“You activated a whole bunch of silent alarms and weapons systems just by getting too close to the desk,” said Molly.
“Weapons systems?”
“Relax! I shut them all down the moment I sensed them coming online. They keep trying to turn themselves back on . . . but I think I’ve got control now.”
“Can I move yet?”
“As long as you’re careful,” said Molly. “I don’t trust this office. It’s hiding things from me. . . .”
“This would be so much easier if I still had my armour,” I said.
“You don’t need your armour,” said Molly. “You’ve got me.”
She strode over to the desk while I was still unclenching my muscles, and kicked it a few times, thoughtfully. She sank into the very comfortable swivel chair, bounced up and down a few times, and then spun round and round in it, laughing happily. Two steel clamps sprang out of the chair’s arms, and snapped around her wrists, holding her in place. I tried not to laugh. Molly spat out a Word, and the metal clamps exploded off her. Molly surged to her feet, turned on the chair, and tore it apart, throwing the pieces every which way. She finally stopped, breathing heavily, and glared at me.
“I have nothing to say,” I said quickly. “Not a word.”
We moved around the office, inspecting everything thoroughly, while being extremely careful not to touch anything. No trace of a hidden safe, or a hidden anything, anywhere. We went back to the desk, and considered it again. Molly gestured at the desk drawers, and they all popped open, one at a time. Molly leaned over, and peered into them. I knelt down, and looked under the desk. And that was when I spotted that one particular square of the fitted carpet that looked just a little bit more worn and used than the others. I gestured to Molly, and she came and knelt down beside me. She frowned at the carpet square, while I wished impatiently for the Sight my armour used to give me. She shook her head quickly.
“No alarms, no sensors, but there’s something off here . . . as though I’m not being allowed to See something.”
I took a cautious hold of the edge of the carpet square, and peeled it back a few inches at a time. We were both tense, ready to jump back at a moment’s notice. And then, finally, with the carpet out of the way, I could see the steel safe set square into the floor. I smiled triumphantly at Molly.
“Beginner’s luck,” she said, loftily.
I examined the safe carefully. Gleaming steel, a high-tech combination lock, very impressive. Molly whistled, impressed.
“That . . . is a Hockler-Strauss safe. Most expensive on the market, most complicated locking system, absolutely no way of opening it without a whole lot of really expensive equipment, which I don’t happen to have with me at the moment.”
I grinned, and held up the Armourer’s lock-breaker. “Never leave home without one. Thank you, Uncle Jack.”
“That’s cheating,” said Molly.
“We’re spies,” I said.
I set the lock-breaker on the steel surface, right next to the combination lock, and the locking system made a number of really upset noises as the numbers spun madly round. There was the sound of inner bolts drawing back, and then the door to the safe clunked open. I grabbed the handle and pulled the door all the way open, leaning it back on the thickly carpeted floor. Molly and I both leaned forward eagerly to peer inside. The safe was empty, apart from a single piece of paper. I reached in and took it out.
The note said: Nice try. By opening this safe you have set off a silent alarm that cannot be countermanded or shut down. Better luck in your next reincarnation.
“Oh, shit,” said Molly. “I hate it when they think they have a sense of humour.”
I tossed the paper back into the safe, and slammed the door shut. “Is there really a silent alarm? Can you tell?”
“I can now,” said Molly.
“Run,” I said.
Heavy reinforced steel shutters slammed down, covering all the windows and the only door.
“Run where?” said Molly. “We’re sealed in! Listen . . . can you hear that? Can you hear running feet in the outer corridor, heading our way?”
“No,” I said. “But I’m ready to take your word for it. Can you teleport us out of here? Just as far as the roof?”
“We’re in a major null zone,” said Molly. “It slammed down the moment the alarm went off. I could probably push some minor magics through it, if I really had to, but that’s all. Eddie, we can’t afford to be caught here.”
“I know,” I said.
“I mean, we really can’t afford to be caught and identified, Eddie! They won’t just kill us, they’ll make an example of us!”
“I know!” I said.
“Well, don’t just stand there—think of something!”
“It would be easier to think if you weren’t yelling at me! You know, for an ex-professional burglar, you don’t half panic easily.”
I drew my Colt Repeater, called for heavy-duty incendiary bullets, and opened fire on the shutter covering the window we came in through. And then Molly and I both had to drop to our knees and duck and cover behind the desk, as the blazing bullets ricocheted back at us, unable to penetrate the reinforced shutter. Several small fires started up, as the bullets set fire to some of the furniture and parts of the carpet. And then the sprinklers kicked in, covering the whole office. The fires were put out, and Molly and I got drenched. She glared at me.
“Wonderful. You have actually managed to make the situation worse. I’m soaked!”
“Have you got a better idea?” I said, putting the gun away. “Because I’m perfectly willing to listen to one. Can’t you at least turn the sprinklers off?”
“Which part of major null are you having trouble understanding? Do something! The security systems are all putting themselves back online!”
I took out my cell phone and called the Scarlet Lady.
“What do you want?” said the car. “I’m busy having a perfectly lovely time shooting down pigeons.”
“The brown smelly stuff has hit the fan!” I said. “It’s all gone horribly wrong, and we’re trapped inside the penthouse floor. Can you do anything to help?”
“Oh, sure!” said the car. “I still can’t fly you down . . . but, if you can get out a window, there is something I could try. . . .”
“Do it!” I said. “Whatever it is, do it. I’m sure it’s a perfectly reasonable plan, and I love it to death. Now get moving!”
“People are always in such a hurry,” said the car.
I put the phone away, just as Molly’s head came up sharply.
“Weapons systems are back online!”
“Shut them down again!” I said.
“I’m trying!”
Energy guns appeared in the ceiling above us, and beams of sharp dazzling light stabbed down, shooting holes through the furniture. Molly and I threw ourselves underneath the desk, figuring Parris wouldn’t let his defence systems shoot up his special desk. The energy beams got as close as they could, blasting holes through the floor and setting fire to the expensive carpeting. The sprinklers went into overdrive, and then shut down one by one as they ran out of water. That was something.
I reached up around the desk, and attached the lock-breaker to the side of the desk computer. It immediately turned itself on, and the monitor obligingly opened up all its files to me. I cautiously raised my head enough to see what I was doing, found the file responsible for the weapons systems, and shut them down. All the energy beams snapped off. Molly and I emerged cautiously from behind the desk. The air was very still, and smelt strongly of ozone.
“I was almost there,” said Molly.
And then we both looked round, as we heard heavy footsteps outside the office door. They stopped abruptly, there was a pause, and then I could just make out agitated voices arguing about how were they supposed to get in when the lowered shutter had closed off the only door. There then followed a certain amount of arguing and raised voices, over who was going to have to go back and get the cancellation codes to raise the shutters.