Just after the Civil War, after Sherman burned the city to the ground, Atlanta had put itself back together, growing and flourishing in the Reconstruction. This whole section of the city had grown faster than the rest as bigger buildings were built and viaducts were raised to carry railroads and then vehicular traffic. The area under the viaducts, which had been at street level in the nineteenth century, had eventually been buried in new construction until the city streets were a whole story higher than they used to be.
Entire city blocks lay down there, covered over and buried as the city grew up around them. Once, Chapel knew from what he’d read about the place, it had been a zone of speakeasies during Prohibition. Then it had been taken over by squatters and the homeless. Now Underground Atlanta was a giant shopping mall.
And, apparently, a bolt hole for an ex-FBI agent named Jeremy Funt.
Chapel and Julia headed inside, joining the flow of early morning shoppers and tourists. Inside, the Underground was paved with brick and lit only sporadically by overhead fluorescents and the occasional light well. It was full of brightly lit shops and souvenir stands, carts selling T-shirts advertising HOTLANTA or THE A, places to get your hair braided or your ears pierced, displays of antique cars and jazz legends and old railroad history. Someone was singing nearby, though Chapel couldn’t see where. The place’s weird acoustics distorted the singer’s voice and made the plateglass windows of the shops around him shake. The Underground smelled of pretzels and old beer and even older mildew.
“Let’s find our man fast and get him out of here,” Chapel said, frowning. He definitely did not like how public this place was. If a chimera came here, looking for Funt, the collateral damage could be devastating.
“Why is he here in the first place?” Julia asked.
Chapel shrugged. “Based on what we saw last night — the way he rigged his house — Funt’s crazy. A paranoid. I expected him to have some underground bunker hidden away on some compound out in the country, a place full of guns and bottled water and a copy of The Turner Diaries.” He glanced around. “Not this.”
Up ahead there was an indoor waterfall where children were playing, splashing one another and passersby. There was a tourist information stand there, a little booth with no one in it. There were brochures available, though, and Chapel grabbed one. “He said he was under the Underground, whatever that means.” He glanced through the brochure, looking for any clue that might tell him where to go next.
Julia grabbed one for herself and started reading it. “Apparently there used to be a wax museum down here. That’s kind of creepy. I can imagine Funt hiding in an abandoned wax museum. The chimera might be confused by all the statues and not know who to beat on first.”
“It’s a thought,” Chapel said. He shook his head and folded his brochure up again. Jammed it in his pocket. “Maybe we can ask someone.” He turned around, looking for anyone who might meet his eye.
The first person he saw was an old guy with a straggly beard wearing a green army jacket. He had a cardboard sign around his neck that read HUNGRY VET PLEASE HELP. When he saw Chapel looking at him, he came over straightaway.
“I’m not going to BS you,” the man said. “Just give me a moment of your time, and I’ll be on my way. I am an alcoholic, it’s true.”
Chapel nodded. He could smell the gin on the man’s breath. At least he was being honest about it.
“Any money you give me I’ll take straight to the bar,” the vet went on, clearly winding up to deliver a well-practiced pitch.
“What branch of the service were you in?” Chapel asked him, beginning to think maybe the army coat was just for show.
“Wait,” Julia said. “Wait — maybe you can help us. Do you know this place well?”
“Like the back of my hand,” the drunk said, staring down at his hands as if he’d never seen them before.
“Oh, come on,” Chapel said.
“We need to find some place here. The place underneath the Underground. Does that make sense?”
“Well,” the drunk said, stretching it out to multiple syllables. “Well, this is about as low as you can get in Hotlanta. About as far down as we go. Except the utility basement, there’s that.”
“A basement?” Chapel asked. “Where’s the entrance?”
The drunk stared at him shrewdly.
“It’s extremely important,” Julia said. “Can you please show us where it is?”
“I’ll do it,” the drunk told her, “on one condition only, from which I will not budge. Should you require my services, on this I must insist—”
“What is it?” Chapel asked.
“That the beautiful lady will consent to give me a kiss.” He batted his eyelashes at Julia.
“That’s definitely not going to happen,” she told him. “How about this?” she held up a twenty-dollar bill, folded neatly and tucked between two of her fingers.
“Right this way,” the drunk said, and started off into the darkened paths between the shops of the Underground. The twenty was already gone, presumably hidden somewhere on his person.
He moved fast, zigzagging through the crowd. Most people drew back when he got too close. Others just ignored him. He weaved and bobbed back and forth, somehow never touching anybody. Chapel had to constantly apologize to the people he bumped into while trying to keep up. He glanced back over his shoulder and saw Julia just pushing her way through. Apparently growing up in New York City had taught her how not to get lost in a crowd.
They passed by plenty of closed stores and little stages where jazz bands vied for attention. Shoppers milled around a few of the businesses, but mostly people just seemed to want to get in Chapel’s way. Just as he was starting to get seriously annoyed, the drunk stopped abruptly and turned to face him.
“And here we are, at our destination,” the drunk announced, raising his arms like a tour guide.
“Where?” Chapel demanded. He looked around and couldn’t see any doors leading to hidden basements. Just a lot of thuggish-looking teenagers standing around being bored. There was a big Coca-Cola mural on one rough brick wall, and what looked like a very uncomfortable bench or maybe a utility box.
“Oh ye of little faith,” the drunk said. He tapped the utility box with his foot.
Chapel went around the side of the thing and saw that it was fronted by a pair of low wooden doors, no higher than his waist. It was a hatch to a utility area.
“Okay. Fine. You can go now,” Chapel said to the drunk. He was already trying to figure out how he would get through those doors. They looked like they’d been permanently sealed shut.
The drunk started to fume in protest.
“Thanks,” Julia said, “you’ve been very helpful.”
“How about a hug?” the drunk asked.
“How about not?”
She could clearly take care of herself. Chapel was too busy to pay attention. He was feeling around the edges of the doors. Funt wanted to be found, Chapel was sure of that. So he wouldn’t be hiding behind a sealed door.
Chapel’s fingers found a concealed latch on one side of the doors. He slipped it open and the doors parted. Beyond them he could see a dark stairway leading down.
Jackpot.
He looked around and saw that no one was watching him. He would have much preferred to come back later, after everyone had gone, but he just didn’t have the time. He looked up and saw that Julia had gotten rid of the drunk by giving him more money. Well, as long as he left, that was fine.
“That’s where we’re going?” she asked.
“That’s where I’m going,” Chapel told her. “You’re staying right here.”