The heavy brass latch on the inner wire gate snapped back with a sharp iron click.
“Timer is running!” Lin Mei shouted, thumbing the side button on her digital stopwatch.
“One hundred and twenty seconds! Move, Julian!”
The Custodian of Unclaimed Baggage shrank back behind the brass counter. Its trunk-latches rattled like dried teeth.
“Keep your fingers off the wrong tags,” the Custodian hissed from between its rusted steamer trunks. “Touch an unassigned parcel and you become inventory. The bell tolls at zero.”
Julian Vance did not look back. He shoved through the open gate into the towering aisles of Bay 9.
“Stay tight on my heels, Lin!” Julian called out.
“Watch the floorboards! Don’t brush against the wire fencing!”
