On again, down yet another of the echoing aisles.
I waited till we reached the first cross-track leading off between stacked battens, then turned aside.
Instantly, we stood in utter darkness. All trace of the guiding radiance disappeared.
Pressed to me, Celeste shivered. I gripped her tight and wiped sudden, icy beads of sweat from my forehead as, hastily, I groped my way back to our original route.
Like magic, light was with us once again.
More shadows, more echoing stillness, more stacked battens. Then another door. A heavy door, barred on the inside.
Sliding back the bolts, I swung it open.
A street.
Not speaking, hardly daring to breathe, we crossed the threshold. I wondered if it were only my imagination that made the stars so bright, the night so still.
The base-block at the first crossing oriented me: We were less than ten minutes' walk from Rizal Security headquarters.