Crushed (34 page)

Sophie hesitated in the middle of the entrance hall, shuffling back and forth.

The guards were watching her with narrowed eyes. She smiled at them good-naturedly, but they looked away in annoyance.

She walked over to them cautiously, clutching her clipboard tightly to her chest. "I was wondering if you could tell me where Mr. Delaney is right now."

The guard sitting by his monitor frowned up at her. "Can you not wait for him?"

"He'll want to know that the transfer is complete." She pressed.

"Fine." The guard checked his monitor. "I don't see them, so they must be in the Director's office."

"Can you take me there?" Sophie asked, grinning stupidly at them.

"They'll come out when they're finished talking business." The guard seemed conflicted despite his answer. Both of the men seemed to want her as far away from them as possible.

She nodded dejectedly, and walked away from the front desk just as her cell phone vibrated in her pocket. She slipped it out enough so that she could see what Luke's text said.

Painting is located in the vault farthest from the staircase in basement. Only two guards on duty, Director's keeping me in lockdown. Going to have to make our own access.

Here came their next challenge. Luke was tied up with the woman, and wouldn't be able to sneak into the basement himself. They'd only brought one virus, so if they tried stealing the painting, the guards would be on to them in seconds.

"Hey, did you see that?" One of the guards said, leaning back in his chair.

They'd been idly watching their computers, trying to ignore Sophie's presence.

"No, what was it?" The other asked.

"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.