Ancient Hiss Story (Kate Diamond Adventure Series Book 2) Page 4

  Carlotta made a move toward the door, grabbing the handle and opening it slightly.

  “No!” Jim shook his head, grabbing her arm and pulling her away.

  The elevator behind Jim dinged, pulling his attention from Carlotta. The doors whooshed open and Vic stepped out, wearing a dark blue uniform. His facial features had been altered using putty and makeup and he sported a long, dark beard. Kate almost didn’t recognize him.

  Vic whipped out a badge and shoved it in Jim’s face.

  “Bud Kingsly, Chief Inspector, steam tunnel division,” Vic barked with authority.

  Jim’s brow creased and he glanced at Brian. “I don’t know anything about any inspection. Where did you say you were from?”

  Vic drew himself up to his full, six-foot height. “Don’t try that with me. You people have known about this inspection for a week. Let me into the room or I’ll have to shut this place down right now. I’m sure your bosses won’t like that with all those VIPs milling around upstairs.”

  “We didn’t hear anything about any inspection.” Brian looked at Jim for confirmation.

  Vic walked over and opened the door. “Look, guys, it’s not my problem that your bosses didn’t tell you about the inspection.” He held up a clipboard and tapped it with his finger. “You can see right here that the city wants me to inspect this today. I need to get this paperwork in by midnight or the museum will be in violation and you two will be responsible.”

  Jim chewed his bottom lip. Kate noticed he was just a kid, not much older than twenty. He glanced into the room, then shrugged. “I guess it can’t hurt. What did you say you were inspecting, anyway?”

  “The steam tunnel door over there.” Vic pointed to the corner of the room where a gray panel was set in the wall. “Opens up to the city steam tunnels. Got to be inspected every five years to make sure you’re staying within the code.”

  Jim’s eyes flew over to the panel, then back to Vic. “Oh, I wondered what that was. Well, then, go ahead.” He opened the door and gestured for Vic to enter the room.

  Vic started toward the door, then stopped short. “Now, look here. There may be an issue.” He gestured for the guards to join him at the door and they fell for it, entering the room behind Vic. Carlotta and Kate slipped into the room just after them.

  “What is it?” Jim asked.

  “See this crack here?” Vic pointed to the side of the door. “There’s a little rusting. I’m not sure if it meets code.” He pulled out a tape measure and started measuring.

  Jim frowned at the door. “Where’s the knob?”

  “Doesn’t have one,” Vic answered. “It opens only from the steam tunnel side. That’s why we have to watch the rust accumulation. We can’t have people getting into those tunnels from the museum. It’s dangerous in there. But the rust here is below the spec so you’re okay.”

  The guards watched while Vic took out a small tool and tapped on the door in various places. He paused after each tap, looked thoughtful and then wrote something on the clipboard. To anyone watching, it all seemed very official, but Kate knew he was buying time and trying to distract the guards so she could get the painting.

  Meanwhile, Kate plugged in her vacuum cleaner. She didn’t know how she was going to get the money out that Max insisted they leave, but she wanted to make it look like she was actually getting ready to clean. Gideon had rigged the vacuum so that it would actually work, but he’d also done a few modifications to it. Kate hoped she wouldn’t hit the wrong switch by mistake. On the other side of the room, Carlotta took out a feather duster and started to dust.

  As Vic went about his inspection, Kate moved slowly over to the table with the painting. It was only an eight-inch by ten-inch and she had a special pouch in her uniform made specifically for hiding it.

  The best case scenario was that she’d be able to unobtrusively slip the painting into the pouch, then she and Carlotta could simply walk out as cleaning ladies, leaving the special vacuum with the money behind. You couldn’t count on best case scenarios, though, so they had a ‘plan b’ which involved a hasty exit out through the steam tunnels.

  It was now or never. Kate reached out toward the painting slowly.

  “Hey! Stop right there!” Jim’s agitated voice yelled from the other side of the room. He pressed a red button on the wall and a door flew open. A familiar man ran in, assessed the situation and darted for Kate, who was clutching the edge of the painting in one hand.

