He looked directly at Goldie.“Teach us.”
She blinked.“Teach you?”
He nodded toward the mountain of paperwork.“You understand this.”
She looked around the room.At all of us.“I...I don’t know where to start.”
“Start where you’d start,” Twister said.“Help us figure out what we should be looking for.”
Goldie took a slow breath.Then reached for the first permit.“This one doesn’t matter.”She tossed it into a separate pile.“This one doesn’t matter either.”Another pile.
Podge frowned.“How do you know?”
She held up the page.“Roof replacement.”
“So?”
“So if someone wanted access underground...”She tapped the paper.“...why would they care about the roof?”
Podge slowly nodded.“Okay.”
She grabbed another.“Window replacement.”Toss.“Parking lot resurfacing.”Toss.“Exterior brick repair.”Toss.
Method leaned forward.“So what are we looking for?”
Goldie looked at him.“Basements.”
Everyone looked at each other.
She continued.“Utility access.”Another paper.“Foundation work.”Another.“Easements.”She grabbed a blueprint.“Storm drains.”Another.“Old maintenance corridors.”She spread several papers across the table.
“These.”
Twister stepped closer.“Explain.”
Goldie nodded.“Think about it this way.”She grabbed a pencil.“If somebody wanted to hide something underground...”She drew a simple square.“...they don’t build around it.”Another square.“They change access.”She connected lines between them.“They move entrances.”Another line.“They abandon maintenance rooms.”Another.“They reroute utilities.”Another.“They seal stairwells.”She looked around.“You don’t erase a tunnel.”
“You erase the ways people get into it.”
Nobody spoke.
Because suddenly, it made sense.
Method slowly leaned back.“Holy shit.”
Rev looked down at the map.“So every one of these...”
Goldie nodded.“Changes access.”
Twister folded his arms.“And someone approved every one.”
Goldie pointed at the permits.“Exactly.”
I didn’t understand half the technical crap she was talking about.
Didn’t need to.
I watched her instead.
