Chapter Twenty-Two
The four of us left the museum and headed over to the Jeu de Paume. The guards at the museum were sad to see us go, but they didn’t try to stop us. They had other problems to worry about now. It seemed two of the partygoers had a little too much to drink. After a few insults, shoving followed, and then an all-out scuffle. It seemed like fate for that to happen as all the guards rushed over to stop the fight before it ended up ruining the Queen’s party.
We approached the grounds of the Jeu De Paume and came to a stop. Unlike the Louvre, this museum didn’t have a single soul in sight. It was strange and it made us a bit suspicious.
“Where is everybody?”
“Do you think the Queen cleared the way for you to get to the painting?” Yuri asked.
I shrugged. Things were getting weirder and weirder. I understood my father wanting me to steal the painting, but why the Queen. “Taylor, check the surveillance to see if anyone is inside.”
Taylor pulled out her tablet and tapped into the source that would allow her to hack into the Jeu de Paume’s security system. She tapped on it a couple of times before shaking her head. “The cameras are out. In fact, all the power in this building seems to be out.”
I glanced over at the building that showcased nothing but darkness through the windows. I wondered if our friend had already made it to the building. I didn’t know, but I wasn’t going to stand around and allow him to steal the painting. “We’re going in.”
The four of us headed towards the back of the museum to avoid prying eyes. At the back we found another set of glass doors. The girls stepped out of the way as I walked up to the door and pull out my pick locking tools. Thanks to my successful history of pick locking, it didn’t take me long to have the door open. I reached up and pull the handle as a guff of cool air and the smell of stale art hit my nose. Wrinkling my nose, I stretched my ears out as I tried to detect any sound of movement. There was none.
“Let’s go.”
We made our way into the museum keeping our eyes alert for anything. Thanks to the Taylor tweaking our masks, we were able to see despite the darkness of the museum.
“Okay, so where would the entryway to the painting be?”
“Well according to the blueprints, there are pipelines that run to and from the museum underground.” Taylor said staring at her tablet once again. “From what I’m seeing, the entryway is in, the men’s restroom.”
“Ew” Yuri said. “We got to go through a pipeline, like a sewer pipeline.”
“You can always stay here and guard the place.” I said following Taylor to the men’s restroom. I let it sink in before I heard her feet following us.
“Hey, I never said that I wouldn’t get in there. I just don’t think it’s sanitary, that’s all.”
We headed to the men’s restroom pushing open the door. Taylor opened a door to one of the stalls. “Okay, here’s where it gets messy.” She dug through her purse and placed what appeared to be a stick of gum all around the toilet on the wall. “Quick! Go Outside!”
We ran out the door just in time to hear a loud boom. The four of us stared around as Yuri punched Taylor in the shoulder.
“You idiot! What if somebody heard that?”
“Trust me, they didn’t.”
Kerry and I gave each other unsure looks. We needed to hurry just in case Taylor was wrong. When we entered back into the restroom, the room was clouded with smoke. We stumbled our way through the crumbled debris to see a small opening in the wall, and through that hole was the sewer. We stripped out of our dresses and rolled the pants leg to our body suit down. The bottom of the pant suit slipped over our feet like a boot, as we zipped it up on the back of our legs. Pulling my mask up so I could see better, I stepped through the opening first and immediately went into a coughing fit. It smelled horribly. The walls were covered in some thick slimy residue and I was up to my ankles in muddy debris filled water. The girls stepped in and mimicked my expression. If they caught something in here, I knew I would be the blame.
“Which way do we go Taylor?”
“To the right. The tunnel is a bit long so we’re going to have to run.”
Taylor led the way down the tunnel running, as we followed. Water splashed around us as rats skirted out of the way, seeking refuge in small holes. We covered more length by running and I could only imagine where we would have been if we decided to walk. We came to a stop at a crossroad in the sewer.
“Just Great! Now which way do we go?” Yuri threw up her hands annoyed.
“One sec.” Taylor said staring at the blueprints.
“Can you like hurry it up Taylor, it stinks down here.” Yuri fussed.
“Relax Yul. We’ll be out of here soon.” I said with a shake of my head even though I silently agreed with her. The smell from the sewer was awful and I had to take several deep breaths so I wouldn’t keep ingesting it in. There were rats crawling on a ledge near the side of the wall as they squeaked on by. The ledge was also littered with trash that had gotten wash down here. We could barely see through the dirty water as it rose from our ankles and up to our knees. It was a very good thing that we had these suits on—even though it was clear we would have to burn them when we were done.
“Okay I got it. We need to keep straight.”
“But wouldn’t the left tunnel lead in the direction of the museum?” Kerry asked.
“No it will lead back to where you came from. You guys forgot we came to a curve when we first started in the sewer. The left way just doubles back. If we go straight ahead, we will be in the direction of the museum.”
We ran straight ahead down the sewer in the direction that Taylor gave us. Had this been a couple months earlier, my legs would be screaming and begging me to sit down. Thanks to boot camp trainer Kerry, they weren’t. A couple of rats we ran passed started to squeak and some even dove into the water. Yuri hollered before kicking one across the sewer. The look and kick on her face was so priceless, that I almost busted out into laughter. Instead I just file the memory into to the back of my head for later to use to pick on her.
As we ran deeper into the tunnel, I noticed a small glimpse of light shining. The closer we got, the brighter it got.
“Do you guys see that?” Kerry asked.
We slowed down as we got closer to the light that was coming from a hole in the wall. At first glance I thought it was the sunlight from outside shining through the hole in the wall, until I remembered it was night time. Also, this light had kind of an orange glow to it. The tunnel we were in still continued straight, but I had a feeling we were supposed to go through this opening. I slowly approached the opening as Yuri grabbed hold to my arm.
