by Elle, Leen
"The screen flipped off for just a second." He sounded suspicious. "You don't think someone could've..."
"Impossible. It's probably nothing to worry about, these computers are ancient."
"Yeah...make a round just in case. I'll stay here to supervise the rookie." He nodded towards Sophie, who glanced away quickly. The other guard stood and slowly began roving the hallways of the museum.
It couldn't be... She thought to herself, her hands growing cold.
She'd worked with Robert too long not to see the obvious signs. Luke had been right that he was here, and headed directly for their true target.
Sophie had no idea if Robert knew she was here as well, but she did know what his next plan of action would be. If he'd hacked the system from some other location, he would now be making his way to the basement of the museum.
She instantly came up with a new game plan. Slipping out her phone, she quickly sent a reply to Luke.
Rob's here. He took care of our problem for us. I'll take care of things from here. Don't worry.
She hid her phone in her pocket and made her way to the security desk. "Um, where is the bathroom?" She asked slowly.
The guard rolled his eyes, and motioned to the signs indicating where the bathrooms were located.
"Oh, okay thank you." She purposely made a left at the sign, and the guard immediately called out to her.
"That's the way to the women' bathroom!"
"Oops!" She turned and waved back at him. "Sorry." She headed in the other direction, hiding her grin. If she was caught from now on, she could always blame her stupidity on it.
She spent less than a minute in the men's bathroom. Since it connected to two different galleries, the bathroom had two doors on opposite ends of the room. She jogged through it to the other side, disappearing into a new gallery.
Her cell phone had a picture of the layout of the museum, and she was quickly able to locate the entrance to the basement.
A large, EMPLOYEE'S ONLY, sign was hanging from the door. Luke had provided her with the passcode for the lock, which happened to be the zip code where the museum was located.
She grinned as the door clicked open. At the bottom of the staircase was another checkpoint where an ID card was needed. Thankfully, Luke had thought ahead on this point as well. Sophie pulled out her fake card and slid it into the slot.
The next door clicked open as well, and Sophie's heart began to race. At this moment, she really felt like a thief.
The basement was basically a warehouse for paintings, which were cased in rooms made of glass. Sophie had been taught by her professors that in museums like this, paintings and old documents were kept in vaults with low oxygen levels, to slow down aging and deterioration. The entrances to the vaults each had a keypad, which showed a blinking red light when little to no oxygen was used in a room. When the light turned green, that meant it was okay for supervisors to enter the vaults.
As Sophie walked passed the cases, she felt like she was looking in another gallery of the museum. She could see vases, statues, and paintings that were being stored until they were set to appear in a new museum. Aging tapestries, bronze plates, and old scrolls caught her attention. If she hadn't been on a mission, she might've stopped to stare at all the rare items.
Luke had told her that the painting was located in the case farthest away from the staircase. She headed straight through the cases, glancing anxiously at the cameras surrounding her as she went.
Her decision to move down here had been based on the assumption that Robert was in the building. If the guard had been right, and the flashing monitor had meant nothing, she was being filmed by the cameras around her. However, if that was true, wouldn't the guards be heading down to find her?
She silenced her fears as she moved forward. There was no time to over-think her actions. She had to plan what she was going to do when she met Robert, because there was no avoiding him now.
It seemed strange that they'd only spent a few days away from each other. It felt like they hadn't seen each other in weeks. Meeting him here would not be easy, but she had to accept it as inevitable. If Max had sent her here knowing Robert would come as well, then he wanted to see that she could overcome Robert's cleverness. Their reunion would be brief, but it wasn't the reason she was here.
It took her five minutes to locate the target vault. She slid her ID card through the keypad on the door, and the light flickered from red to green. The door beeped, signaling it was okay to enter, but Sophie hesitated before opening the door. She faintly heard footsteps coming from behind her. The layout of the cases blocked the person from her view, but they were steadily heading her direction. Again she slid her card through the keypad, this time locking the door and switching the light back to red.
Backing away from the case, she hid behind another vault to her left. When the person arrived, she would be able to see them, without them seeing her first.
In only moments, her suspicions were confirmed. The figure that approached the target vault was dressed in all black, with a baseball cap covering his face. He walked towards the vault with confidence, like a trained thief would.
Underneath the cap, Sophie noticed the man's blond hair, and her heart clenched.
Just like the day they'd met, she saw Robert before he knew she was there. The situation now was eerily similar to back then.
"All that talk about finding me, and here I am, finding you first." Sophie's voice was smooth as she stepped out from around the vault.
Robert froze in place, his eyes shifting towards her.
