The red-lens beam of Julian’s six-volt lantern cut through the thick crimson gloom of the central staircase.
Every riser was bathed in the viscous, dark color of arterial blood.
Julian Vance climbed in the lead, his boots moving in deliberate rhythm against the worn oak treads. Over his right shoulder hung the heavy leather case of the Detex Newman Watchman’s Clock, its brass bezel resting against his ribs. In his left ear, the rubber earpiece pulsed with the steady, calm sixty-eight beats per minute of Elena’s heart.
Behind him came Lin Mei, her fingers tightly gripping the thirty-foot coil of knotted waxed-linen cord and her Pickett slide-rule.
Bringing up the rear was Elena Rostova. Her Littmann stethoscope chestpiece was taped firmly over her sternum, and her gloved right hand held the stainless steel trigger of the liquid nitrogen canister, her eyes sweeping the darkness behind them.
Julian checked his Seiko 5 watch. The luminous hands showed 02:11 AM and fifteen seconds.
“Two minutes and forty-five seconds until the audit minute,” Julian whispered, keeping his voice below the thirty-decibel threshold.
“The staircase acoustics are shifting,” Lin Mei warned softly. “Look at the dust in the air -- every speck hangs suspended in stationary horizontal bands.”
