136 A few natural talents

Immediately behind the huge black iron gate began a long road. On both sides of it were rows of old crypts. Some with beautiful sculptures, and inscriptions, some with columns and portraits of long-dead people, silently gazing at passers-by.

The girls went a little forward and turned on the next path. After a while, they came into a very narrow passage. Here, the crypts looked very old, some almost completely collapsed, leaving behind only a pile of stones, most were tightly entwined with wild ivy.

Sophia looked around and opened a bulky bag dangling on her shoulder fished out a small plan, hastily drawn on a piece of paper. Looking at it and finding a few landmarks, the girl began to count.

"Must be around here. Mr. Boyle said that as soon as we enter the crypt, there will be a sniffer named Lester waiting for us. He will lead us and explain everything."

Lana looked around carefully. It was hard to imagine that someone even appeared here in the last twenty years, not just going to work every day through these ruins.

"Are you sure that the entrance is here? Could we not make a mistake turn?" - She decided to clarify.

Though she knew Sofia for a long time, although the girl so rarely appeared in Benin that it was difficult to call them friends. Daniel told her a lot about his assistant, always singing praises to this red-haired devil. Still, Lana always felt that there was much more to this girl then what Daniel was telling her.

Sophia turned around when she heard Lana's question and frowned.

"No, I'm sure that we did everything right. Look, the thirteenth crypt on the right immediately after the one through which the maple tree sprouted." - Answered the girl. And indeed, the roof of the next crypt slid to aside a bit, pushed by a tree trunk sprouting through a hole in the wall. It was still quite thin, but already covered with a lot of branches and young leaves, crawled out through the crack. Immediately behind it was located an ordinary-looking stone crypt, the usual gray color. From the front, there was a small door and two statues of praying girls on the sides.

Lana extended her hand to the door, but Sophia's harsh voice stopped her.

"Wait! This is not how it's done!" - She warned, grabbing the girl by the hand. - "Mr. Boyle told me that if we touch the handle right away, the mechanism will automatically seal the entrance."

Sophia released Lana and approached the left statue. In appearance, it was entirely the same as the right one, but as the girl moved her hand along the folds of the stone cape as if straightening the frills, its hands in a praying gesture moved, slightly parting, forming a gap of a few millimeters. Sophia fished her card out of the pocket, which the Council handed to her and stuck it in the hole. They heard a click and a rustling of the moving bolt.

"Now you can." - The girl nodded, and Lana carefully grabbed the handles slightly pressing. The door gave in surprisingly quickly, opening before them a dark passage and a staircase leading down.

It seems Sophie was ready for anything because Lana did not have time to set foot on the first step, when a click was heard from behind and a ray of light lit up the passage to the very end.

"Wow, what a strong flashlight!" - Lana admired turning around at the girl. She shrugged in response and handed the second to Lana.

"In my shop, there is more exciting stuff. By the way, these lights are made by your boyfriend's company. They have a lot of interesting things, only its rarely enter the open market." - Sofia drawled with a hint, squinting at Ruslana. Lana smirked in response, understanding what Sophia was getting at.

"I thought the store for hunting goods was only a cover to keep track of the possible Shifters hunters." - Decided to ask Lana, the conversation somehow postponed the advancing nervousness. Besides, she was always interested in how it turned out that the pack of Benne owns one of the largest chains of stores with weapons and other goods for those who like to shoot at beasts like them.

"Before, maybe it was just a cover and a kind of trap. By the way, it still works so far." - Sophia answered, catching up with Lana.- "But since my predecessor, also a fox, has become the manager, the business has gone up sharply. The previous Alpha, Mr. Benne, is a smart man and knew how to appreciate talents, so he left industry to someone who gets this better. And Daniel also has the same opinion. Therefore, he allowed me to assume the duties of the manager after the death of Mrs. Ford. Moreover, the fact that the shifters despise the weapon does not mean that we cannot be able to handle it. Especially since I am a fox. We are not subject to the usual prejudices, you know."

Lana squinted at the girl. Her red curls and perky, pretty face was always very strangely coupled with military-style clothes and huge boots. Today, Sofia, too, decided not to change her habits and even hid her hair under a green cap. All this outfit made her look like a school girl dressing up for a costume party.

Meanwhile, they had already reached the small hall at the end of the stairs. At first glance, no one was here, and there was no place to hide in this empty room either.

"And where is this Lester?" - With concern in her voice asked Lana. Sophia shrugged, re-lighting every corner.

"Lester!" - Finally decided to call Sophia getting impatient, although what was the point? But to the surprise of the girls, in response, something clicked, and one of the plates on the floor rose slightly, moving to the side. From the hole in the ground appeared the head of a young lop-eared guy.