Only a week ago, Sophie would've been overjoyed to know she'd surprised him. He always acted like he was one step ahead, but this time she'd caught him off guard. Now, seeing him so shocked only made her heart clench tighter.
"Miss me?" She asked, smiling softly.
She was aware that speaking to him was reckless. Getting too close to him meant endangering her mission and her cause. He couldn't bring her back this early on, or she wouldn't have a chance at getting the letter. Seeing him had blown away all of her caution, and caused her to act without thinking of the consequences.
"Sophie." He whispered, his voice unsteady. He took a step away from the door, facing her fully now. His dark blue eyes were both questioning and calculating. He didn't need to ask to put the pieces together. There were only a handful of reasons why she would be breaking into a museum, and he came to the right conclusion in only moments.
She saw his expressions change gradually. First, he'd been shocked to see her. Then, he'd been questioning, wondering why she was here. Next, he'd been suspicious, his eyes narrowing and his face growing serious. Finally, she could see when the realization hit him. His eyes widened, and his mouth opened in utter disbelief.
The next emotion that passed through his eyes was something she hadn't been expecting: fear.
He stared at her with eyes that were completely terrified at the truth he was beginning to grasp.
"You didn't." He whispered again, his fists clenching. "You couldn't have..."
Sophie didn't say anything. Suddenly, she wanted to get as far away from him as possible.
She walked towards the vault, and slipped her ID card in again. When the door clicked open, she entered the room without glancing back at Robert. She didn't turn to him when he followed her in.
"Are you insane?" He reached out to twist her around. "Have you lost your mind?" His body was trembling, his eyes wide with barely contained rage.
"I'm on a mission right now." She hissed. "We can talk later."
"No, we can talk now." He glanced around him, his gaze falling on the World War II painting lying on top of a nearby examining table. It was surrounded with glass, but there was no lock protecting it from being taken out. "He sent you here for that?"
"The only reason he hired me was because of you." Sophie tugged her arm away, but he held on to her tightly. "Cleo told him that I was smarter than you."
Robert dropped her arm, his hand
cupping his mouth in shock. "Cleo was behind this?" He closed his eyes tightly, taking it all in.
"It's my idea, don't misunderstand. I have something I need to find, and this is the only way."
When Robert opened his eyes, he was glaring at her. "There is never only one way. You have no idea what you've just done."
They both froze as the door to the vault opened. Luke stepped into the room, his face cold.
Robert crossed the vault in only a few steps, and lifted Luke by his collar, shoving him against the glass wall. "You let her do this?" Luke didn't try to struggle against him. "She'll be killed."
There was nothing Luke could say in his defense. He hadn't wanted her to work for Max either.
Just as quickly as it had come, Robert's rage faded. He released Luke and stepped away from him.
"Take the painting." Robert ordered Sophie. "Take it, and hand it over to Max."
"What?" Sophie paused, feeling like she'd just missed something.
"If he steals it, Max will punish you." Luke answered for him. "He's trying to help us."
Sophie felt her throat close, but instead of looking at Robert she turned to the painting. With Luke's help, she loaded it into the briefcase he'd brought along. Unlike the Civil War painting, this one was moderately small, and easily fit inside the case.
When they turned to exit the vault, Sophie stopped, to finally look at Robert.
"Thank you." She whispered to him, her eyes burning. "I mean it."
The moment she finished speaking, the lights above them shut off. All three stopped breathing as the sound of footsteps charged towards them. A gunshot split the silence as a bullet hit the glass surrounding the vault. It cracked the wall, but the bulletproof glass prevented any damage.
Sophie found both of her hands being grabbed instantly. She couldn't see anything but the small flicker of light coming from something Robert was holding in his hand. It gave them just enough light to escape from the vault, and charge into the darkness.
"Trust me." He called behind them as he sprinted through the darkness. Sophie did trust him, though she could sense that Luke didn't.
There was no time to think as they ran through the basement, though Sophie did realize enough to feel fear creeping in her chest.
The guards upstairs did not have guns on them, only tasers. The gun shots that had been fired were not from security, which meant an entirely different threat was behind them.
Sophie held in a scream as she ran through the darkness.
There was no way of knowing what was chasing them now.
* * *
Robert had entered the basement through a hidden entrance outside of the museum. It was this entrance which he helped them escape through now, leading them out into a dark alleyway.
Even though they were outside, they kept running. Sophie squeezed the hands holding her own, trying to gain some kind of support from Robert and Luke. Her heart felt like it was going to burst.
