Page 37 of Mercy Written in Blood

Ken rubbed his hands together. The chamber was cold enough that their breath showed faintly.

"You think the bones are vampire?"

"No."

"How would we know?"

"I don't know."

"That's what worries me."

Haruki looked at him. Ken rarely admitted fear — anger, yes, frustration constantly, but fear was something he disguised beneath noise.

"Go upstairs," Haruki said.

Ken frowned.

"What?"

"Check the access points. Make sure nobody has entered the warehouse without approval."

"You want me out of here."

"I want someone I trust controlling the only route in."

Ken studied him, then nodded.

"I'll take Toma."

"Leave one worker with the engineers."

Ken moved towards the breach, then stopped.

"If anything happens—"

"I'll call."

"That isn't what I meant."

Haruki understood.

"If anything happens, I won't pretend it didn't."

Ken seemed satisfied with that. He ducked through the broken wall.

The chamber felt quieter after he left. Haruki took out his phone. No signal — he had expected that, though the blank display unsettled him all the same. The service radios worked underground, but only across a limited range; the old stone anddepth interfered with everything else. He slipped the phone back into his pocket.

Across the chamber, Dr Endo was tracing one of the maps without touching the cloth.

"This road should not be here," he said.

Takeda looked over.

"Which one?"

"This."

He pointed to a faded line curving beneath the old eastern district.