"I've waited for you forever!" - He grunted and immediately disappeared into the dark again. The girls looked at each other. A hand emerged from the hole in the floor, waving impatiently.

"Hurry up already! Time is running out!" - Came the annoyed voice of a guy. And the girls hurried to the opening.

Further down they proceeded almost by the touch. Even the keen eyesight of the shifters did not help much in such absolute darkness. And the guy ordered them to turn off the lights.

In the beginning, there was a staircase and then a narrow passage. It seems there were several offshoots from it since Lana's hand fell into emptiness several times. It made her even more nervous. How can they find their way back?

Lana already wanted to voice this question, as something rustled ahead and the passage lit up with a sharp stream of light. The girls closed their eyes for a few seconds completely blinded. When they decided to open it again, a fantastic picture opened before them.

Lana was expecting to see gloomy catacombs with torches on the walls and stone arches. Instead, they had arrived at the spacious hall, that looked more like the hall of some state institution or a small airport. Everything was simple, bright and functional. The walls were gray with some light ornament on it. In the middle stood the reception desk, and behind it four elevator doors. On the floor Lana noticed agrand mosaic picturing something like a stone gargoyle, only without wings, looking at the night city.

Not giving the girls the time to look around, Lester pushed them both to the front desk. Three people sat behind it and discreetly looked in their direction.

"Time to change." - announced the guy, coming closer. - "Sorry for being late, the new ones were lost."

" It's nothing new. Anyway, now a lull." - the girl behind the counter assured him, rising. -" All suddenly fled away. So we sit here, wondering what happened. Did you hear anything?"

" No, how can I know?" - Lester shrugged, making an indifferent face. - "I hope it's just training or something not very important."

" Oh! That's right! Also a possible option." - picked up the guy behind the counter, collecting his belongings. - " I should have bet on it and not on the new disaster between lions and wolves."

"Okay, let's hurry until they begin to come back from their training. I'm sorry, Lester, pray that they won't return all at once. They really can be scary if they are forced to wait."

"Yeah. I really hope so." - the guy replayed displeasedly and took his place behind the desk, pointing the girls to their chairs.

When the previous shift was gone, Lester waited a couple of minutes, and then turned to the girls, began to explain.

"So, look here. I don't know how much time you will have, but I would be in a hurry if I were you. Behind us, elevators, they work only on cards, which you don't have, but there is also a stairway. True, it hasn't been used for a long time. But the locks there are old-fashioned, not electronic. You need a 9th or 10th floor. I can't say more precisely since these are all the rumors that we were able to collect working here. On one of these floors, there should be several rooms at once, One belongs to the Leader, the others to his two deputies and an archive with all the information. There may be other rooms, but I can not say for sure."

The girls listened attentively, trying to remember the confused explanation of the guy.

"I advise you to be back in an hour. If you don't come back and Watcher will see me alone here, I won't be able to cover you for a long time."

The girls nodded and jumped up from their seats.

Lester pointed them to the right door, and both immediately ran there, constantly looking around and listening. The door really seemed very old, only covered with white paint on top, so as not to stand out from the general interior. Sophia, rummaging in her bag, fished out a pencil case with a different kind of screwdriver and, forceps and master keys.

" Are you a jack of all trades, or what?" - Lana asked with envy, watching as her companion deftly wielded her tools.

" Kind of! Till twelve years old I lived in the streets, wandering here and there. And mastered a few natural talents. Foxes called vixens, not just for pretty eyes, you know." - the girl slyly smiled, at the same moment the click sounded, and Sofia pushed on the handle waving Lana invitingly.

"Don't worry! If they attack us, I leave you the honor to protect my red ass. Foxes are not really the best fighters. We choose a strategic retreat mostly." - Sophie winked, following behind Lana on the flight of stairs.

" Agreed." - Nodded Ruslana and pulling off her clothes instantly shifted. Sophia, without asking questions, gathered the clothes and jumped onto the back of the wolf, bouncing a little.

"Let's go!" - she hurried with excitement, slightly spurring Lana and immediately pulled back, avoiding the fanged maw, which snapped in a centimeter from her leg.

"Whoa! It was a joke! Calm your pants!" - The girl started to explain but did not have time to end the phrase, as Lana at the same moment darted off and ran down the stairs. Making the foxy girl clatch her fur in panic.

***

Dear readers!

Sorry for the delay in posting the chapter.

I suddenly got ill, seems to be a flue.

But I'll try to keep posting daily anyway.

Thank you for all your support!

I love you all!