Hallie wasn’t quite sure what to say. The television images of the Conclave and its building that she had seen had been of the meeting chamber, which was impressive. Any other broadcasts from the Conclave building had been interviews with various Conclave members against backdrops of marble walls or the ocean. She understood the wish of the Conclave and its members to project power and wealth and authority. But she’d had no idea about the golden bubbles.
The rest of the investigators were moving away from the vans, heading towards the building and she followed them, keeping pace with Girard.
“Does it have a name?” she asked. She seemed to remember that a lot of sculptures were given names.
“It does. It’s something likeEnduring, or another word like that,” Girard answered.
“You don’t like it?” She found that interesting.
“The atrium is essentially a huge greenhouse. One of the original proposals was to have a forest in there. I really liked that idea,” Girard told her.
“That does sound beautiful,” Hallie said.
They made their way between two of the planters and Hallie saw she’d been right about the scale of the trees. The planters were almost the same length as one of the vans, the trees soaring overhead. The planters they walked between had cherry trees, their blossoms scenting the air. Hallie was about to comment that it was not the season for cherry blossom when she caught the hint of magic in the air and realised why all the trees she could see were in full leaf, or bloom, despite it being winter in Daydawn. Someone had been using magic to keep the trees looking their best. Like the golden bubbles, it didn’t seem the best use of magic to her. But this was high city, and more than that, this was the Conclave building. She supposed that words likepracticalandsensibledidn’t apply.
And this was her world now. It didn’t feel real, the sense of displacement and disconnect she’d had so often over the past few days returning. She had a feeling that she would never be able to go back to low city. Not even when her mother’s ambitions had been curbed. It made practical sense for her to be in high city or midtown, closer to the investigators’ offices, and she liked the idea of being closer to Girard. But she was surprised how painful it was to think she would never be able to go back there to live. Low city was an unforgiving place for most. And yet it had been her home, where she’d grown, where she’d built a life, had a job.
“Are you alright?” Girard asked as they reached a pair of plain wooden doors into the building.
“I’m fine. Just thinking,” Hallie said, trying to laugh.
“This must all seem very strange. I’m sorry, I didn’t think. Once the Conclave meetings are over, I hope we’ll get a chance to slow down for a little while, and you can get more oriented.”
“I’ll adapt,” Hallie told him, and meant it. She didn’t have a choice.
With that promise ringing in her ears she followed him through the doors and into the home of the Conclave.
They had walked into a reception area that reminded Hallie of the investigators’ offices. Even though this was a side entrance, and unlikely to be used by any Conclave member, it was still an impressive space. Their boots thudded onto wooden floors that were highly polished, the ceiling overhead rising at least three storeys, with balconies from the upper storeys looking out over the reception area. There was a slender, elderlyhochlenwoman behind a large block of wood that served as a desk. She was giving each of the tactical team and investigators a hard look as they filed past her, through another set of double doors and then through a single door that led to what seemed to be some kind of meeting room, except there were no tables. There were chairs stacked up by the walls and a large wall screen that Rojas was standing next to.
The tac team ignored the chairs, standing in a loose grouping at one side of the room so they could all see the screen. The investigators gathered at the other side, everyone facing forward as the director joined Rojas.
“Assignments,” the director began, and started reading from his tablet screen. From the way the room reacted, Hallie guessed that they had already known what they were here to do and where they would be assigned. As the director looked up from the end of his recital, Hallie realised that he hadn’t mentioned her or Girard. She kept quiet. She was quite sure they hadn’t been forgotten, which proved correct as the director looked from her to Girard and then across to Frollo. “Abbott, Miss Talbot, and Frollo’s team will sweep the basement levels. They’ve beenpassed through at least twice today, but it needs done again. As you know, we had to pull Brennus off to look at the maps, so he’s not here to keep us in touch. That means comms down there are patchy, so stay alert.”
“Sir,” Frollo said, echoed by Girard and Hallie.
The director dismissed the room and everyone started filing out, heading for their posts.
Frollo paused by Hallie and Girard and grinned. “Down into the dark we go.”
Said in Frollo’s usual, apparently careless manner, it should have made Hallie want to laugh. Instead she felt cold wash across her skin. There had been threats against the Conclave. Findo Trask and Russet Welliver were somewhere in the city. And she was being trusted to be part of the team making sure that the Conclave building was secure. She spared a glance across at Girard as she kept pace with him. She couldn’t ask for a better person at her side.
“Basement levels, as in more than one?” she asked.
“It’s a bit of a maze,” Girard told her. “One full basement level is for parking, then there are two levels below which are split between parking and machinery.”
“Parking? Who for?” Hallie asked, remembering the sweep of roadway outside the front of the building. Somehow she couldn’t imagine Conclave members descending into a dark basement parking area.
“For staffers,” Girard said, almost absently, then glanced down at her and perhaps read the next question on her face. “The building has a lot of staff to manage it, from the front desk to technical support to hospitality to janitorial, so there are parking spaces for them. Each Conclave member also has a physical office suite in the building and they may have aides who work here most of the year or who need access.”
“That’s going to be a lot of people, then,” Hallie said slowly, remembering their interviews at Vertiger. Each of the Conclave members had brought at least a couple of people with them.
“They all have to get through a security checkpoint,” Frollo added. He’d stopped at a plain door, along with the rest of his team. He opened the door, revealing a stark white-painted stairwell with stairs heading down. The tac team members were all putting on their helmets, focused and ready to work. “We’ll take point. Keep behind us.”
With that command ringing in her ears, Hallie watched as Frollo led the way down the stairs. She noted, with approval, that the tac team all made a point of looking up the stairwell as well as down.
The stairwell itself was well-lit both by wall lights and by windows higher up letting in natural daylight. One flight down and they entered the parking level which was a mass of grey concrete and harsh strip lighting, the parking bays almost all full, and holding plain-looking city cars of various shapes and sizes. Hallie thought it shouldn’t surprise her that even a janitor in the Conclave building could afford a car, but it did.
One of the tac team - Hallie thought it was Caerleon - stowed his weapon, drawing out a tablet and checking off the vehicle type and registration as they made their way through the level. Hallie bit her lip to stop from offering to do that checking. She was feeling quite useless and it made her skin itch. She wasn’t used to being a spare part. She was used to being in charge. The highly competent tac team was moving at a rapid pace, eyes scanning every part of the structure. She felt that the least she could do was to take some of the admin work. She kept quiet, though. They were working in a good rhythm and she didn’t want to disturb that. Besides, she wasn’t as familiar with the vehicles or technology, so, rather than helping, she would actually slow them down. They also checked the ramps up anddown, and Hallie caught a glimpse of a security barrier at the top of the up ramp. It didn’t look very sophisticated to her, but she suspected she wasn’t seeing everything.
