Hidden Depths

Chapter 29 - To the Shaft

No bigger than a static caravan, the dark room looked much older than the modern warehouse he had just crept through. Four decaying, red-bricked walls surrounded black metal railings that boxed off a sizable square area in the centre of the room. Inside the railing, a large metal lift cage hung from thick cabling that was wound around two sets of pulleys above it.

Another set of pulleys was hanging next to it, with metal cables stretching down and out of sight. Seeing that no one was in there, Rich clambered from the pipe to check out the cage. It was only when his feet hit the ground that he noticed the large letters spelling 'TO THE SHAFT' written in faded white writing on the red-brick wall behind him.

When he reached the railings, he saw that although they looked old, they had either been well maintained or recently restored. Peering down, he could see that the shaft was about ten-metres deep and led to the corner of another subterranean construction. At the bottom of the shaft a second lift, identical to the first, dangled from the thick greasy cables in front of him.

Rich wasn't sure what he would be confronted with when he got down there, so he waited and listened for a while without success. He was considering removing his helmet so he could hear better when Mr Abdullah's voice sprang into his ears.

'Your helmet's picking up four voices down there - all male.'

A computer-generated image appeared in the heads-up display area of his visor, and he could see that the Brethren had mocked up an impression of what he could expect to see.

He could tell that the room was about two thirds the size of the one he was stood in, and he saw the eerie green image of two men sitting at a table on the left hand side of the room. A further two men were standing a few paces to the right of the table, facing each other on opposite sides of the room.

'We've used their voices like radar to build this image,' Mr Abdullah continued. 'We're pretty good at placing walls, doors and the location of people, but we're not sure what size the men are, or if they're carrying weapons.'

Rich would have liked more information, but he was massively impressed all the same.

'Can you hear if any of them are Bertie?' he asked, knowing that he would have been able to spot his roommate's ultra-posh voice if it was whispering faintly in a crowded McDonalds.

'No, they're all discussing the attack, wondering why their leader hasn't made any announcements yet.'

The CGI picture rotated then zoomed into a small wooden door.

'The level of the conversation indicates that they're just guards,' Mr Abdullah said. 'They're saying that their leader has Bertie in the room next door.'

Rich knew he didn't have much time to come up with a plan of attack, and he was examining the greasy cable in front of him when Aarzam decided to give him some advice.

'Stop faffing, Caesar, just chuck them a thunder flash then get down there and give them a damn good thrashing!'

Ignoring the encouragement, Rich quietly circled the perimeter of the shaft, coming to a halt at the edge closest to the cabling of the descended lift.

Turning around to face away from the shaft, Rich perched with his heels hanging off the edge, as if it was a diving platform. He squatted down low, then sprang off the edge using a well-rehearsed parkour backflip. His inverted body hit the fat cable precisely, and he wrapped his legs around it then grabbed on with both hands.

Despite the fact that he was squeezing the cable between his ankles, knees, thighs and hands, he couldn't come to a complete stop as the thick grease made full traction impossible. However, his tight grip cut through most of the grease so the there was enough friction to mean that his descent was slow, smooth and silent.