But there was one particularly large hole behind the washing machine, too big to be explained by the piping that attached to the back of the washer and dryer. He went over to the washing machine in the corner and scanned it. It contained nothing of interest, not even clothing, which was not surprising as it appeared to be broken: it had a shaft going through the base of the tumbler inside that would clearly render it useless. He adjusted the power and wavelength of the X-ray coming from his eyes to change how far it penetrated into the machine, following the shaft into the base and seeing through its casing to where the metal bar came to an abrupt stop. His infrared showed signs of recent stress, some kind of fracture, heat still emanating from the pressure of whatever had broken the shaft. He scanned behind the washing machine again. The large hole in the brick seemed to be blocked by a sheet of some metallic material.

Shahim stepped up to the machine and pulled. It appeared to be bolted to the floor, but under pressure something in its base gave, and suddenly it hinged outward. He saw now that the shaft he had seen earlier had been blocking its movement. He became even more curious when he surveyed the sheet covering the hole behind it. He could see the heat emanating from the screws around its edge. It had been put there within the last few hours, there was no doubt about that.

Reaching down, Shahim pressed his fingers into the gap between the plate and the wall and pulled. The screws’ hold on the mortar put up some small measure of a battle but soon they were wrenching free one by one, the metal, an aluminium sheet about a quarter of an inch thick, bending and rippling under the stress until he had wrenched it free.

He saw the hole behind it. He knelt and looked into the basement on the other side, then he began to climb through.

* * *

The previous afternoon, Madeline was busy with a complex schematic rendering in the resonance chamber management system when her phone beeped.