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We headed out, as quietly as we could. The bricks seemed to muffle the sounds of our footsteps, but coughs and words reverberated in the silence, and somewhere ahead, the echo of dripping water steadily beat out a cadence. Must have been either a leak in a pipe, or something of the sort.
Along the way, I examined the lights that were affixed to the walls in regular intervals. They were, indeed, electric. Power had been run down through the Underground for years. The soft glow of the forty-watt bulbs was enough to see by, but not so bright that they illuminated every nook and cranny.
“Do you notice something?” Delilah asked after a moment.
“What?”
She motioned to the sides. “No intersecting tunnels. This passage seems to be blocked off from the rest of Underground Seattle. First the brick wall back on the other side of the entrance, then no other exits.”
She was right. This did seem to be its own little corner of the world.
“I hadn’t noticed, but now that you mention it, you’re right. You say we have about another block to go? There should have been other tunnels leading off here—for the alleyways, etc. In fact, I thought we were already in an alleyway.”>“What will the magical side of the alarm do?” Camille stared at the keypad as if she could bore a hole through it with her gaze.
“Think of it this way: If you trip it and don’t key in just the right code, it will trigger whatever it’s rigged to do. And that could be anything from an explosion to unleashing a hellhound to setting off an alarm.”
“Do we have to disarm both?” If we had to not only disarm the physical one, but take care of the magical alarm, we were doubly screwed.
“No. As I said, if we disarm the physical alarm, the magical one should disarm itself—at least that’s the way it looks.” Morio looked over at Camille. “So what do we do?”
“I haven’t the faintest.” Camille crossed her arms, frowning at the door.
“Well, there has to be an access panel for the Defense One system—all we found was the keypad but you know it has to be hidden somewhere along the wall.” Tanne began searching the wall, squinting by the light of the foxfire.
“Tanne is right.” Delilah was holding Lysanthra by the hilt, the tip of the dagger pressing against her opposite index finger. She was gently twirling the dagger back and forth.
“Do tell.” I grinned at her.
“All security systems have to have a setup. Now if this were purely magical, maybe it wouldn’t. But since there’s an FBH system in place, there has to be a panel or something in the wall for the wiring. With some security systems, it’s obvious where they are, but Defense One? They put megabucks into making it as hard as possible for a thief to find. If we can find the panel, we can probably disarm it that way.”
Bingo. That we could work with. “Scour the walls. Just be cautious not to trip off anything.”
Morio and Camille joined Tanne in the search. They seemed to be the best bets because of their experience with magic and with traps. After about five minutes, Camille held up her hand.
“I think I found it.” She gestured to a place on the wall that looked like… well… wall, to me. But I did notice a slight depression about the size of a finger in the area to which she was pointing.
Morio and Tanne motioned her to move aside, and then they examined the spot. After a moment, Tanne let out a low laugh.
“This is it. Hidden panel leading to the access, I’ll bet you anything.” He gently pressed a finger against the indentation, and sure enough, a panel slid back to reveal a hole in the wall. A contraption the size of a square dinner plate rested inside, wires feeding into it, then through the wall toward the direction of the door.
“Okay, now we just have to figure out how to take it down. And that’s not going to be easy.” Morio shook his head.
“Damned straight. Defense One is the top security system in the nation.” Tanne cocked his head, examining the panel. “I have dealt with a few of them, but this isn’t the best way for me to test out my skills.”
A lightbulb went off in the back of my brain. “I know who can do it. But we have to call him fast.” I looked at Camille.
She groaned. “You aren’t thinking of who I’m thinking of, are you?”
But I already had my phone out. “We have no choice. None of us can take care of this without endangering all of us, as well as anybody locked behind those doors.” I punched my Contacts and found the name I was looking for. Within seconds, he answered.
“Hello?” Daniel’s voice was easy on the ears; that much was for sure.
“Hey, it’s Menolly. Listen, we need your expertise. But we need it now—if you have the time. I don’t know what we can give you in payment, but we’ll think of something.” A man like Daniel wasn’t prone to philanthropy for philanthropy’s sake.
But he just chuckled. “That was fast. Well, you’re in luck. I happen to still be in Seattle right now. Where are you, and what am I facing?”
I gave him the address and directions on how to find us. “You need to hurry. And as to what you’re facing… ever disarmed a Defense One security system before?”
“Yes, and I’m intrigued. I’ll be there in ten minutes… hold tight. And don’t touch anything without me. I have experience with this sort of thing.” With that, the dial tone sounded. He’d hung up without so much as a good-bye. But then again, men like Daniel usually didn’t engage in chitchat much.