  In two quick strides, he was on the opposite side of the table, the gold serpent ring gleaming as he grabbed the other side of the painting.

  Vic karate chopped Brian, who fell to the floor in a heap.

  Jim pulled his gun, but apparently he couldn’t decide who to point it at. He stood there, wavering it back and forth between Vic, Carlotta and Kate.

  “Hand it over!” Snake Ring tugged on the painting, but Kate had a firm hold on her side.

  She tugged back.

  Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Carlotta backing toward the steam tunnel door. Vic gave the triple tap on the door that was their signal.

  Where was Gertie?

  Snake Ring pulled on the painting again and Kate stumbled forward into the edge of the table, but she didn’t let go. She dug in her heels and braced against the sturdy table, then yanked back.

  The sounds of an alarm vaguely registered in the back of her mind—she was totally focused on getting that painting away from Snake Ring. He put both his hands on the painting and pulled hard, but Kate was ready—she leaned backwards as he tried to wrench it away from her.

  Rip!

  Kate stumbled back, staring in horror at the half of a painting in her hand.

  Across from her, Snake Ring stared at the other half he held in his hand with much the same expression on his face.

  Clatter.

  The wooden stretchers that the canvas had been stretched across had splintered in the tug-of war and something had fallen out of a hollowed-out space in the wood. It skittered across the floor, sliding to a stop in front of Kate. She barely registered what it was—a small figure of some sort—before swooping it up as quickly as possible.

  As she did so, a door on the other side of the room flew open and three masked men came in, waving guns.

  “Put it down! Hands in the air!”

  Jim and Snake Ring whirled around. Snake Ring pulled a gun with the hand that wasn’t holding the painting and pointed it at the three men.

  Who were these guys? Were they not with the museum? Why would Jim and Snake Ring point guns at them?

  Kate’s heart pounded as she clutched her half of the painting to her chest.

  What was going on here?

  She eyed the other half of the painting, but Snake Ring was still gripping it.

  Over at the steam door, Vic and Carlotta had pulled out guns. Kate knew they would only use them as a last resort.

  Why hadn’t Gertie opened the door from the other side yet?

  With everyone pointing guns at each other, it was like a Mexican standoff and Kate knew they needed to create a distraction to make a getaway. She glanced behind her at the plug then down at the vacuum cleaner, wishing she’d paid more attention when Gideon had described what all the various switches and buttons were for. She flipped open one end of the vacuum cleaner, pressed the red button and said a silent prayer that she’d done the right thing.

  A few heart-stopping seconds of nothing, then the vacuum whirred. Everyone turned toward the noise. Kate felt a puff of warm air come out of the machine and then an explosion of money burst out, whirling into the air like a green tornado.

  The room was covered in a blizzard of hundred dollar bills. They swirled in the air, catching everyone’s attention. Guns clattered to the floor as everyone freed up their hands to grab at the airborne money.

  “Come on!” Vic yelled.

  The steam tunnel door cracked open revealing a dank, black tunnel. Carlotta dove in and Kate made a run for it, reaching the door in r
ecord time. Vic barreled through behind her.

  Kate turned and looked back into the room. Her eyes collided with those of one of the masked men. Her heart jerked in her chest.

  She recognized those eyes—they belonged to FBI agent, and her former partner, Ace Mason. She strained for a closer look just as Gertie slammed the door shut and turned the locking wheel, sealing the door and preventing anyone on the other side from coming after them.

  7

  “Why would the FBI be in the museum with masks on?” Gertie asked as they made their way down the steam tunnel.

  “Good question.” Kate switched on her hardhat light. The LED lights everyone had affixed to the front of their hats illuminated the tunnel pretty well, though Kate wasn’t sure if she wanted to see what was in the tunnel, judging from the slimy, moldy sides. She stepped gingerly over the piles of decayed leaves and thought about Ace Mason.

