The British Museum was set back from the street, a grand courtyard between the byway and the front doors. Fortunately for us, we weren't entering that way.

Vasek continued at an easy pace around the side of the square and up a narrow alley between one building and the next. The path was barely wide enough for the three of us to pass and shrouded in almost total darkness. Three quarters of the length of it behind us, he paused beside a small iron door, pitted with age, but ...