat tried to stand.
Its front legs straightened.
For a hopeful moment, Daniel thought it might move toward him.
Instead, it turned sideways and pressed against the cabinet.
