Up Up in a Way by Blair McLean

Author:Blair McLean [McLean, Blair]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781999226923
Publisher: MoonCrawler Press
Published: 2020-01-16T22:00:00+00:00

15

Dusty Words

Beneath the star encrusted midnight sky, beneath the misty humming streets, beneath concrete, gravel and earth, beneath live wires and sewer lines, subways and maintenance tunnels, beneath the heat and the noise and the grit; as if removed from time and space, silent and brooding, the gloomy archival room lay, as though waiting for something. Or someone, Nigel thought, as he crawled, upside down, clinging to the metal apparatus supporting the ceiling of the museum’s secret subterranean archives. Fine dust particles danced in the air, passing unobtrusively in and out of his lungs, swept along with his breath.

Below him, the space was dominated by twenty-six shelving units, each about twelve feet high, supporting a series of identical, jet-black storage boxes. The shelves fanned out in a semi-circle, a long table flanked by wooden chairs at their epicentre. Against the back wall, was a cubicle containing a tiny desk and several filing cabinets. It looked as though a curator or librarian spent their days here, far from the bright lights and the hustle and bustle of the city. There was also a custodial station nearby, complete with a bucket, a mop, a garbage bin, a tap and a floor drain.

Suited and masked, Nigel had waited until the museum was closed and, carefully avoiding the eyes of security cameras, he had passed through a maintenance door that had been left unlocked for him. He had then followed the map he carried through a labyrinthine network of narrow staircases and passages, past mysterious unmarked doors, through a rock tunnel, lit with naked bulbs and down a trapdoor into the chamber. The map had been sketched in the spidery hand of Amy Kang, the best janitor in New York.

He fished for his watch inside the flap of cloth that held his belongings, found it and checked the time. It was 7 p.m., still five hours to go before he expected Amy Kang and he was growing peckish. Rummaging around in the bundle again, he produced a package of hard, brown senbei rice crackers. He tore open the plastic and took a bite from one, wishing he had brought something more substantial with him for dinner. The crunching noises he emitted were immediately swallowed by the chamber, as though the walls were hungry for all sound. Finishing the food and stowing the wrapper, he checked his watch again and, with nothing else to do, he decided to indulge the urge to explore.

Having climbed down the ladder, Nigel walked between the shelves, peering up at the vast array of black banker’s boxes, all with small, white labels on the front. He slid one of the boxes toward him and was removing its sturdy lid when he heard a female voice behind him.

“Don’t touch that.”

He jumped, jerking his hands away from the box. It teetered for a split second on the edge of the shelf, then fell to the floor with a thump, its corner crumpling, contents spilling out over the floor. In the pile was

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