The Pursuit of Emma, Dave Moyer [best contemporary novels txt] 📗

I didn’t hear but I assumed she was checking he knew what he was doing. Alex grunted unenthusiastically and Vlad gave us a knowing nod before disappearing out of sight. He had an arranged meeting point to pick up the ewer but I didn’t know where. I didn’t have to concern myself with these details. Just focus on your own task. That was rule one, according to Emma.

We stood gazing up at the enormous fortress in front of us, knowing what we had to do. We were ready.

‘What’s the most illegal thing you’ve done today?’ Emma teased, jokingly.

‘Only travelled into this country on an illegal passport. Not much,’ I replied.

‘Ready to change that?’

‘Definitely!’ Chapter Twenty-Five

‘Press the button and run. Don’t look back.’

Alex handed Emma a rucksack from his back and I noticed he had another over his shoulder. Emma already had a handbag on her but she took the other one. It made her look more like a tourist but that wasn’t the reason she had it. I knew better. We filed up the stairs in an orderly fashion, waiting like good British citizens. It took us fifteen minutes to get into the museum and with one final look at each other, we separated.

The museum is an enormous building split over two floors. There are five large display rooms leading into another downstairs, forcing the visitors to go through all the rooms to get out. The ground floor links back around to the entrance where you can either leave or take the staircase up to the first floor, where there are another four rooms of wonderful artefacts. It is a truly incredible place, showcasing all styles of art from famous Dutch paintings right through to Yuan Dynasty Vases (which was handy for us).

Emma peeled off, hopped lightly over a barrier divide and skipped up the stairs to the first floor, disappearing from sight. Alex marched on ahead without stopping to look at any of the paintings. Within a minute he was in the third room and making his way steadily to the fourth. This was where the ewer was. I, on the other hand, took my time, pretending to admire all the artwork. It really was incredible, but I knew I couldn’t appreciate it right now. The nerves were starting to get to me. It suddenly hit me what I was doing. It had almost appeared normal to me; it was just something I needed to do. But I was in one of the biggest museums in the world (with some of the most advanced security systems) trying to steal something the FBI, police and Interpol all knew was going to be stolen. Big deal. Just try not to think about it. If it went wrong I would have plenty of time to think about it... in jail.

I looked down at my watch and counted carefully. I had one minute until I had to move. I was standing exactly where Emma had told me to. No matter how the camera systems are in a large, open space it is almost impossible to cover every inch all of the time. I was standing in one of seventeen tiny blind-spots in the video. I wasn’t doing anything illegal but the more time I spent out of view of the security cameras the better. Three, two, one... move.

I paced quickly into the fourth room and could see Alex standing by the ewer. It was surrounded by a glass cabinet but you could see every inch of it. It was smaller than I thought it would be. I had seen several images of these vases but seeing it in real life was completely different. It was beautiful. If I had more time I was sure I would have spent it staring in awe. But I didn’t.

There were two security guards standing by a door, which was locked and only opened by an electronic door-card that only they had. I needed to get through that door. This is where Alex was going to come in.

I walked straight up to the guards, wearing a look of deep concern.

‘Excuse me, I don’t know if it is a problem but there is an abandoned bag in the corner,’ I muttered quietly, hoping they spoke English. They paused for a second, not responding but eventually the taller of the two spoke.

‘Where?’ he asked, in a thick, Dutch accent.

I pointed to the corner of the room where Alex had just left his bag. Immediately the taller man moved towards it, speaking through his radio. Why had the cameras not seen it lying there? Because Alex had dropped it in blind spot number two. Perfect.

I needed the second guard to move. I had hoped he too would go and investigate the bag or perhaps evacuate us all out of the room but he stood on guard, impenetrable.

‘I know who dropped it,’ I continued.

‘I am sure it is not a concern, it is most likely just a lost bag...’

‘No, listen to me. The man who dropped it has been acting strange. He was in front of me in the queue. I swear I heard him say he was going to steal something.’

That got the guards attention. ‘Those are very strong accusations. What was he going to steal?’

‘I don’t know but he is standing right next to that Yuan Dynasty vase thingy,’ I replied, pointing.

