There is almost a week of time that passes, where hardly a clue to Khan's whereabouts is to be found, but crime is on the rise, and that in itself is reminiscent of events that have played out in the past for the Old Tiger. It seems the shifty mastermind is keeping almost uncharacteristically low after his challenge and the failed attempt on The
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While she's at work in his world, he spends long hours in hers, tracing criminal activity and following every link he can find to seek out Khan. While he learns much of his current methods, clues to his actual whereabouts are harder to come by. The coffin in the museum is one lead he is unwilling to drop, however, recalling a certain attachment to it on the part of the Shiwan Khan he once knew. It is sheer luck he stops by at the right time, noting a silent truck that he suspects should not be there. He lingers to watch, on a hunch, concealed in the shadows of the far end of the loading dock. At least his lungs are better recovered from the chest cold a few weeks back, and his breathing is as quiet as it can be.
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The doors to the museum are relocked and the warriors board the back of the truck. The naljorpa stays outside however, and closes the back. With a quick call, he boards the cab of the truck and the engine starts as a truck rumbles by. It's a shipment to some unknown location of little consequence. The matter is that the operation was likely timed to a consistent arrival. The sound of the starting truck has been effectively masked, as it begins to carefully and quietly use the slight slope of the back street to coast from the docks.
Once it's slow, lumbering form reaches the road, it shifts into gear, and lumbers along, soon joining some late night traffic.
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The attendant who'd allowed the truck in walks over to the driver who is exiting the cab that now appears to only have one occupant. The driver is no one of note, he hardly looks like one of Khan's followers, and his thick Jersey accent places him as most likely one of Khan's incidental followers.
There are a few cars in the garage, but they are spaced widely apart at this hour. The houses on either side of the garage appear partially occupied, and all sides back into other buildings. There is only one front entrance, an the buildings are four stories high. Half-windows at sidewalk height add a basement level to the adjacent structures.
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Meanwhile, there is the barely perceptible sound of movement from within the truck. It doesn't rock, but the shocks spring up gently, as a great load is been removed.
The loud sound of a car door shutting echoes, as a small vehicle starts up, and ferries away both attendant and driver. Their duties finished, they are leaving the garage.
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Entering through the garage looks like folly, but he can make a good guess at which building the panel in the garage connects to. He'll wait for things to quiet down, and then it may be time to put his wall-climbing skills to work.
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Perhaps it is best The Shadow chooses not to enter by the garage. The naljorpa has slipped into his mindless state of near invisibility, and remains beneath the truck.
The face of the buildings here are mostly brick. The surface should provide ample toeholds for such a skilled climber. Without spaces between buildings, the choices include climbing the front of the building, or locating an alternate way up elsewhere down the street. The row-house style construction only breaks up four houses to either side of the garage, and the rooftops are fairly even. The opposite side of the street is much the same, with the garage replaced by yet another building.
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Inside, spartan furnishings are barely lit by the sodium-colored lighting of the street. Should he look into the hallway, the building appears to be sliding into an early state of disrepair. It's not a particularly high end of town, but it's not the slums either. A few pathetic lights flicker along the walls of the hallway, casting weird shadows, and there are stairs at either end that lead to the rooftop, and to the first floor. Access to the basement is blocked by a locked door that looks like it has not been opened in quite some time. There is no elevator.
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Pressing at the top corners of the hidden entrance will cause the door to swing silently on well-maintained hinges, revealing a room that ends at the proper back wall of the building. Instead of a concrete wall, there is a solid door.
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He will find that the door is locked. Upon opening it, a sight more familiar to Chinatown will greet him. A set of wooden stairs lead down into the grounds beneath the row houses. Heavy footsteps and creaking floors sound from below, as does the familiar sounds of Chinese being spoken. The source of the sounds are out of sight, but the stairs are walled, and carry voices up to The Shadow well from a wide bend at the bottom.
"Bring the coffin to the throne room." The statement is met with grunts of approval.
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