Chapter 36
36
Magnus impatiently tapped his foot in the air as he listened to the historian drone on and on about Johan Jensen’s royal jewelry. This was his chance to let Celeste make decisions. This was his chance to trust her. Yet he was a mess of nerves, wondering if he could do his part to assist her. He listened to her exertions while she hauled herself up a ventilation shaft, hoping she’d have enough energy to complete the next task.
“Bea, cut the lights. Let’s go.”
“Okay. Wait—” Beatrice said in a panicked voice.
Magnus tensed in his chair. “What?” he whispered.
“I think we just got our distraction,” Beatrice replied, now out of breath. He could hear her hurrying from one location to the next. From behind him, he could also hear the security guard’s raised voices. He looked over his shoulder to find several guards who were not initially posted in the Great Hall, now running toward the entrance. “Guys, there’s a car on fire near the—”
Boom!
The unexpected explosion made the gala attendees jump in their seats, while the inspector sprang from his.
“Oh, my God, a car just exploded,” Beatrice said. “No one appears to be near it, but holy shit, it just exploded.”
“Come away from that balcony, Bea,” Lawrence snapped. “The plan is still the plan.”
“Good,” Celeste panted. “Because I really need y’all to cut these fucking lights.”
By now, attendees were out of their chairs wondering where to move. Inspector Vermeulen was already running down the aisle and out of the Sculpture Garden. The shouts from the Great Hall grew louder as Magnus followed the excitement.
Suddenly, he found himself alone, blanketed in darkness. The only light streaming in from the museum entrance came from a massive fireball from across the street. Even from where he stood, he could smell the unmistakably acrid scent of gasoline.
He didn’t have time to curse Sebastian’s men for creating the most dangerous distraction because Beatrice had cut the power and gates were coming down. He could already hear Celeste frantically kicking out the grate cover. From inside the Sculpture Garden attendees finally understood something was wrong. Yelps and panicked shouts filtered out of the gallery while Magnus quietly made his way back toward the gift shop and back offices.
With Beatrice’s intricate security hacking, the blackout wouldn’t only hide their movements from security footage but also trigger the fire safety option in the employee exits, allowing certain doors to remain unlocked. Once the lights came back on, the doors would lock up again. Magnus had about ten minutes to get to the back exit, run through the café/gift shop storage and prop open the back security door that led to the loading dock behind the museum. After that, he’d need to get upstairs and wait for Celeste on the other side of the long hall of the Treasury Room.
Magnus skidded to a halt when he reached the gift shop door. With one last glance over his shoulder, he was certain that no one had followed him. It appeared that people were now crowding around the entrance. Many probably wondered if this was an actual emergency, while others understood it probably was, but refrained from doing anything because no one was able to confirm their fears. Unfortunately, the Swedes moved quite slowly in the face of danger.
Magnus pressed the night-vision toggle on his glasses and shoved against the employee exit. He was met with total darkness on the other side as he closed the door behind him. To his left, the stairwell; to his right, some offices; and right before him, the storage room.
His luck had held out for a little while longer as he tested the door. Unlocked. As he made his way through the unlit room, edging away from shelves and crates, he counted the seconds Celeste had before The Treasury closed off from the rest of the museum halls. About fifteen, maybe. She would make it.
She had to make it.
Magnus made it to the back door and opened it to the night air. He let out a relieved breath when he saw that the museum’s rear was completely empty of pedestrians.
He went into his pockets and retrieved a small metal doorstop to prop open the back door before testing its strength. The gap between the door and the wall was just large enough to let a bit of light inside, but not noticeable from the outside. Once that was secure, Magnus ran through the storage room, back to the third part of his journey. He got through the door and jammed his tie clip right below the door hinges to keep it open for his return trip. Once he was back in the small hallway where the stairway to the second floor was, he whispered, “Gimme the time, Bea.”
“Gates closed. Nine minutes, thirty seconds before auto-override,” Beatrice said in a calm voice.
“You in, CeCe?” he asked.
Silence.
“Come in, CeCe. Do you copy?”