Crimson Veil

“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.

“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.

The passage we were in was narrow. It might have been an alley for the way it looked. The floor here was brick, but there were signs that, once, there had been planking over the brick till somebody had gotten the idea to rip it up. I wasn’t sure why, but chances were the wood had eroded away in the dampness.

I looked over my shoulder at Delilah. “Which direction was Pete’s Barbershop? I hope it’s to the left or we’re going to have problems.”

She nodded. “Left, it is. About two blocks.”

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.”