Mouse by Jeff Stone Page B

paces in front of the door, with only a small narrow space left open along the floor that no normal person could possibly pass through.
    ShaoShu, however, was far from normal. He memorized the layout of the trip wires nearest the floor, then hung the lantern back on the wall. He dropped to the ground in front of the web and lay down on his back, taking several deep breaths before exhaling forcefully to deflate his chest. He turned his head to one side and slid headfirst beneath the web, pushing with his feet.
    His upper body made it through. Once his waist cleared, ShaoShu sat up and wiggled backward on his butt until his legs were through, too. Sitting up, he carefully peeked through the open door and saw that the cavernous space beyond was dimly lit with lanterns on the walls. He scanned the weapons wing as best he could and didn't see anyone.
    ShaoShu took a deep breath and stood, keeping well clear of the trip wires. He gave the large door a gentle push, and it swung open easily and silently on well-oiled hinges. He slipped inside, nudging the door back toward its original position. Unfortunately, the door moved far too easily. Before ShaoShu could react, it closed completely with a barely audible
click.
He grabbed the handle and tried to open it, but it was locked.
    There was no turning back now. Hopefully, no one would notice that the door had closed.
    It took a few moments for his eyes to fully adjust to the dim light, but when they did, ShaoShu's mouth dropped open in awe.
    Along one entire side of the wing, barrels of gunpowder and crates of shot were stacked in organized piles, many reaching the ceiling. Mounds of wadding and stacks of ramrods formed a neat barrier between the gunpowder and the weapons themselves, aligned along the opposing wall. The armaments were sectioned off into distinct groups that made sense even to ShaoShu. The huge room was filled to capacity with every type of musket, cannon, and pistol he had ever seen. There were many devices he didn't recognize, though their numerous powder burns and thick metal sides made it clear they were weapons of war. ShaoShu tried his best to make a mental image of everything he saw.
    Like LoBak had said, this room had no windows and only one door. Beside the door stood a desk, upon which rested four scrolls. ShaoShu walked over and opened one. He guessed it was some sort of inventory list. Rows of writing corresponded with columns of numbers, filling the entire page. As he turned it over in his hands, he smiled. This was exactly what he was looking for.
    His happiness was short-lived, however. On the far side of the door, ShaoShu heard voices. He leaned his ear to it and listened as two guards debated whether they should interrupt HaiZhe about some tiny footprintsthey had found beneath a small evergreen behind the warehouse. One of them noticed that the weapons wing door was closed, and as they discussed whether this was noteworthy, ShaoShu decided he needed to find a way out of there immediately. He shoved the inventory scrolls into his sash and raced away from the door, keeping to the wall nearest the armaments.
    More than halfway down the length of the wall, ShaoShu nearly stumbled over a small barrel of gunpowder that someone must have misplaced. It should have been on the opposite side of the room, but it gave him an idea. Lei had once shown him and the soldiers how to make a bomb with nothing more than a barrel of gunpowder and a fuse. It was easy. What's more, he realized that with a little bit of effort, he might be able to blast a hole in the wall and make it look like an accident.
    ShaoShu nudged the small barrel against the wall below one of the lanterns and reached up, lifting the lantern's protective glass. He blew out the flame, took the lantern off the wall, and laid it on top of the barrel. He wanted to make it look as if the lantern had fallen and ignited the misplaced barrel of powder. He had no idea what would remain of the lantern or the