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‘We can’t possibly kno Aubrey tried to handle Alberich,’ she finally said ‘I believe the Aubrey I uised I never even et into a fight which I can’t hen there are alternatives’
Vale nodded towards the exit ‘Through that way, then straight on for the next seven rooelad she could agree ‘From what I’ve heard, the main problem is that my superiors rarely knohere Alberich is If they can actually pinpoint him to this world, then they can take steps--’
Vale cut in, and Irene realized it was a sign of his urgency that he’d actually interrupt ‘Miss Winters! A little logic, if you please They already know he is in this world, as they warned you about hi in Irene’s stoh ‘Maybe – maybe they just suspected he was here, but had no actual proof’
Vale didn’t say anything, but then again, he didn’t need to, as Irene could feel the shallowness of her reasoning Oh, it was fashionable ae to iossip – they’d use us as bait if they thought it was necessary, they edit the inforet their hands on a text But that didn’t mean they believed it At the bottom of her heart, Irene had faith in her superiors
Genuine doubt orse than fashionable adolescent doubt had ever been
‘And possibly I’ve beenfirmness into her voice ‘Can we at least assess the situation before we start assu I know perfectly well you aren’t going to stop thinking about it now ‘But ouldn’t he be in his office, though we ht wish higested ‘If that was him, and if he expected to find the book there, wouldn’t he be on the spot to collect it?’
Vale rubbed his chin thoughtfully ‘That assumes that he was responsible for the auto, wouldn’t you say, to be there in person if he could cos’
‘He did try to drown us in person,’ Kai answered ‘Isn’t that the sort of thing that people usually have their subordinates do?’
‘True, true’ Vale’s frown lightened ‘If that should be so, let us by all e of it And if not, well, I believe weus In either case, surprise and speed are our best option’ He looked around at the vast quantity of rather dull Ro, ‘And I do believe we are almost there’
‘We should clear the area,’ Kai said fir the alarm,’ Irene pointed out If Alberich were in the i off, security guards clearing the area, or any sort of disturbance involving people running round shrieking And people always ended up running round shrieking It was a law of nature or soe to pre-warn the came to mind ‘I think we’ll just have to knock on the door and play innocent’
‘Hreed ‘He has no reason to believe you have penetrated his iun’
Irene tried to think of how this planAlberich couldn’t have laid any sort of kill-everyone-who-touches-the-door spell on his office door (assu about which she had no clue whatsoever) That would be too likely to slaughter innocent British Library staff and visiting children So that was positive What he ht have done – what she would have done if she kne – would be to set a ward against Language use Again, she had no idea whether or not it was possible, but she would assue for thehad helped her stroll through a nu as panicked as she felt Now, at last, their goal was through some last cases, then directly on the left
Irene took a deep breath She gathered her determination, smiled blandly at Kai and Vale, then strolled forward She tried to ignore the grandfather with a coht and the students over by the archway ahead Possible witnesses also included the wohtedly at a display card, who did look vaguely familiar – maybe she’d seen her before when she caain, wasn’t she?
Why couldn’t this be the sort of story where she kicked the door down and burst in with a loaded gun? Probably because it was a heavy door, she was in long skirts, and she didn’t have a loaded gun
Plastering her best look of sincere concern and gullibility on her face, she knocked on the door
No answer
She knocked again A couple of the bystanders glanced across, then turned back to whatever they’d been doing
Still no answer
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