Dust settles in the lower passage as Dallas unfolds the service spine map under his flashlight. The strange notations he spotted before line up with the monument's internal circuitry, clean as a lie on a police report.

Professor Dayton stares at the page, pale with recognition. The hidden sequence is not for guidance, it is for control, a master key for the district's security grid.

Above them, the Hooded Man's silhouette fills the broken throat of the tunnel. He is not retreating. He is waiting for the grid to drop so his people can move.

Murderbone lowers his head and growls at the dark opening. Dallas has the sequence now, and everyone in the tunnel knows what that means.

Dallas taps the sequence into the panel, but the mechanism remains unresponsive to the command. The tunnel stays open, the heavy stone throat offering no resistance to the figures looming above.

Dallas jams the stamped service plate into the panel and punches the sequence home. The stone face gives a dry click, then a second one, like a lock waking up.

A seam of light crawls across the hidden edge, and the monument shudders. Dust sifts down from the ceiling as the dead controls accept the code.

Below, the rapid clicking inside the wall stutters once, then falls silent. The line from the service map has done its work, and the grid control is no longer resisting him.

The hooded figure takes one step down into the passage, but the panel stays open, exposing the stamped mechanism and the dead run of wiring.