“Autumn where are you going? Taylor said to continue straight.”
I shrugged her arm off. “For once, I think Taylor is wrong.”
Taylor scoffed. “Just what exactly am I wrong about? I saw the room on the blueprint. It’s nothing but a small room filled with more sewer water. It doesn’t lead to anywhere.”
“There’s light coming from inside it.”
“Well there is power running through the sewers. The city just doesn’t know about this one that’s all.” Taylor said.
“Once again Taylor, I say that you’re wrong.”
Not giving her a chance to reply, I climbed through the opening and followed the small walkway. I could hear the girls coming behind me. I exited the other side of the opening into the small room Taylor had described. As I stepped into the sewer water, I froze.
“God, it stinks even more in here!” Yuri complained. She was too busy fussing that she ran right into my back. “Hey, why’d you stop?”
I didn’t answer, just stared around. By the sound of the gasps I heard behind me, I knew they had spotted what I had.
Kerry mouth open in awe. “Oh Taylor, you were so wrong about nothing being here.”
At first glance the room w
as nothing more than another part of the sewer filled with dirty water. But looking around, it was far more different. The light we had seen was coming from the ancient looking lamps hanging on the wall. But that’s not what caught our attention. The thing that caught our attention the most was the stone door in the middle of the wall.
“Okay, did anybody know this door was here?” Yuri asked.
I stepped in the water and approached the door. “Can’t you see Yuri? This room was hidden. You can tell by the hole in the wall back there. This room had been bricked up, but because all the trash and chemicals coming down here, the bricks have gave way.”
“I wonder exactly how old it is.” Kerry said as she rubbed her hands against the wall. “Do you think it was built when the painting was brought here?”
“It’s a possibility.”
Despite the room being closed up for a long time, there were still healthy plants in here. There where vines along the sewer wall and flowers on the ground that hadn’t been contaminated by the sewer water. In fact I was betting that was what kept it growing.
“You guys” Taylor. “We’ve just discovered a room lost to history”
The four of us let out an excited shout—until we remembered we were supposed to be quiet.
Walking up to the door, I placed my hands on the door handles and gave it a little shake. Good. They were still sturdy. Taking a deep breath, I pulled on the handles of the doors. The door let out a loud groan as a gasp of hot air blew into our faces.
“Eew, what is that smell.” Yuri asked.
“Yuri, by now you should know it’s the sewer.” Taylor rolled her eyes in annoyance.
“No she’s right.” I said gasping. “This smell is worst then the sewer.”
The room was completely dark so we had no chance to see if what we were walking into. Since this was not an Indiana Jones movie or a Lara Croft game, I wanted to make sure I wasn’t falling onto any ancient hidden spikes. Removing the flashlight from my purse, I shined it into the room. The floor was safe from what I could see and there was nothing hanging down from the ceiling waiting to snatch us up. As the light ran against the wall, I spotted an old lantern hanging. Stepping in, I walked over to it praying that the floor didn’t give away. It didn’t.
“Can one of you girls hand me a match?”
“You don’t really think that’s going to work? I mean we are underground amongst all these chemicals. This room could blow.” Yuri said stepping up behind me.
“We’ve got to try.”
Kerry found a box of matches in her bag. Striking it against the wall, the end of the stick lit as she handed it over to me. I took it from her carefully and then turned to light the candle inside the lantern. We all held our breaths as my shaking hand neared the candle praying that the room wouldn’t explode. At first, it didn’t light. But after two more tries, the lantern finally lit up.
“Look there’s another one over there.” Yuri yelled running across the room.
“Be careful.” Taylor shouted. Yuri waved her away and lit the lantern.
The two lit lanterns were enough for us to see into the dark room. The room was the same size of the one we just left — only in its center there wasn’t a door. There was a well.
“Ahh!”
Yuri screamed running over towards us. The three of us froze and turned to see what had happened. In the corner where Yuri had been standing near the lantern, was a skeleton. Its arms were above its head, chained to the walls. On the floor beside it were small bones that looked to belong to small rodents. There was a broken drinking pitcher and what I assumed was a plate. It was too chipped to tell.
“You guys, there is a body down here.”
“You mean skeleton.” Yuri added. “Any tissue or muscle left on that thing is gone.”
There’s nothing we can do for whoever it is now.” I gave the skeleton another glance before walking over to the well. The rope was gathered on a huge iron nail on the side, but I didn’t trust it would hold up after all these years. Leaning over, I flashed the light to my flashlight inside the well. The girls came to peer over as we all stared at the bottom.
“Taylor was right. This room was a bust. There is no way we’re getting down there.”
Peering closer, I began to study the bottom of the floor. I leaned back up and looked around the room.
“What’s wrong?” Kerry said looking around as well.
I didn’t answer her. Instead, I looked around the room for something heavy. My eyes landed on the pitcher again as I made my way over to it. I picked it up almost gagging at whatever had been left inside it. Walking back over to the well, I aimed my arm high before tossing it down at the floor of the well. The pitcher broke on contact, but nothing else happened.
“Okay what’s going on?” Yuri asked confused.
“That floor is breakable.” I said placing my hand on my hips. “I just need something heavy.” As I tried to think of something to use, I noticed the flashlight I was holding. Aiming it like I did the pitcher, I threw it with all the force that I could into the well.
“Hey!” Taylor yelled in my ear. “Do you know how much that cost?”
I ignored Taylor as I stared at the flashlight. It flew downwards, gleaming against the well’s wall zooming towards the floor. With a boom, the flashlight collided with the floor and the floor gave away.
“It worked!”
The floor had crumbled, revealing a body of water.