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“Daniel’s on his way. Smoky, can you go topside and wait for him?”
“I think you’re making a mistake, but yes, I will.” The dragon shook his head at me, then turned and swept up the stairs.
We waited. With a little luck, nobody but Smoky would come down those stairs, and nobody would come bursting through that door before Daniel got here. While we waited, we kept quiet. It wouldn’t do to attract any unwelcome attention. I was relieved so far to find a distinct lack of ghosts. Though given the choice between fighting spooks or disarming this door, I almost would rather have the ghosties. At least they hadn’t ever exploded on us. So far.
Sometimes the universe actually tossed us a break.
Ten minutes later, nothing had happened, we were still in one piece, and Smoky reappeared with Daniel behind him. Daniel must have carried a change of clothes with him, because he was dressed in dark jeans and a sleek turtleneck. He had on fancy sneakers and was silent as a cat. Around his waist, he wore a belt that had a number of gadgets attached. Delilah glanced at me and mouthed, “Bat utility belt,” and I did my best to stifle a snort of laughter.
Tanne motioned him over. “The Defense One system is tied into a magical alert system. If you fail to disarm it, and the DO system trips, the magical alarm will also go off, and there’s a good chance it will set off something far worse than just a warning system. But we believe that if you can disarm the Defense One system, it will also disarm the magical alarm.”
Daniel barely said a word, simply approached the open panel and took a peek in. A moment later and he rubbed his hands together, almost gleefully. “Oh, this isn’t so hard. I’ve taken down systems much more complex than this.”
He moved in, pulling a few tools out of his belt. It was hard to see what he was doing from where I stood, but his attention and focus were apparent. Daniel loved his work—that much was clear. And he was also incredibly capable of keeping his mind on what he was doing. Even though Morio and Tanne were watching him intently, he didn’t budge, didn’t look up. Just worked away.
Ten nerve-racking minutes later, he let out a slow sigh, and then turned back to us. “When I flip this lever, the door will unlock without an alarm. I take it you need to be ready to move in.”
“Do you have any clue what we’re doing?” I eyed him, trying to ascertain how much he knew.
He grinned. “Only enough to know I don’t want to be around when the heavy artillery comes out. I saw the blast marks upstairs. And while I’m still clueless enough to keep me out of trouble, I’ll leave you to your work. Just give me a call and let me know you all emerged in one piece.”
Smoky was gazing at him, and it was impossible to read what the dragon was thinking by the look on his face. All he said was, “Let me make certain you get out safe.” He turned back to us. “I’ll be back in a minute.”
“You do realize that when I flip this lever, if anybody is right inside the door, they’re going to know someone is coming in.”
“We’ll take that chance. Flip it, and then hightail it out of here with Smoky as we head through.” I motioned for him to go through with it.
Daniel lightly reached out and clicked a small lever. A few seconds later, there was a light click from the door and Camille opened it. We were all steeled for whatever might be on the other side, but again, for a change, we lucked out. An empty hall awaited us.
Smoky tapped Daniel on the shoulder and they headed upstairs as I slipped through the open door, followed by Tanne, Delilah, and Roz. We didn’t know if the door would lock again or sound an alarm if it was closed and reopened, so Camille held it ajar and we waited for Smoky to reappear. Hopefully keeping it open wouldn’t cause problems either. Morio waited with her. But it was only a moment and Smoky returned, and the three of them hustled into the hall. We let the door quietly close behind us. I listened, waiting for the latch to catch, but heard nothing. Maybe we were catching a bit of a break after all.
The hallway was short, and it was brick. Old brick. Near the end of it, on the right side, was a crude archway that looked like it had been formed out of a large hole in the wall.
“It looks like somebody blasted through here and then tried to repair it in order to shore it up.” Roz moved to the front. “Let me take a look at it.”
I motioned to the others. “Stay here while we check it out.”
As we approached the opening, I saw that he was right. The actual stone arch wasn’t really smooth—it was jagged. A wooden trestle, looking to be of polished hardwood, had been fitted into the opening for support. While it was snug, there were plenty of gaps around the edges where the bricks had been shattered in a nonuniform manner.
“Looks like something blasted that hole, and then whoever built this decided to leave the opening but make it safer.” Roz reached out, his fingers sliding along the polished beam. “That’s hornbeam. Also known as ironwood. It will hold up a lot of weight, and with the opening being only three feet wide, it should last a good long time. I’d surmise the wood has been treated, as well.”
“So it seems the actual hole may have been an accident, but the resulting arch keeping it open is deliberate.” I pondered this for a moment. “It makes me wonder just who blasted this open in the first place. Goblins are known for coming through these tunnels—remember the ones near Pioneer Square? Somehow they managed to find a rogue portal down in Underground Seattle, and I don’t know if that thing is still there or not.”
It occurred to me that, in all the chaos of the past couple years, a few things had slipped by the wayside and we really should attend to them. Like rogue portals and who was watching them, and other such little goodies. Knowing we were spacing on things wasn’t really conducive to feeling secure, and I wondered what else we’d forgotten along the way.
“Could be. Goblins like brute force; that’s for certain. The hole has been around far too long to ascertain what kind of explosives ripped it open. But we should get moving. The longer we loiter here, the more chance we have of being caught.” Roz’s jaw was set, and he looked unsettled. “There are bound to be bigger and badder things down here than the daeflier. And I’d rather take them by surprise than the other way around.”
“Good point.” I peeked through the opening.
Sure enough, it led into Underground Seattle; that much was obvious. The tunnel led to the right and left, although to the right was bricked up after about ten yards. To the left, faint lights were affixed to the sides of the walls. I wasn’t sure if they were electric, or battery operated. I doubted they were magical. Though down in the underground, it was hard to tell.
There was no one in sight, so I motioned for the others to join us, and Tanne retook the lead beside me, with Delilah and Roz next, then Camille and Morio, and lastly—Smoky. With a dragon holding our guard, we all felt more comfortable.
There was a special feel to Underground Seattle, no matter where you were in it. Passing what had been discarded shops, with their faded signs from the past, served as a stark reminder of how time put to rest all things. People who had lived here were dead, and many—forgotten.
While the city authorities had done their best to block off large portions of the area, both the humans and the Supes who inhabited the underground had opened them right back up, as well as adding new tunnels.
And, of course, the Demon Underground had its own niche beneath the city. I dreaded the thought of a major quake striking the area, which it could easily do, seeing how Seattle was built over a major fault zone. A lot of lives could be lost, as well as an entire subculture of the city.
