Dimly, he realized that the screaming behind him wasn’t screaming, but cheering. He looked back, and saw the bedraggled group staring upward, above his head. At the point where the curved brickwork of the ceiling met the wall of the tunnel, a dark hole yawned, perhaps three feet square. Poking out of it was the end of a rusty iron ladder, bolted to the ancient masonry.
The cheering rapidly died away as the awful truth dawned.
“It’s too fucking far to reach,” D’Agosta said.
= 58 =
They moved away from the Secure Area and stealthily climbed a stairwell. Pendergast turned to Margo, put a finger to his lips, then pointed to the crimson splashes of blood on the floor. She nodded: the beast had gone this way when it ran from their lights. She remembered that she’d been up this staircase just the day before with Smithback, evading the guard. She followed Pendergast as he flicked off the miner’s lamp, cautiously opened the first floor door, and moved out into the darkness beyond, the bundle of fibers clasped over his shoulder.
The agent stopped a moment, inhaling. “I don’t smell anything,” he whispered. “Which way to Security Command and the Computer Room?”
“I think we go left from here,” Margo said. “And then through the Hall of Ancient Mammals. It’s not too far. Just around the corner from Security Command is the long hallway Dr. Frock told you about.”
Pendergast switched on the flashlight briefly and shone it down the corridor. “No blood spoor,” he [417] murmured. “The creature headed straight upstairs from the Secure Area-past this landing and right toward Dr. Wright, I’m afraid.” He turned toward Margo. “And how do you propose we lure it here?”
“Use the fibers again,” she replied.
“It didn’t fall for that trick last time.”
“But this time we’re not trying to trap it. All we want to do is lure it around the corner. You’ll be at the other end of the hallway, ready to shoot. We’ll just leave some fibers at one end of the hall. We’ll make a—a what do you call it?—at the far end.”
“A blind.”
“Right, a blind. And we’ll be hiding there, in the dark. When it comes, I’ll train the miner’s light onto it and you can start shooting.”
“Indeed. And how will we know when the creature has arrived? If the hallway is as long as Dr. Frock says it is, we may not be able to smell it in time.”
Margo was quiet. “That’s tough,” she finally admitted.
They stood for a moment in silence.
“There’s a glass case at the end of the hall,” Margo said. “It’s meant to display new books written by the Museum staff, but Mrs. Rickman never bothered to have it filled. So it won’t be locked. We can put the bundle in there. The creature may be out for blood, but I doubt it’ll be able to resist that. It’ll make some noise prying open the case. When you hear the noise, you shoot.”
“Sorry,” Pendergast said after a moment, “but I think it’s too obvious. We have to ask the question again: If I came across a setup like this, would I know it was a trap? In this case, the answer is yes. We need to think of something a little more subtle. Any new trap that uses the fibers as bait is bound to arouse its suspicions.”
Margo leaned against the cold marble wall of the corridor. “It has an acute sense of hearing as well as smell,” she said.
“Yes?”
[418] “Perhaps the simplest approach is best. We use ourselves as bait. We make some noise. Talk loudly. Sound like easy prey.”
Pendergast nodded. “Like the ptarmigan, feigning a broken wing, drawing off the fox. And how will we know it’s there?”
“We’ll use the flashlight intermittently. Wave it about, shine it down the hall. We’ll use the low setting; it may irritate the creature, but it won’t rebuff it. But it will allow us to see it. The creature will think we’re looking around, trying to find our way. Then, when it comes for us, I switch to the miner’s light and you start shooting.”
Pendergast thought for a moment. “What about the possibility of the creature coming from the other direction? From behind us?”
“The hall dead-ends in the staff entrance to the Hall of Pacific Peoples,” Margo pointed out.
“So we’ll be trapped at the end of a cul-de-sac,” Pendergast protested. “I don’t like it.”
“Even if we weren’t trapped,” Margo said, “we wouldn’t be able to escape if you miss your shots. According to the Extrapolator, the thing can move almost as fast as a greyhound.”
Pendergast thought for a moment. “You know, Margo, this plan might work. It’s deceptively simple and uncluttered, like a Zurbarán still life or a Bruckner symphony. If this creature devastated a SWAT team, it probably feels there isn’t much more that human beings can do to it. It wouldn’t be as cautious.”
“And it’s wounded, which may slow it down.”
“Yes, it’s wounded. I think D’Agosta shot it, and the SWAT team may have gotten one or two additional rounds into it. Maybe I hit it, as well; there’s no way to be sure. But, Margo, being wounded makes it infinitely more dangerous. I would rather stalk ten healthy lions than one wounded one.” He straightened his shoulders and felt for his gun. “Lead on, please. Standing here in [419] the dark with this bundle on my back makes me very uneasy. From now on, we use only the flashlight. Be very careful.”
“Why don’t you give me the miner’s light, so you’ll be free to use the gun?” Margo suggested. “If we meet up with the beast unexpectedly, we’ll have to drive it away with the light.”
“If it’s badly wounded, I doubt anything will drive it away,” replied Pendergast. “But here it is.”
They moved quietly down the corridor, around a corner, and through a service door leading into the Hall of Ancient Mammals. It seemed to Margo that her stealthy footsteps echoed like gunshots across the polished stone floor. Row upon row of glass cases gleamed dully in the glow of the flashlight: giant elk, saber-toothed cats, dire wolves. Mastodon and wooly mammoth skeletons reared in the center of the gallery. Margo and Pendergast moved cautiously toward the Hall’s exit, Pendergast’s gun at the ready.
“See that door at the far end, the one marked STAFF ONLY?” Margo whispered. “Beyond that is the corridor housing Security Command, Staff Services, and the Computer Room. Around the corner is the hallway where you can set up your blind.” She hesitated. “If the creature is already there ...”
“... I’ll wish I’d stayed in New Orleans, Ms. Green.” Stepping through the staff entrance into Section 18, they found themselves in a narrow hallway lined with doors. Pendergast swept the area with his flashlight: nothing.
“That’s it,” said Margo, indicating a door to their left. “Security Command.” Margo could briefly hear the murmur of voices as they passed. They passed another door marked CENTRAL COMPUTER.
“They’re sitting ducks in there,” Margo said. “Should we—?”
“No,” came the response. “No time.”
[420] They turned the corner and stopped. Pendergast played his light down the hallway.
“What’s that doing there?” he asked.
Halfway down the hall, a massive steel security door flashed mockingly at them in the glow of the flashlight.
“The good Doctor was mistaken,” Pendergast said. “Cell Two must cut this corridor in half. That’s the edge of the perimeter, there.”
“What’s the distance?” Margo said in a monotone.
Pendergast pursed his lips. “I’d guess a hundred, a hundred and twenty-five feet, at the most.”
She turned to the agent. “Is that enough room?”
Pendergast remained motionless. “No. But it’ll have to do. Come on, Ms. Green, let’s get into position.”
The Mobile Command Unit was getting stuffier. Coffey unbuttoned his shirt and loosened his tie with a savage tug. The humidity had to be 110 percent. He hadn’t seen rain like this in twenty years. The drains were bubbling like geysers, the tires of the emergency vehicles up to their hubcaps in water.