Page 49
“Yeah, but they aren’t you. Maybe they did it wrong, or maybe they weren’t all that invested in finding one gargoyle. Can you try, Victor? Is there time?” I’d neglected Claymore for far too long, and this might be our only chance to find out what had happened to him.
Zee nodded along, happy to stay as long as I was.
“Alright.” Victor returned to the screen. His fast fingers tapped in some code, then Claymore’s name, and the waterfall of data started up again. “Hopefully, this does not take long, as I’ve just activated a program I’d been working on to wipe the software.”
“Wipe it?”
“Yes. I wasn’t able to activate it this morning, but since we’re here now, I’ve freed it into the building’s systems and this tracking software. It will burn it all down from the inside, Adam. Reynard Technologies is about to perish by my own hand. We just need to leave before the security measures kick in.”
Zee rolled his eyes at Reynard’s theatrics. “What’s it going to do, eat us?”
“No, but if the building goes into lockdown and movement is detected in certain zones, those zones will be gassed.”
“Gassed?” I echoed. “We aren’t in one of those zones, right?”
“We are. But we’re not far from the portal. We should be fine.”
“Oh, good.” I glanced at Zee, who leaned against the screens with his arms crossed and his tail flicking, staring at Reynard as though trying to figure out whether to embrace Victor’s newfound sassitude or rebel against it.
An ominous, metallic clang rang out from somewhere outside the room.
“You heard that, right?” I asked. Zee nodded, eyes narrowing as he peered through the glass walls. At least nobody could sneak up on us, but it also meant we had nowhere to hide. “Is there anyone else here?”
Victor peered through the glass walls. “There shouldn’t be, not at this early hour.”
“I’ll check it out.” Zee pushed off the bank of screens. “You two get your funk on and find Claymore.”
He left the room, but I poked my head out after him. “Don’t go far. Splitting up is a bad idea, remember?”
“Pfft, what’s the worst that can happen? A paper cut? Death by stapler?” He rolled his eyes and strode on down the corridor, calling back, “I got this.”
“He does not have this,” Victor said as soon as I returned to his side. “This building is equipped with state of the art security measures, authorized to use lethal force due to the sensitive nature of our classified projects.”
Lethal force?! “You’re just mentioning this now?!”
“Zodiac left before it crossed my mind.”
Oh my stars. “We really need to sober you up.”
The screen pinged again and Victor read the results. “There haven’t been any sightings of Claymore for over a month. Since the hotel opened, in fact. I’m sorry, Adam.”
“Is that unusual, this scanner thing not picking someone up?”
“Only if the target is dead.”
My heart sank. Our kind, spider-loving Claymore might be dead? “How? Why?”
“We will investigate this further, but for now, we really must go.” Victor steered me toward the door, glancing up and down the corridors. If he was concerned, then we all needed to be. “I fear it is imperative we leave immediately.”
Another clang sounded, but from a different direction. The red lights weren’t helping to cultivate happy thoughts.
“What happens if we don’t get out in time?” I whispered, as we hurried back along the corridor.
“Let’s not be here to find out.”
The corridor split ahead. The right fork led toward the storage room and the portal, and the left ventured deeper into the building. “Zee?” I called, then winced at how loud my voice had seemed. Silence came back. “Never split up. He said this always happens. Why did he have to go off now?”
Victor huffed through his nose and rolled up his wet sleeves. “Wait here. Do not move from this spot. I’ll be back.” He blurred away, leaving me standing alone, surrounded by glass walls and sharp, shiny, empty, glass rooms. Yeah, I really did not like this place. No wonder Victor had stayed in the basement.
