Chapter Eighteen
Since the hotel was near the museum, we decided to walk rather than waste money on a taxi when we weren’t going that far. Arriving at the museum, we split up into groups. A while back, I had done some research to find out that there would be plenty of private schools visiting the museum today, which is why we were sporting matching shirts. Taylor and I wore shirts from a school in Virginia, so the two of us set off together to find our group. We spotted the other group dressed in the same shirts. Heading towards them, I realized we would have to fit in if we didn’t want to raise suspicion. Spotting the popular girls of the group, I headed straight for them. After a few seconds of conversation, I had them eating out of my hands. They no longer cared that they’ve never seen Taylor or me before.
Our group made our way into the museum, as the students in front of us handed over their tickets. Taylor reached into her bag and handed me the ticket she’d purchased ahead of time. Handing our tickets over at the door, Taylor and I entered the museum and paused. Taylor gave a quick imitation of a tourist by tapping my arm and gesturing around excitedly. Following her approach, I responded with a smile that I’m sure resembled the joker’s. The popular girls spotted a cute employee and ran over to flirt with him leaving Taylor and I alone. I was grateful. I don’t think I could take anymore of Amber’s pep. Zooming in on the camera, I quickly snapped photos of the camera in the right corner under the ledge to the second floor. Raising my camera higher, I took photos of the guards stationed on the ride side of the museum. Once we were done, we joined back in with the class as the overly excited blond tour guide, led us throughout the museum.
This was the perfect cover because not only was everybody taking photos, but you could ask any question you wanted without gaining suspicion. Taylor and I queried about the number of exits in case of emergency, and the procedures in case there was a fire. The guide was more than happy to answer our questions and then more. We finally made it to the Denon Wing, where The Beggar Boy painting was supposed to hang. We didn’t have to ask about the painting since the guide was already going into details about the painting.
Some of what she was saying I read on the internet, but she did mention some fact that I didn’t know. She talked about the artist Bartholomѐ Esteban Murillo, and how he was the distant relative of artist Juan del Castillo. She further explained how Murillo went to live with Castillo until 1639 when his mentor moved to Cadiz. Murillo had to end up fending for himself at the age of twenty two, and scraped a living by selling some of his paintings. In 1643, Murillo met another famous artist named Velazquez who took pity on Murillo and let him lodge in his house. It is said, that it was Velazquez who placed the curse upon the painting. He had been dabbling into the dark arts and ended up unleashing powers that was so powerful and dangerous, that he could no longer control them. He needed to transfer the powers into a solid object so he chose Murillo’s painting. Velazquez had a copy of the painting made and switched it with Murillo’s original one. By 1648, Murillo had moved away and married a wealthy lady of rank, Doña Beatriz de Cabrera y Sotomayor and had two children. He later died in 1682, leaving behind only his son and daughter, his wife having died before him. He had no clue that the painting he had thought to be his— was a fake. No one knows the exact details of the curse, only that it leaves death in its tracks.
The tourists oohed and awed as we after the story as they snapped several more picture of where the painting would sit after it’s unveiling. Taking advantage of everyone else snapping their cameras, Taylor and I joined in. I zoomed in on the glass case for the painting, waiting to be filled. The guide moved off down the hall as Taylor and took photos of the end of the hall. The tour guide wrapped up this section calling for a break. We were to meet her back in the center hall to resume the tour. The group broke up, mostly heading to the restaurants and book shops.
“Do you think we should take some snap shots of the restrooms?” Taylor asked.
I shook my head. “We could but there would be no point. The restrooms are probably crowded with tourists right now. Taking photos would just give us weird looks and give us a quick exit.”
Taylor opened her mouth to say something else when I spotted a familiar figure a few feet away, staring at one of the portraits on the wall. He wore a baseball cat that seemed to cover most of his face, but it was his stance that seemed familiar. It was a stance similar to guy that was standing behind the plane in the shadows when we were leaving the airport. I walked off from Taylor and headed towards the guy. As if sensing my approach, he turned and headed in the opposite direction. I could hear Taylor calling me by my name, but I ignored her. I picked up the speed as it became harder and harder to catch up with the man. The crowd had thickened and it seemed like every one was moving in slow motion. By the time I got through the clearing of people, he was gone. My head glanced back and forth through the museum to see if I could catch a glimpse of that baseball cap. I couldn’t.
“Are you okay?” Taylor said coming up behind me. “What’s going on?”
“I thought I saw him.”
“Who?”
“The guy from the plane. I think he’s here.”