  Ace had been her partner at the FBI. More than a partner, actually, but she didn’t want to think about that part. They had been assigned to take down one of the most evil adversaries of the FBI—Damian Darkstone.

  They’d worked together closely for months on the case. Very closely. Too closely. In the end, they’d gotten their man, but Kate had had to use some unorthodox methods.

  She figured that was a minor detail. Everyone knew the world was better off with Darkstone behind bars. Too bad Ace Mason was one of those guys that liked to go ‘by the book’. In the end, his testimony had gotten her fired from the FBI, ending their partnership and whatever else they had going.

  But that was all ancient history now. Whatever Ace was doing in the museum was no concern of Kate’s, unless it had something to do with the painting.

  “Are you sure he didn’t recognize you?” Gertie was asking.

  Kate looked down at her cleaning lady get-up. “I don’t think so, I don’t look like myself and I even have colored contacts. There’s no way he could have known it was me.”

  “Maybe it wasn’t him, Kitten,” Vic said. “He had a mask on, so all you saw were eyes.”

  Kate felt a little put out because it sounded like her father might be defending Ace, which was funny because Vic had never liked him until the previous summer, when he’d had to team up with Ace to rescue Kate and Carlotta. Somehow, the two of them had formed a bond. Ace had tried to make up with Kate then, too, but she wasn’t ready for it and she sure didn’t need her father sticking up for the guy.

  “Yeah, it probably wasn’t him,” Sylvia piped in. “What would the FBI be doing knocking off a museum?”

  “Maybe Ace is moonlighting?” Gertie suggested.

  Kate almost laughed, but then a rustling sound up ahead caught her attention. Her blood turned to ice.

  “What’s that?” She hated the shaky edge to her voice. “Are there snakes in here?”

  Gertie shrugged. “Might be. Everything else is down here. I saw a big fat rat earlier.”

  Something scurried over Kate’s foot and she froze. A tiny squeak escaped from her mouth.

  Carlotta turned back to look at her, a frown creasing her forehead. She knew about Kate’s snake phobia, but hadn’t seen her daughter actually freeze up since she was ten years old. “What is it?”

  Kate couldn’t say anything. She just stood there with the deer in the headlights look and her heart in her throat. She felt weak, her vision blurry. There wasn’t much that stopped her in her tracks, but snakes freaked her out. She felt the same sinking feeling she’d felt in Stockholm. It was as if she were sinking into a black abyss, helpless to move her limbs or speak.

  “Kate!” Carlotta was shaking her shoulder and Kate managed to slide her eyes over to look at her mother.

  Carlotta tapped her cheek lightly. “Kate, snap out of it. There’re no snakes here. That was a cute little mouse.”

  Carlotta’s voice broke through the haze in Kate’s brain. Right, it was just a mouse.

  “And anyway,” Carlotta continued. “You can handle a little thing like a snake. You’ve handled much worse.”

  Like Damian Darkstone, Kate thought.

  Carlotta’s soothing words brought Kate back from the edge. “Take a deep breath,” Carlotta commanded.

  Kate did as she was told. She sucked in a deep breath, her chest expanding as far as it could. She held the breath until she started to feel dizzy.

  “Now let it out.”

  Kate whooshed out the breath and started to feel normal again. Then she started to feel ridiculous. Who froze like that over a stupid reptile? She was tougher than that.

  “What are you guys doing?” Vic’s voice echoed from further down the tunnel. “We need to get a move on here. We don’t know if they will send someone down one of the other tunnels and cut off our exit.”

  “They can’t,” Gertie said. “The only entrances between here and our exit are blocked up, so it’s smooth sailing for us.”

  “Where is the exit?” Carlotta asked.

  “Alleyway on Smith Street. Just jimmy open the manhole cover and climb out. Sal is waiting in a car for us.”

  “What would they send someone in for, anyway?” Kate looked down at the ripped painting with a sinking stomach. “I ruined the painting. This was all for nothing.”

  “Not nothing. You got half of it.” Gertie gestured to the painting and Kate held it up to assess the damage.

  “Yeah, sure, but what good is it now?” Kate asked.

