Page 92 of Property of Crypt Keeper

Silence. Then a shuffling sound came from down the tunnel. Her eyes went wide, and she backed up, shaking her head. “No, no, no, no, no,” she whimpered.

A faint sound like a scratchy growl carried from somewhere in the distance.

Hack immediately moved toward the panel. He attached what looked like tiny electrodes to the panel before his fingers flew over his keyboard.

“Can you stop it?” Boomslang questioned.

“I don’t know,” he honestly replied without looking up from his screen. “But I can damn sure try.”

The recessed panel flashed red several times. His focus became laser-precise as he muttered, “Shit.”

“I don’t like the sound of that,” Dexter grumbled. “Why don’t I like the sound of that?”

Being a fair security hacker was part of my nature as a hunter. I crouched down to see what Hack was seeing and I immediately knew. It wasn’t simply encrypted. It was warded. Magically layered.

“Oh, that’s dirty…” Hack muttered under his breath.

Boomslang looked between Hack and deeper into the tunnels where the sounds were getting louder. “Talk to me.”

“They built two systems.” Hack continued typing. “One controls the lab.” Another beep. “The other controls the cages.”

Everyone went still.

Hack’s face hardened. “They’re linked.”

Another sequence popped up on his screen.

“So if security gets tripped, or the first door opens…” I began as the pieces were clicking together for me.

He looked up. “Whatever is down there gets to you unless you know this is here and you know there’s a second code.”

Everyone held their breath. Then—Click.

Hack slipped the last line of code into the keypad. The tiny screen flashed red. Then amber. Finally, a computer-generated voice announced, “Access Override Accepted.”

Hack exhaled and glanced around in relieved triumph. “I think I bypassed it.”

“You think?” Zeus asked, lifting his mask as if he wasn’t seeing clearly with it and needed clarity. His jaw hung in disbelief.

What sounded like heavy locks somewhere deep beneath the cathedral thunked quietly. The creaking of heavy iron gates rolling on hard ground echoed from up ahead.

There was a frantic scratching and scrambling sound, then the gates rolled again. We waited a moment. Nothing opened again. Nothing moved in the corridors though a faint but vicious smacking and grunting could be heard.

“Yes, I believe it’s safe to proceed,” Hack declared as he packed up his equipment.

“And you believe?” Zeus continued incredulously. In any other circumstance, it might’ve been humorous.

“They shouldn’t be able to trigger a mass release now,” Hack added.

“Shouldn’t?” Spook chimed in.

Hack winced and shrugged. “I mean, I hate making promises with someone else’s security system.”

Boomslang nodded once and motioned ahead. “Move.”

One by one, we advanced. In my hand, Zara’s squeezed my fingers, and I gave her a reassuring one in return.

The passage beyond the security panel narrowed. Ancient stone slowly gave way to reinforced concrete. It was as if the very air changed. The scent of damp earth disappeared beneath antiseptic chemicals and old blood.