As the police on the hotel turn and dash towards the roof access you return to your task at hand. You look through the window at the lock holding it shut. Your research was correct and you have exactly the custom made tool force it. Inserting the angled steel bar you give a sharp twist and the lock pops easily. You open the window and look down at the display area below.
This floor of the museum is dedicated to artifacts from India, Hindu and Buddhist statues line the walls. Smaller items are displayed in glass cases in the room's centre. The artifact you have come to liberate is right in the middle. You know that the floor is pressure sensitive. One step onto it and steel shutters will seal off the doors and windows, trapping you inside.
You take a breath and feel your heart racing. When you reconnoitred the museum, your seemingly aimless wandering from exhibit to exhibit measured out the distances between various displays. You hold your arms high and lift up onto your toes. The stance would be instantly recognizable to any onlooker as that of a gymnast about to begin her routine.
Suddenly you dive forward, falling head first from the high window ledge. Your gloved hands cushion you as you hit the broad head of a statue of Ginash, the Hindu god of luck. Cartwheeling over, you propel yourself forward. Your right foot touches briefly on the frame of the display case which is your next stepping stone. Kicking yourself onwards you drop onto the broad back of a fibre glass elephant. A howdah containing dummies of a mahout and a maharaja are displayed on the gigantic model.
"Thanks for the lift Sweetie." You murmer to the elegantly mustachioed Indian prince. "I'll get off here."
You spring off and nimbly land atop the display case that holds your goal. On it's stand in the glass case rests the green eye of Khatmandu, an emerald the size of a goose egg. The gem that supposedly inspired the poem by J Milton Hayes. You get a suction cup and a cordless glass cutter out of your bag of tricks, it takes about a minute to score out the circle around the suction cup to your satisfaction. After packing away your tools you lean forward slightly and put pressure on the suction cup. There's a quiet snap as the glass breaks cleanly and you pull the neat circle free.
"And jestingly she made pretence. That nothing else would do, but the green eye of the little yellow god." You recite to yourself as you reach into the display case and pluck the emerald from it's stand.
Into the case you place a crisp pink envelope sealed with a red ribbon. In neat italic lettering the envelope is addressed to Inspector Dean.
You retrace your gymnastic steps back to the window and check your watch once you're safely perched on the window ledge. 'You're five seconds ahead of schedule,' you note. You prepare for your grand exit whilst you wait for Inspector Dean and his men to arrive. Onto your back, you strap a small pack with a sturdy D ring at the top. Next, you cut the nylon rope that carried you to the window ledge. On it's end, you crimp a snap hook and attach that to the D ring on your backpack. Below, you see Inspector Dean and his men rushing across the street, dodging traffic as they head towards the museum's entrance.
The Inspector looks up and, seeing you, skids to a halt. Now that your audience is in place, you can leave. You swan dive out above the street, and feel the reasuring jolt as the rope halts your fall. Like a pendulum, you swing forward at great speed, your arms outspread in flight. At the midpoint of your flight, you pull the ripcord of your backpack and the microchute deploys. Slowing your forward velocity just enough to allow you to absorb the impact against the wall of the hotel with your legs.
With the length of the rope your point of landing on the wall is just above the third floor. Below you, you hear shouts as the police turn and race back the way they just came. You scurry sideways at the end of the rope till you reach a ledge and can unhook yourself safely. A ventilation duct is just to your side. The screws holding it on are threadless ones you'd replaced in anticipation and the cover pulls off easily. You gather up your microchute, stuff it into your bag, and push it into the ventilation pipe. Squirming in after your bag, you push it before you along the narrow tunnel until you reach the hatch that you'll exit from. |