Out of the Black - Lee Doty [57]
"Then scan for the wires... follow them!" Garvey shouted, then he lowered his voice, "Grunts." he said with derision.
"Yep." Neiland muttered, "you've gotta tell them every little thing." Then he shouted, "Skip your torches! Get your seers on!"
As Garvey fumbled his seers out of his jacket pocket, the room filled with the sound of electric motors and slow mechanical movement. He slipped the stylish glasses on, configured them for zero light operation, and the world turned into a clear, green-tinted approximation of daylight.
Someone had activated all of the densepack library shelving. All the racks of books were sliding on their runners in a seemingly random pattern, closing and opening isles between them as they moved a
The moving shelves were slowing down the search, making traversal between the main aisles slower, but that was all. Like turning out the lights, this was only a distraction. If Lutine's apprentice were going to try something, it would be now.
Standing in the archive's central hallway, Garvey opened his mind and dove into the Underworld, where his Cast stretched out, searching. If the apprentice tried anything, Garvey would be ready for him.
"Stay sharp!" Neiland shouted, "They're probably going to make a break for it!"
***
Weapons drawn, Ping and Rae moved out into the inky blackness of the aisle. Ping went right; Rae went left. They couldn't see a thing since the agents weren't using their flashlights and the exit beacons didn't come close to reaching the back of the cavernous archive. They were blind, but if you could believe Garvey about the seers, his men were not. Ping's sunglasses had a night-vision mode, but he'd left them in the glove box of his car. Alex's camera cluster had a zero light mode, so he could still see from within the utility room, but Ping and Rae had to take it on faith that they weren't currently in the sights of one of the agents. Ping wondered if they were trying to capture him or would just shoot on sight. Either way these palookas were likely to shoot first and ask questions never... they were just that subtle.
There was a corner here that Ping was hoping not to turn. What if these guys really were federal agents? What if Garvey and company were wearing the white hats? What if pigs could fly? He didn't yet know exactly what was going on, or who the players were. He didn't want to shoot anyone, but he wanted to be shot even less, and he had the distinct impression these guys didn't bring handcuffs.
His left elbow brushed along the shelf to keep him oriented, both his guns were held close but ready before him as he slipped through the darkness. Before him, a gray patch of darkness resolved from the absolute black. He had reached the end of the aisle, but didn't dare poke his head around it toward the dim light for fear that it would get shot off by the unseen gunmen. He closed his eyes and waited for Alex's big move. Thirteen vs. three, three pistols vs. at least eleven automatic weapons plus whatever Good Cop and Bad Cop were carrying.
***
Inside the utility room, Alex watched Rae and Ping get into position on the ends of the aisle. He wondered when the bad guys would notice that the shelf they leaned against was the only one in the archive that wasn't on the move. Given enough time...
He watched the movements of the agents outside, looking for the best opportunity. One of the scanning teams approached Rae's position, but fortunately they were scanning the exterior wall that ran perpendicular to her aisle. There were another two teams in the central aisle close to the Detective.
He touched the activating button with his stylus. Now or never. As the screen went white, he moved the monitor window into the background.
Now that they were off balance, it was time to repare for phase two.
***
In a jittering flash, the lights blazed back to life.
Ping and Rae opened their eyes fractionally and got to work. Rae's gun hummed out of standby as she pivoted around and braced her arms against the shelf. Her targets were taken off guard as their seers went