The back entrance of the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel was quiet, the staff distracted by the flashing lights of the police cars patrolling the Colaba streets. Under the cover of the storm, Vikram, Rohan, and Rahul slipped through the service laundry doors.
Rahul carried a heavy backpack of batteries and cables, while Rohan held a modified halogen floodlight.
They moved down the concrete steps into the humid basement, navigating past the massive boiler tanks. At the very back of the storage room, behind a stack of rusted pipes, lay a bricked-up archway.
"This is it," Rahul said, scanning the wall. "The brickwork is old, but the mortar is cracked. The Vow has been using this entrance recently."
Rohan swung his iron pipe, slamming it into the center of the brick wall. The old mortar gave way, and the bricks fell inward, revealing a dark, concrete corridor.
A wave of freezing, dry air rushed out of the opening.
"Watch the corners," Vikram said, stepping through the hole. His hands were wrapped, his Prana humming quietly in his chest.
They walked down the sloping tunnel for fifty yards until it opened into a massive, cavernous space.
It was a subterranean cistern—a giant, vaulted stone reservoir built during the colonial era to store water. The floor was covered in a deep pool of black, stagnant water, reflecting the stone pillars that rose to the ceiling.
Suspended in the center of the reservoir, directly beneath the Gateway monument above, was a massive metal structure. It looked like an inverted pyramid, humming with an unstable black light.
The **Tenebrous Transmitter**.
"It's active," Rahul whispered, his scanner beeping. "The electromagnetic field is blocking all radio signals. If we touch the water, the charge will freeze us instantly."
"Look there," Rohan said, pointing his flashlight.
Standing on the stone walkway surrounding the water were three figures in dark-fiber suits, their masks glowing with gold lines.
**Vow Wraiths**.
"Intruders," the lead Wraith said, his voice carrying a double echo. He raised his hand, and the black water in the reservoir began to rise, forming liquid tentacles of ice-cold shadow.
"Rohan, light them up!" Vikram yelled, stepping onto the walkway.
Rohan clicked the switch of the halogen floodlight, and a beam of blinding white light cut through the dark vault.