Taylor glanced around but it was no use. There was no way possible we could spot anyone in this crowd. Taylor grabbed my hand. “Come on, we should get back.”
I took one more glance around before I let Taylor drag me off. We finished up the tour taking photos in every part of the building. The two of us decided that we had enough, and headed out the museum. Getting rid of our shirts, we stuffed them in a nearby trashcan and went to meet up with Kerry and Yuri. We spotted them near the pyramid. They were sitting on a bench flirting with two of the guards that worked at the museum. Taylor and I hung back for a while before they finally bid the two love struck men farewell. We walked on the opposite sides of the museum trying not to alert anyone to the fact that we were together. Exiting back on the street, we grouped back up and headed away from the motel.
Not wanting a repeat of what happened at the Mexican restaurant, we picked a random place to have lunch at. The waitress escorted us too our seats. After a quick glance at the menu, we placed our orders and the waitress left us alone.
“You guys, Autumn saw the guy at the museum.”
“What?” Yuri said choking on her soda.
“Did you really?” Kerry asked.
“I think it was him. No, I’m sure it was. I just couldn’t get a good glance of his face. His stance was familiar though.”
“But how do you know it was him?’ Kerry asked. “It could have been anybody with a similar stance.”
“Maybe because when I started towards him he suddenly decided to make a fast exit.”
We got silent at the table as the chatter from the other patrons faded into the background. The waitress arrived with our meals and I felt my stomach sigh with pleasure. The last time I’d eaten a meal was on the plane, and that meal eventually ended up in the toilet. It was a wonder I wasn’t walking on wobbly legs like Yuri was. We consumed our foods and shared a dessert together. Once we were done, we paid our bill and headed to the hotel.
We arrived back to the hotel, sleep weighing heavily on our mind. I wanted nothing more than to dive into bed, but I knew we needed to stay up to finish planning the heist. Tomorrow was the big day and we couldn’t jeopardize our operation. We’d come too far. As we approached our door, Taylor came to a stop.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“Someone’s been in our room. The door is opened.”
We stared at the door as Taylor pushed it open with her foot. The door swung open as the four of us peered into the room. At first sight, nothing appeared to be out of place, but that didn’t mean we shouldn’t do a thorough search. Stepping through the door, we all split up to search the different rooms. We checked every piece of furniture in the hotel and every cabinet and vent. After that
we searched our bags that we brought along and still found nothing. Nothing was missing.
“Could it be that we just left the door opened?” Yuri asked. There was a hint of fear in her voice and with good reason.
“Even if we did, this place still gives off the feeling that someone has been in this room. It just feels cold.” I turned to Taylor. “Did you pick up any recording devices that may have been planted in here?”
“Nope and I searched everything. Whoever came in knew exactly how to search stuff without moving anything out of place. I hate to say it guys, but I feel like we’re a bunch of amateurs compared to who we’re up against.”
“Amateurs we may be, but let’s not forget that he was once an amateur. If he can become a professional then so can we.” I said. “We’ve gotten this far, so I’ll say we’re doing pretty damn well. Let’s not worry too much about this. We’ve got a lot of work to do with too little time.”
The girls and I got to business. Taylor took all of our camera footage and began to upload it to her computer while Kerry and Yuri discussed what they’d learned about the security. There will be a total of fifty guards on scene for the event of the unveiling. There will be guards throughout the room during the unveiling of the painting. There will also be guards on the floor were the painting is to be displayed, near the elevators, and at every exit. But Kerry said it’s the ones that won’t be in uniform that we will need to worry about. They will blend in with the rest of us in their formal wear and masquerade masks. All of the guards also have to check in every five minutes. It became clear the museum would be on high alert, and we would have to be too.
Taylor finished uploading the pictures as we all gathered around to check the still photos and the videos we had filmed.
“How are we going to get the painting without alerting the guards? It’s going to be damn near impossible.”
“I could tap into the power system and cause a black out.” Taylor said. “If I caused a blackout, we could easily remove the painting from the display and be out of the museum before the power kicked back on.”
“What about the backup power?” Kerry asked. “Wouldn’t they come on if the main power failed? Plus, what if the power is connected to the doors and we get stuck on the inside with the painting.”
“There’s a restaurant in the museum that has pushed doors. If we could make it to there in time, we could exit the museum through the pyramid and have enough chance to get away before the power comes back on.” I said.
The girls nodded their head. It was risky, but it was the only way to get the painting without being detected by the guards.
The Bonnies Page 19