  Sylvia looked over Gertie’s shoulder at the painting. “Wait a minute. Let me see that.”

  Sylvia leaned forward, angling her head to see the painting better. Kate heard her sharp intake of breath.

  “Yeah, I know. It’s trash now,” Kate said. “Max is going to be really mad. And I left the money so he’s out all that money and I only got half a painting. Even if we had the other half, it’s not going to be worth much now that it’s ripped.”

  “I wouldn’t be too sure about that.” Sylvia’s voice was tinged with excitement. “If I’m not mistaken, this painting is the Secret of Itizuma. The painting disappeared fifty years ago. Very few people have ever seen it and there were no pictures of it, so I can’t be certain … but from what I’ve heard, this looks like it could fit the bill.”

  “Great. I ruined a valuable, famous work of art.”

  “Well, it’s not so much the painting itself that was so valuable. The painting reputedly has clues that could help archaeologists solve a five hundred year old mystery.”

  “What’s that?” Carlotta asked.

  “The location of the tomb of Itizuma.”

  8

  “I didn’t say anything to either of you about my suspicions because I wasn’t sure the painting Estelle had really was the Secret of Itizuma,” Max said through Gideon’s speakerphone two days later as they were sitting in the lab at the Ritzholdt Museum. “This whole legend is a well-guarded secret that only a few people know about. I couldn’t be positive until we got it in-house.”

  “I didn’t know a thing about it myself, but I’ve done a bit of research and I think it’s the real deal.” Gideon frowned at the half-painting that lay stretched out on one of his tables next to a folder stuffed with research. “Of course, I only have half of it to look at.”

  Kate grimaced and Gideon hastened to add. “But it was actually a blessing in disguise that the painting ripped in half because otherwise we would have never discovered the icon hidden inside the wooden stretchers.” Gideon pointed to the little figure that had fallen out of the painting when it ripped in half.

  Max laughed. “All these years, everyone thought the clues were in the actual painting when maybe they were really hidden inside a hollowed out compartment in the stretchers.”

  “And we never would’ve discovered that if Kate hadn't gotten into a tug-of-war with it,” Gideon smiled.

  Kate simply sat in her chair and beamed. She’d expected Max to be mad that the painting had been ripped in half, but apparently it turned out she was a hero. Too bad she couldn’t see the expression on Max’
s face because he was out of town and Gideon could only raise him on speakerphone. Gideon had emailed Max pictures of the painting and the little gold figure. Kate glanced over at it and repressed a shudder—it was a snake in the shape of a figure eight, swallowing its own tail. Yech.

  “So that’s what Markovic wanted with it, then? He must have gotten the same lead you did and planned to decipher the painting so he could follow the clues to this Aztec burial tomb,” Kate asked.

  “Yes. The painting disappeared over fifty years ago, but I’d gotten a lead that a famous archaeologist, Reginald White, had it in his possession. He passed away some years ago but the painting never resurfaced. Of course, it was all based on rumors and, since no one alive had ever actually seen the painting and there were no pictures of it, that made tracking it down difficult.

  “I figured it was worth the investment because finding that tomb would be a huge coup for the museum. The only other Aztec tomb that has been found is that of Emperor Ahuizotl which was found under modern-day Mexico City, but that tomb is submerged in water.”

  “Sounds like something like that would be very valuable,” Kate said.

  “We could be discovering untold riches, not to mention the historical significance,” Gideon added.

  “That’s right,” Max said. “Reginald White researched the Aztecs extensively and had some archaeological finds in Mexico. But when I contacted his family, they didn’t have the painting. Much of his collection had been sold off in an auction by Sotheby’s, but their records showed no such painting either. We knew the painting would be a landscape of a desert area with hills and nothing they sold matched the description.

  “And then one of the family members told me about the big estate sale and I was able to track down the person who ran it and get a listing of what was sold. On that listing were several paintings. I tracked down each one and this was the only one that fit the bill, so I sent Kate out to acquire it and the rest is history.”