2018/8a.plaintext

   1 I checked around to see if I was being watched but the room was definitely empty and I couldnt hear
   2 anything outside so I ducked down to inspect the underside of the table The top was highly polished
   3 with a graceful slope to the edge thickening as it approached the centre column There was no visible
   4 mechanism to suggest that it was anything more than it appeared to be a grand work table at the
   5 centre of a grand control room I pushed poked and listened for another mechanism but there was
   6 nothing mechanical that I could find The thickening of the top and the bulk of the column did allow
   7 room for a fairly substantial mechanism though and tucked up in the fold where the top joined the
   8 column there was a small metal plate bearing a makers mark My heart skipped the door to the Shadow
   9 Archive carried a similar plate inscribed with the trademark of John Tann the locksmith who
  10 manufactured the security system on the entrance It looked like he had also made this table He was
  11 not a furniture maker and there could only be one reason he had made this one It must be part of a
  12 lock mechanism He was the leading safe maker in Victorian London and if Black had felt the need for
  13 him to build a safe in the heart of the Shadow Archive it could only be because there were secrets
  14 that were too dark even for the security of the Archive itself Maybe this is what my attacker was
  15 really after and if so they had struck way too soon I should thank them really without my aching
  16 head I would have been unlikely to discover Tan ns mechanism but that thought reminded me I was
  17 still vulnerable down in the shadows I didnt think there was anyone else around but I couldnt be
  18 sure and I needed backup Until now there hadnt been enough to get Harry involved in this adventure I
  19 still wasnt certain that he would be allowed to help out as I wasnt really sure that national
  20 security was involved but I was absolutely certain he would want to see this I needed to get out
  21 safely and comeback with a team so we could properly explore the Archive and find out what the Tann
  22 safe stored Before I left I took one more look around gathering the few papers that were left and
  23 putting the codebook securely into a pocket of my backpack I still couldnt believe that my attackers
  24 had left it behind but perhaps they missed it in the gloom in their excitement to gather the
  25 government papers which they had found If nothing else came out of this I was certain that the
  26 codebook was worth reading I hadnt had time to inspect it properly but the section on the Vi genere
  27 cipher looked absolutely fascinating