Tunnels 06 - Terminal

forecourt.
    She began to race where he’d indicated, to a building that was set back from the front of the museum but constructed of the same pale Portland stone.
    Someone had used a car to ram the doors open, abandoning it on the steps once they were in. Will and Elliott climbed over it to reach the black painted door, which creaked open on a single hinge.
    A little way inside sheets of grimy-looking cardboard had been laid on the marble floor, with some old blankets left in a heap. Judging by the empty sweet wrappers and food packets, someone had been living there, although there was no sign that they were still around.
    Will made sure the door was shut behind them. He’d never been in this part of the museum before, and quickly deduced from the signs on the doors that they were administrative offices. Then he caught up with Elliott who was already heading in the direction of the public galleries. Whether or not she was following whatever was driving her on, they didn’t need to employ any detective work to find the way through because of the scuff marks on the floor and the trail of items left there, including more sweet wrappers and empty drink cans.
    They went through some doors which, from the splintered wood around the locks, Will could see had been forced, and then into the Ancient Greek and Roman galleries. Will was taking in the Minoan and Mycenae items in the display cases, many of them old friends, on the way.
    And then they found themselves in the museum quadrangle, a large space that had formerly been open to the elements but which was now enclosed by a modern tessellated glass roof. In the middle of the quadrangle sat the circular building called the Reading Room. Their boots echoed through the massive space as they headed towards it.
    Will noticed that Elliott wasn’t making the slightest effort to check around them. ‘S’pose we’re pretty safe in here,’ Will said, more to assure himself than trying to make a point to her. ‘And whoever was here seems to have gone now. I guess a museum isn’t the first place you’d think of for food,’ he said. His stomach had other ideas, rumbling loudly as he wonderedif all the supplies of sweets and Coke had been plundered by the ramraiders in the car.
    Elliott came to an abrupt halt, her head cocked to one side, as if she was listening out again.
    ‘Where to now?’ Will whispered.
    Holding her hand up, she shushed him, then closed her eyes.
    ‘Well, you have the choice of African, Middle Eastern, or Eur—’ he began, trying to impress her with his knowledge of the various departments, when she began to talk over him.
    ‘No … up there,’ she said slowly, blinking her eyes open and edging further around until the walkway extending between the reading room and the back wall of the quadrangle came into sight.
    ‘Great choice,’ Will said. ‘That’s the way to the Mesopotamian and Ancient Egyptian gallery.’
    ‘Just tell me how to get up there,’ Elliott snapped.
    Will held up his fingers and moved them in a walking motion. ‘Stairs. Other side of this. You walk up them – round and round,’ he replied in a sarcastic, clipped way, taking a few angry steps forward so that he could point out where the circular flight of stairs started at the side of the Reading Room. But the fact that he was irritated with Elliott was totally lost on her as she dashed towards the stairs and then sped up them without saying a word.
    With a groan Will followed, and when he finally reached the walkway at the top, he went across it and into the first room of exhibits. She wasn’t there, so he moved into the adjoining room. Puffing from climbing so many stairs, he called out to her, his voice sounding very small in the network of interconnecting rooms.
    ‘I’m here,’ she mumbled.
    He scanned around until he located her in the dead centre of the room he’d been in, standing so still he’d completely missed her. Her eyes were closed.
    ‘Oh, there you are!’ Will laughed. ‘This room really is a great choice. Ever since I was young I used to come here to see the mummies because …’ he trailed off, stepping over to a rectangular display case. In it was an open-topped casket of roughly hewn wood. Will pressed his head against the glass case to peer at the mummy so familiar to him from all his visits through the years. The small body was curled up in a foetal position on a bed of sand in the bottom of the casket. ‘Because they’re so cool,’ he