The sudden sound of police sirens and the knowledge that every journalist in Paris was about to descend upon the Panthéon forced Monsieur Dubois into a reckless state of action. He didn't hesitate.
"Henri! Secure the Professor! We are leaving now," Dubois commanded, shoving his pistol into his coat. He was no longer interested in the philosophical elegance of the theft; he only cared about the Regulator.
Henri grabbed the weakened Professor Laurent. Despite Laurent's protests, the two men dragged him through a concealed back entrance that led to a waiting sedan. The Argentum Society was abandoning their holding cell and their unconscious agents in a desperate rush to reach the Panthéon before the police chaos descended.
Elara and Jules watched from the window.
"They're taking him back to the Panthéon," Elara realized, clutching the iron Broken Circle Key in her hand. "He'll use Laurent as bait against the police if he has to."
Jules, his face still bruised, was already pulling on the coat he'd found draped over a chair. "They have a head start, and we don't have a car. But Dubois is operating under maximum pressure. He's going to make mistakes."
"We know the Regulator's location," Elara said, grabbing the keys and the sewer map. "And we know the only way to stabilize it. We have to beat them to the nexus."
They found a quiet, working vehicle—a utility van left idling by a distracted maintenance worker two blocks away—and 'borrowed' it. Jules, the resourceful reporter, managed to bypass the ignition with a hairpin and a quick prayer.
The drive across Paris was frantic. They drove against the traffic flowing toward the source of the emergency alerts. When they reached the Montagne Sainte-Geneviève, the scene was already one of organized chaos. Police lines were being set up around the Panthéon, the sirens now a throbbing symphony of confusion. Journalists, alerted by Jules's broadcast, were swarming the periphery.
The security was tight, but focused on the main, public entrances.
"Dubois will have used the secondary service tunnels he prepared earlier," Laurent had once mentioned. "Probably one that feeds directly into the crypt."
Jules slammed the van to a stop near the back service entrance of the nearby Sorbonne University. "We can use the academic tunnels. They connect to the Panthéon's old storage areas."
They slipped past the outer police perimeter by blending into a crowd of agitated university students, then descended into the network of tunnels connecting the intellectual institutions of the Latin Quarter.
The tunnels were cold, filled with the ghostly echoes of academic history. Guided by Elara's memory of the old Sorbonne blueprints, they found the rough-hewn, low passage leading directly into the Panthéon's foundation.
When they emerged, they were back in the vast, vaulted undercroft—the nexus chamber. The diesel generator that Elara had shorted out in Chapter 19 was gone, replaced by a silent, focused intensity.
The air thrummed with raw energy. The iron Regulator cabinet was still in place on the ancient stone nexus slab. Dubois and Henri were there, having just completed the strenuous task of repositioning the cabinet. Professor Laurent was slumped against a nearby pillar, breathing heavily, but alive.
Dubois was no longer using electrical current. He was relying on the Panthéon's natural Ley Line nexus to force the final lock. The Broken Circle Lock, which had held firm against the electric shock, was now beginning to glow a dull, angry red.
"The energy of the nexus is overloading the 'Loss' mechanism!" Laurent whispered urgently. "He's minutes away from fracturing the stone and forcing the stabilization pin to shatter!"
Dubois, seeing Elara and Jules, didn't seem surprised, only intensely annoyed. He had been waiting for them.
"You brought the police, Elara. But you still haven't learned the power of the inevitable," Dubois said, stepping back from the glowing cabinet. "The nexus will break the lock for me. The Age of the Argentum Society is beginning."
Elara looked at the glowing red lock, the thrumming chamber, and the terrified face of Laurent. She had the key, the knowledge, and the resolve. She had to act now, before the heat of the nexus destroyed the very mechanism designed to save the city.