Chapter 19
They were standing, all four of them, on the sidewalk where the night before the Thirsters had gone up in flames. The scorch marks on the ground were still evident.
Across the road teams of workmen in hard hats were walking in and out of the Bradbury building, carrying ladders and buckets. The fact that the workmen were coming and going and the place had no security around it pretty much told them the gateway wasn’t open. If it were open, then there would be a media circus surrounding the building, or men in dark suits with ear pieces standing around trying to look inconspicuous in a Roswell type of way. Still, they were here now, so they ought to check.
‘How are we going to get inside?’ Vero asked.
‘Time-honoured diversion tactics?’ Ash suggested. ‘I don’t mind doing the honours but what if it is still open? Wouldn’t it be better if all of us went in?’
‘We can’t exactly breeze in there with arrows and swords,’ Evie pointed out. ‘It’s broad daylight.’
‘There can’t be anyone in there – unhumans, I mean. I’m not feeling anything. Are you?’ Vero asked.
They all shook their heads. Cyrus looked puzzled as he studied the outside of the building.
‘So it’s probably safe for three of us to go in and take a look – check that it is actually shut while one of us stays outside and creates a diversion, and acts as a lookout. Agreed?’
They all nodded.
‘OK, then,’ said Ash. ‘Good luck!’ And with that, he strolled off towards the entrance. As he approached the first of the workmen’s vans parked just outside he spun and kicked the side of it with the heel of his shoe. An alarm started shrieking. Ash kept walking, doing the same to the second van and then to the two cars parked behind.
‘Come on,’ Vero said, pulling Evie by the hand across the street as a dozen workmen came dashing out of the building. Everyone on the street was standing and staring at the blaring vans and cars. Ash meanwhile had vanished.
The three of them raced up the steps and into the cool atrium of the building, jumping over sacks of concrete mix and leaping over the power cords trailing across the floor. Evie shivered despite the sunlight streaming through the tall glass ceiling, remembering the last time they’d been there.
‘Let’s just hurry up,’ she said, running towards the curving staircase that led down into the basement, avoiding even looking in the direction of the elevators where the bodies of the cops had been found.
Cyrus was hot on her heels. She could feel him breathing down her neck. If the gateway was open then did that mean it was her after all? No. She stopped herself from even thinking it, concentrating instead on not losing her footing as she skidded off the bottom step.
They hit the basement room where they’d fought off a group of Thirsters, a Mixen and a Scorpio. And there straight ahead of them lay the gap in the wall where once a doorway had stood shielding the gateway from public view.
‘You did that,’ Evie told Cyrus, pointing.
He appraised his handiwork as they stepped through.
‘Grenade?’ he asked, admiring the twisted metal remains of the door.
‘Kind of,’ she answered, thinking of the Mixen he’d propped against the door and then blown up.
She was holding her breath, she realised. But there was no need to worry. Just as she’d thought, the way through was shut. There was no streaming wall of light. There was only a brick wall standing in front of them.
‘That’s where it was,’ Vero said to Cyrus, pointing. ‘That’s the last place we saw you.’
They stared at the wall. Then Cyrus walked over, placed his hands flat against it and pushed.
‘It wasn’t like a door,’ Vero added, seeing the confusion on his face. ‘It was like a really bright light.’
Cyrus stepped back. ‘Well, I’d say it was closed, right?’ he asked with a half-smile.
Evie smiled back, relief making her feel light-headed. ‘Yeah, I’d say so.’
They walked back up the stairs into the atrium, all of them grinning with relief.
‘Hey!’ someone yelled.
Evie froze. A man in a hard hat was marching towards them. ‘What the hell are you doing in here?’ he demanded, his moustache bristling. ‘This is a construction site. Get the hell out!’
‘No hablo Inglés,’ Cyrus said, stepping quickly in front of Evie. ‘Estamos turistas. Estamos perdidas.’
He took Evie by the hand and they made a run for it towards the door, Vero sprinting behind them. The man was still yelling after them as they ducked down the steps and ran across the street towards Ash.
‘So?’ he asked, coming to meet them.
‘Closed,’ Vero answered, throwing her arms around his neck.
A rare smile cracked on Ash’s face.
‘What was that? Spanish? How do you speak Spanish?’ Evie asked Cyrus, letting her hand slide from his.
‘I don’t know,’ Cyrus shrugged, his gaze dropping to her hand for an instant. ‘Guess I’m just a linguistic genius.’
Evie arched an eyebrow and bit back a smile. The old Cyrus was making a comeback. She wasn’t sure she wanted to encourage it though.