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Soet her attention It wasn’t the silverfish It wasn’t the woman next to her It was the way that she could see a newspaper on top of a display case, and it wasWithout the aid of silverfish, it was actually shifting itself, lass, in a light rustling drift

‘Vale!’ she gasped ‘Could this be triggered by subsonic frequencies? Do you have knowledge of such things?’ She gestured at the swar ‘Possible,’ he said He frowned at the silverfish as though they weren’t starting to crawl up the legs of his chair ‘Though any frequency that could provoke those creatures would surely also have so panic, perhaps--’

‘Oh, I’,’ the woman said, with a little half-hysterical catch in her voice ‘And they’re still coht,’ Irene said, trying to keep her voice cal up inside her skirts and on her andShe sed ‘Right They keep on coenerator so them in here’

‘Heaven and earth,’ Kai sith violent e the door – look at the ti of it!’

‘But if it was linked to the door, how did it--’ Irene started to say, and at the saes ‘There!’ he snapped ‘That wire It follows the skirting and leads to the cupboard in that corner And they’re swar more thickly around it’

Irene could barely see any traces of a wire, but she was prepared to trust Vale’s eyes The dark-wood cupboard was set back into the corner of the roo around its base They’d swar attention, they were perceptibly more heavily concentrated there

‘That’ll do,’ sheon that particular piece of furniture for her to be precise She’d e in case of booby-traps, but she was prepared to be flexible Any booby-traps would just have to look after themselves She raised her voice ‘Oak-leaf-handle cupboard doors Unlock and open’

The cupboard doors sprang open, swinging wide and ripping out bolts at both top and bottole of machinery and wires, barely visible under the silverfish which were pouring over it like scaly water Lights on it glinted and so

‘That’s it!’ Vale said

‘Kai--’ Irene began

‘Already there,’ Kai said He leapt from the table towards the cupboard The silverfish crunched under his shoes as he hit the floor Then he was already spinning, body turning gracefully as he launched into a high flying kick His leading foot crashed into the twistedstopped

Silverfish all over the rooh i-boards Others flowed out through the door again, scattering in all directions as soon as they could A few still lurked around theto squir Kai hopped on one foot, trying to extract his other foot fro in what Irene assuons used when they didn’t want to shock lesser creatures

‘I was about to say, please hit it with a chair,’ Irene said as the hissing ofsilverfish died away to leave them in relative quiet ‘But thank you Thank you very much Nice work’ The book lay safely in Dominic Aubrey’s in-tray, untouched, unharambit

‘Is that normally how you perforn of getting down from the table yet To be fair, neither was Irene

‘I think they’re in ust

Vale cautiously stepped down fro silverfish took no interest in hierly over to Irene’s table, and offered her a hand down ‘Nicely done, Miss Winters’

‘Thank you for noticing the wire,’ Irene replied She took his hand and eased her way off the table, trying not to show tooback in an alternate world where trousers were regular wear for women ‘Do you think that means – ’ She was about to continue, that Alberich is elsewhere, and he left this trap, when she noticed theover her shoulder Oh Of course The woet her out of here, the better – ‘Ah, thank you,’ she concluded

‘A trap for us?’ Kai said softly as she joined hi her voice down Vale and the wo to each other, so they shouldn’t be overheard ‘A bit careless, though It’d be bound to draw attention here, to this roo action,’ the woman said

Kai and Irene turned to look

Both she and Vale were noedged against the table, and Vale had an odd rigidity to his posture His eyes were furious, but his body was entirely still, hands raised as if he’d just been helping the wo theant, but it did look brutally efficient And h to rele" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true">