The guard leapt into life. It was just as we had thought. All the security guards were briefed about a possible threat to the ewer and I imagine everyone wanted to be the hero that caught the great thief. He hollered over to his colleague who backed away from the bag and approached Alex quickly. Alex knew he had to look as shifty as possible and he was playing his part well. He had his hands on the glass, as if trying to lift it up. The guards shouted, breaking into a run towards him.

This was my chance. For the first time today the door was left unattended. Come on Emma, your turn. I waited a few seconds. Nothing happened. Then with a small click the locking mechanism released and the door was free to be pushed open. Alex was causing a fuss and creating a perfect distraction. I felt a tiny bit sorry for him. Sure he had probably killed countless amounts of people, but Emma’s plan involved us getting out and Alex being interrogated for hours on end. They wouldn’t be able to pin anything on him, but it would be an unpleasant experience. I looked round for a final time and then disappeared through the door. I was now in a corridor tinged with yellowing wallpaper. There was nothing impressive about this stretch of the building and it was clearly only used by the museum staff. Time to move.

Whilst I'd been downstairs, Emma had obviously done her job upstairs wonderfully. She had used a similar technique to get past the guards up there. Covertly, she dropped her bag in a blind spot and then reported it to the guards herself. While pointing out her suspicions she had lifted one of their door cards like a professional pick-pocket. It was like taking candy from a baby for her. Within one minute of her reaching the top floor she was through the security doors and up the stairs. She had more work to do.

When Alex’s bag was found and reported to the building’s authorities it caused a panic for them. This was the second bag found. Something was going down. They had taken Alex away by this point but they weren’t taking chances. The calls had already been made to empty room four and remove the ewer from the public floor.

I was running at this point. Take the second left and follow the corridor round to the right. I was going through the instructions in my head. I could hear footsteps coming in the distance but had time to dip through a doorway and hide momentarily. In a flash they were gone. I imagined they were heading to move the ewer. If Emma was right I shouldn’t pass anyone else. I broke back into a full sprint and took a narrower corridor that pointed towards a staircase. Up the stairs, taking three at a time; my thighs were burning but I didn’t stop for a second. Eventually I reached room 132: the security control room. I barged through it, praying that I'd found the right room. I had.

Emma was sat at a computer staring at several screens, all showing different areas of the museum. It was here where the chief security guards would monitor the safety of the building. Except they would find it hard to monitor anything, being bound and tied up (unconscious) on the floor. Emma looked at me cautiously; the look told me that she hadn’t wanted to do it but that she'd done what was needed. How had she managed to knock out two burly security guards so easily? I didn’t want to ask.

‘They have just moved the ewer off the floor,’ she said, smiling. ‘Told you they would!’

She was a genius. Instead of trying to steal a priceless vase in front of cameras and with all the lasers, she just got them to move it. She'd known they would be on high alert, that China would never forgive them if the ewer was stolen. As a result they were bound to panic at even the smallest provocation. All we had to work out was where they were going to move it to. Jack had somehow managed to get us a copy of the blueprints for the museum; there was only one place they would be able to move it and still protect it. It was a safe room on the first floor that was normally where new artefacts would be stored while a space was being found for them. It was alarmed (and had a pressure sensitive floor) but it was no way near as hard to steal from as room four.

‘Right the ewer is in the safe room. Two guards outside. The police have been called. We have less than ten minutes to get out. Do you know what to do?’

I looked at her and nodded. This was where it got complicated. Emma jumped out of her chair and showed me the computer.

‘It’s all set up. All you have to do is type in the code 4741 and press the red button when I say. You got it?’

‘4741,’ I replied. ‘Yes, I've got it.’

Emma threw me a pair of gloves and I slipped them on. She had been wearing a pair herself to avoid fingerprints. She moved to the corner of the room and kicked a ventilation grill until it came lose. It didn’t take long.

‘Listen for my signal,’ she smiled and disappeared out of sight. I sat down, checked the time and hoped we would have enough. Come on Emma. She had left me with a radio transmitter and taken one with her so we'd be able to communicate. I looked at the screens and could see... everything. Room 4 was now abandoned, as were the two rooms either side of it, but the whole museum hadn't been evacuated. Rooms one and two, and most of the