In the end, it was Sophie's fault they finally had to stop. Her lungs were screaming for air, and she couldn't move another step without collapsing. She had no idea how far away they were from the museum, only that she was done running, and surrounded in darkness.
All three of them stood panting as they waited for their breath to come back to them.
"What...was that?" Sophie said between gasps of air. "It couldn't have been the guards."
Luke and Robert shared a long look. Sophie scowled at both of them, hating the silent conversation they were having.
"Who do you think it is?" She asked heatedly.
Robert stared down at her, his eyes cold. "Max." He answered.
"What?" Sophie clutched her sides, which were burning from the run. "Don't be dramatic."
"It makes sense." Luke added. "If he suspected something, trapping all three of us in the same area would be ideal for eliminating us at the same time."
"Why would he kill his own thief?" Sophie shot back.
"Collateral damage. If Luke died killing me, his sacrifice would be worthwhile." Robert straightened his posture, glaring down the alleyway.
"That's insane." Sophie placed her hands on her hips. "You realize that's insane, don't you?"
"Sophie, he could be right. I thought this mission was suspicious from the beginning." Luke's voice was low.
"You're trying to tell me he sent us on a hunt to steal a painting, to really steal a different painting, to actually collect us together so he could kill us all. Yeah, that's perfectly plausible."
She reached up to loosen her tie, and pulled off her overcoat, tossing it to the ground. She was fed up with feeling both exhausted and uncomfortable. Sometime during the chase, she'd also lost her fake glasses.
"This is ridiculous." She muttered.
"Let's get out of here." Robert frowned as he grabbed her hand again.
Luke reached into his suit and pulled out a hidden pistol. Sophie nearly jumped at the sight of it.
"Put that away!" She almost shouted. "Why do you even have that?"
"In case something like this was to happen." He answered, his face cold. "I'm not going to let them touch you."
"Luke, calm down. I think we all need to just think this through."
"Sophie, we were shot at." Robert reminded her. "That hardly gives us the room to calm down."
"You think I'm not freaked out? I've been in this situation before." She motioned to Luke. "I clearly remember when it was him pressing a gun to my head. I don't particularly want to be reminded of that night."
"I wasn't going to shoot you." Luke sounded pained by her bringing up the past.
"I know that now, but waving around a gun isn't the right way to deal with this."
"So we wait for them to find us?"
"No, we just don't go running out into the street with a weapon pointed at strangers." Sophie scowled up at him. "I don't know why you're both paranoid."
"We know Max better than you. This is how he operates." Robert sounded like he was fed up with her argument.
"Well, I know reality, and this situation doesn't seem real." Sophie crossed her arms, tossing away Robert's hand. "Luke, seriously, put the gun away."
He looked like he was about to listen when the sound of footsteps to their right caused them all to freeze.
"Luke..." Sophie hissed, but he was already pointing the weapon in the direction of the stranger. "Stop!" She shouted as he pulled the trigger.
The sound of the gunshot at such close range was deafening, and Sophie instinctively screamed as she cupped her ears with her hands.
She fell to the ground, shaking in shock. Robert was yelling something at Luke, but it felt like they were miles away from where she was.
Sophie glanced up to see a body hit the ground, writhing in pain. Luke hadn't killed them, but hit them directly in the leg.
She heard the person groan, but it wasn't the kind of voice she'd thought she'd hear.
It was younger...much younger than she'd thought. Robert and Luke were frozen in place, though Sophie didn't hesitate as she crawled over to the figure.
They were curled into a ball, clutching at their leg in pain.
With shaking hands, she lifted the person's head. It was too dark to see them clearly, so she leaned in to hear the boy whisper her name.
"Sophie." His voice was faltering. "I just wanted to help."
Tears streamed down her face as another scream built up in her throat.
The boy lying in front of her wasn't as stranger.
It was Rylan.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
There will never be enough words to perfectly sum up the pain behind a breakdown.
"Oh, God." Sophie whispered as she took in Rylan's wounded leg.
The only description she could put towards her state at that moment was numb.
The situation in front of her was not real. It was like watching a movie, where the characters were all distant and untouchable.
This boy couldn't be her Rylan. He couldn't be
in front of her, because that was impossible.
Impossible. Impossible. Impossible.
No matter how many times she repeated that in her mind, the truth was unavoidable.
Here he was, lying in her arms. Rylan, sixteen years old, and lying in the middle of an alleyway, staring straight into death's door.
It was the thought of him dying that finally melted her shocked stupor. Her hands reacted instantly, searching for the gun wound, and trying desperately to prevent the blood from leaving his leg.