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For whatever reason, theout this side of the e was still covered with rocks and gnarled vegetation It was a steep, slippery slope,the rope to help us walk our way down the embankment We moved as quickly as we could, but it still took us almost twenty minutes to reach the botto of rock and peered into the flat area that stretched out before us The e-out feel of the mountain reminded me of the Ashland Rock Quarry not too far from here The place where Alexis Jah the binoculars again "It seeone home already," he uards around"

"Why would there be?" I asked "Nobody around here’s going to be duh to steal froood friends with Mab Monroe Besides, even if so, he’d look a little conspicuous driving a bulldozer down into the city, noouldn’t he?"

Caine snorted at the iic

"Coet this over with"

We eased out from behind the rocks and walked forward

The metal equipment cast out all sorts of dark, twisted shadows, made even murkier by the drizzle and thick clouds overhead A couple of tall, parking lot-style lights next to the hts h the equipment maze But the rain couldn’t quite drown out the s

The stone’s rew louder and sharper the farther I walked into the basin, until the vibrations rang in rittedI could do to help the stone I just didn’t have that kind of power

Only time could do that now - if theso viciously brutalized

It took us about ten ht of thelass, covered up ashed wooden boards A couple of security lights glowed over the front door I peered into the darkness, but I didn’t see any guards patrolling around the building

If Tobias Dawson did have a night shift, they’d probably be farther up around the curve in the basin, stationed at the front entrance to the mined mountain Not back here in the bottleneck where access was already restricted

Still, I palmed one of my silverstone knives, just in case

We crouched behind a bulldozer that was the closest one to the ht The drizzle had picked up and turned into a steady rain A few damp tendrils had come undone from my ponytail The rain had turned my chocolate locks an even darker brown, and I used the cold moisture to slick them back into place

"Come on," I whispered to the detective "Let’s do this"

I crept forward After a moment, I heard Donovan’s boots squish in a puddle behind o could be considered old ti office A sign on the side read Dawson Mining Co had been transformed into Tobias Dawson’s rune - a lit stick of dynaloves Donovan Caine did, so I had no qual the doorknob Locked Not a probleic

The cold, silver light flickered over , slender Ice picks Donovan watched nation

Less than a minute later, the lock slid home, and the door opened

I threw the picks in a nearby puddle so they’d

Donovan followed me and closed the door behind hi ht With the darkness and clouds outside, the interior of the building was alht instead of creeping up on seven o’clock

Once I was sure no guards were coht out of my jacket pocket and flicked it on Besiderooazines A desk in the ed to a secretary Behind it, a corridor led farther back into the building That’s where I headed, with the detective behind me

The corridor ended at a closed door with a brass na for I tried the knob Locked, so I had to form two more Ice picks to open it After I’d picked the lock, I turned the knob and heldBut no alarm sounded Evidently, Dawson just secured his office as a precaution - or to keep his staff fro around while he ay I stepped inside the room The detective followedin the view Tobias Dawson’s office had just ashad a Western motif

The desk consisted of several old-fashioned wooden barrels with a sheet of glass stretched over the top of the broncos and Native Ans, perhaps Navajo, from the looks of them One of the lamps on Dawson’s desk was shaped like alasso I looked up The dwarf even had a longhorn mounted over the door to the office - its stuffed head and horns at least

"Soet that," Donovan said "What are we looking for?"

"Anything that ht tell us why Tobias Daants the Foxes’ land so badly" I ht "So see what you can find in his desk and in the filing cabinets"

Donovan did as I asked But before he started pulling open drawers, the detective stared atto do?"

"See if he has a safe stashed in here somewhere"

Donovan shook his head, but he sat down in Dawson’s oversize chair and went to work,all the files on the glass desk

I went around the roo for a wall safe Nothing I ranit in several places Again, nothing

I curled and uncurled

Since Tobias Daas friends and business partners with Mab Monroe, I ial and otherwise - he wouldn’t want his underlings seeing Locking his office wouldn’t be secure enough He’d need someplace to stash them There had to be some sort of safe in here A secret cubbyhole, hell, even a loose floorboard And I needed to find it - fast

We’d already been inside one before the five-ht not have any obvious security here, but it was better not to take any unnecessary chances, especially since I was going to come back later and kill him