Out of the Black - Lee Doty [48]
The new aisle before them was perhaps six meters long and less than a meter wide. At the other end, Ping could see another narrow access aisle running parallel to the central aisle. Across the access aisle was another stack of compressed shelves.
They entered the aisle with Rae in the lead. Halfway down, she stopagebefore a steel door in the wall on their left. She stood aside and gestured for Ping to enter.
Ping's key clinked off the featureless metal knob. He heard a mostly suppressed laugh from over his shoulder and turned to find Rae with a hand clasped over her mouth; laughter sparkled in her eyes.
"Sorry- just couldn't resist." She gave him a playful punch in the shoulder, opened the door, and strode into the darkness beyond, still smiling. After a second spent staring into the blackness, he followed.
The door closed behind him, leaving them in absolute darkness. He heard Rae fumbling for the switch at his left, then a faint chirp from somewhere off to his right. A rumble came through the wall, followed by a muted impact like the closing of a heavy gate. The shelves outside had again moved to cover the door. He was trapped... and fairly uncomfortable as a few seconds passed in darkness. Better safe than sorry...
The light came on, catching Ping in mid-draw. Rae turned from the light switch to face him and her eyes went to the half-drawn weapon. He slid the gun back into its holster with a shrug.
"I think he's getting slower, Rae."
Ping turned around. Ahmed sat against the wall at Ping's right with his expanded tablet on his lap. Ping's thoughts flitted between curiosity, amusement, his keys, and revenge.
The room was small, perhaps four meters on a side. The only light was from a still-flickering fluorescent utility tube in the middle of the ceiling. The dim light was insufficient to dispel the shadows that lingered in the corners of the room. The room was cluttered with cleaning equipment and spare desks and chairs. The walls were adorned only with electrical conduits and a large junction box. After surveying the room, his gaze came to a rest on Ahmed.
Ahmed looked to Ping for some kind of response. After a few seconds of Ping's most inscrutable stare he became nervous and busied his hands by twirling his tablet's stylus absently around his fingers. "You've got questions." He said at last.
Without terminating the stare-down, Ping held up the ring of keys, dangling them in the air between them.
"A necessary distraction." Alex said.
Ping tilted his head fractionally, gaze still locked on Alex.
Ahmed held up his hands. "Look, we couldn't talk before for a lot of reasons. You seemed like a pretty solid guy, you were also massively confused... this meant you would be getting pulled from the case any minute- one way or another, depending on how much you discovered."
Ping raised his eyebrows, surprised.
Ahmed continued. "How did I know you already got pulled? Honestly it's because you're still breathing. Where to start... Look, I was serious about us being in danger. If they thought you were a threat, you wouldn't be here now. The Obscuring was for your own protection as well as ours, the keys were to make you look stupid, to convince them I'd Cast you good... but I admit that part was pretty funny, heh... Sparky was to bring you here."
"You know, even I didn't understand that, babe." Rae said from over Ping's shoulder.
"Bring me here? Why?" Ping said, not lowering the keys.
"We need help. We're in trouble." Ping continued to stare, so Alex continued, "Plus you ad a great draw... you even beat Rae, which is pretty impressive."
They both smiled at Ping nervously. He gave the keys a jingle.
"Ah! Gotcha!" Ahmed stopped twirling his stylus and made a few decisive clicks on the surface of the tablet. Thin music filled the air. "Just a few seconds here... I've still got the training wheels on with this stuff..." the music grew in intensity and complexity. In less than half a minute, Ahmed's eyes had lost focus on the tablet on his lap. His head swayed slightly, his shoulders moving