Julius Verethic was practically bursting with excitement. Not for the reasons any normal seventeen-year-old would be bubbling with enthusiasm. Then again, no normal seventeen-year-old would be freshly out of college with a newly made fortune sitting in a high-security vault in Switzerland. No, Julius Verethic was excited for entirely different reasons. He was about to put one of his most ambitious – and potentially most rewarding – plan into action.
Several weeks ago, the gaunt young man had arrived in Paris, France. He was incredibly skinny; of medium height, with brown hair, and with skin as pale as a vampire's, denoting little exercise and less time spent outside.
Yet he had not come to France bathe in the sun or to tread his feet visiting the city's many museums and monuments. No, Julius Verethic had come for only one reason: to steal the Mona Lisa.
Currently, however, he was sitting in the café restaurant les éditeurs, a four-star restaurant not far away from the Louvre, where the Mona Lisa was held. He ran through the final details of his plan one more time, his laptop on the desk in front of him. He regarded half-heartedly the information he had been able to gather about the museum and its security. While he had been able to find the blueprints and floor plans, and even rudimentary information on the security system, he was, for example, ignorant of any security mechanisms the French government might have put in place to guard their most precious portrait. His plan was far from perfect, and he struggled to find something, some little detail, he might have overlooked.
He ran through his visit to the Mona Lisa one more time in his head. Had he really not noticed anything in the form of security protecting the picture itself?
He had entered the museum together with one of his two bodyguards, Benjamin Forte, the more serious and focused of the two. However, Julius took the word "bodyguard" rather loosely. For him, it seemed to mean "helper" or "aide," that is to say, they covered those parts of Julius' plans which required physical abilities.
He had won Benjamin Forte's loyalty a few years earlier. Benjamin, who at the time served as a regular bodyguard, had been falsely accused of murdering his client. The evidence against him had been strong, and without the money to afford a proper lawyer, he had turned to the only option available – Julius Verethic, at the time sixteen years old. Benjamin had read about him in a newspaper, which had interviewed him shortly after he had broken the record for the youngest person ever to win a highly competitive international science prize.
Julius, with mental capabilities far beyond those of the prosecuting attorney, had easily snatched victory from the prosecution's disbelieving hands. He even managed to squeeze 100,000 dollars out of the jury, on top of Benjamin's acquittal. Benjamin had been so grateful that he had offered Julius three years of free service, and recently, he had even convinced his brother, Daniel, to do so as well.
Now, having entered the museum, they immediately ascended to the floor on which France's most famous portrait was on display, checking the accuracy of their plans as they went.
As they drew closer to the Mona Lisa, Julius noticed that, although the many tourists looked at other portraits as well, it was obvious that they really only had eyes for Leonardo DaVinci's most famous painting. He pointed this out to Benjamin, who nodded.
"The French government will not be happy when they realize one of their major tourist attractions has vanished overnight," he said.
Julius gave a nod of agreement. Making sure to look away from the hidden camera which hung from the ceiling a few feet behind them, he replied, "Yes. Potentially, that could be a problem. Angry governments are prone to do stupid things, such as investing billions into recovering a single portrait. Who knows, with that kind of money behind them, they may even find something which they could track back to us, though I doubt it. However, I still believe it prudent to return it."
Benjamin looked at him, curious. "Then why bother stealing it?"
Julius gave what might have passed for an amicable grin. "We'll reap a mighty profit out of this anyway, don't worry. I'm planning to sell copies of the silly portrait for a very high price to private collectors… They'll obviously all thing it's the real one, since it's absence from that glass container there will undoubtedly be all over the media, and so be willing to buy it without extensively examining the copy. Then, after I feel I've made enough money or the French are closing in on us, we anonymously return the portrait. And the best thing – upon realizing their picture is a fake, our customers won't be able to do anything about it, since they would have to admit they bought it if they went to the police."
Benjamin was flabbergasted, which caused Julius to grin even more. "Genius… Pure genius," the tall man finally managed to breathe.
"I know." This was Julius Verethic they were talking about, after all.
They turned back to the Mona Lisa. They tried, in vain, to detect any security mechanisms surrounding the Mona Lisa.
Julius noticed something else, however. A few feet away from them, a tall woman whom Julius judged to be in her mid-forties with skin almost as pale as Julius' own and jet-black hair was staring intently at the Mona Lisa. Her pail skin did not stop her from being beautiful with her thin lips, dark, heavy-lidded eyes, and strong jaw. However, she looked slightly spooked; however, there was no mistaking the fanatic gleam in her eye as she stared at the world-famous portrait. Most peculiar, however, were her clothes. She seemed to be wearing some kind of robes – the kind Julius associated with bad horror movies. Shrugging, Julius put her odd dress off to some kind of religious custom, and turned back to the Mona Lisa, making a mental note to conduct an Internet search about the woman's odd clothes later on.
After another five minutes of staring at the portrait, Julius turned and nodded to his bodyguard. They turned and exited the building; Julius off to the café in which he was sitting in now and Benjamin to spend another few hours in the hotel with his younger brother, Daniel Forte, before Julius' plan was put into effect.
Julius forgot his jacket and his wallet on the way out.
Finally having convinced himself that there was nothing left to be seen – both in the plans of the museum and in his memories – Julius got out of his chair and turned to leave. A quick glance to his atomic watch revealed that it was 8:20 PM, twenty minutes after the closing time. Perfect.
Outside, Benjamin and his brother, Daniel, were already waiting for them in their rental car. Daniel looked like almost exactly like his older brother, although he was slightly shorter and less muscular. He had the same black hair that was cut, if possible, even shorter than that of his brother, the same brown eyes which seemed to take in everything at once, and the same chin which protruded almost as far as his nose.
The car had been leased under the alias Monadeep Giocondo. Monadeep was a play on words. "Mona" came from "Mona Lisa," while "Dieb," pronounced "Deep" means thief in German, so the thief of the Mona Lisa. Additionally, Giocondo was another tie to the Mona Lisa, as it is believed to be a painting of the wife of Francesco del Giocondo.
Julius could never withstand doing things like that. Call it arrogance, but he liked leaving a trail that no one could follow. He knew there was an increased chance someone would catch onto him, but… He shrugged, and got into the car.
*****
Five minutes later, they arrived in the Louvre. Two sets of doors barred the way in. Behind the first door and to the right was the ticket booth, where a guard stood watching the two sets of doors. However, the ticket booth did not have any glass windows, and was hardly more than a large desk with a computer set squarely in the middle.
Julius knew, having hacked into the list of the guards' names and times, that the guard taking the first shift every Tuesday just so happened to be the head night guard and who had access to basically everything electronic in the museum with a special, well-guarded password. Using force to retrieve the password, however, would lead to the instant failure of the plan. Not only would they would be recorded by the multiple security cameras, but the head guard was also well-trained in combat, so he might be able to hold the Forte brothers off long enough to bring in security.
No, they would have to rely on something less conspicuous.
Julius and Daniel stepped out of the car and approached the museum. Daniel was smaller than his gargantuan brother, and so Julius figured he would be less likely to attract the attention of the authorities.
Repeatedly, they knocked on the door. The guard seemed unwilling to let them in.
However, after a while, he proved the less patient of the two parties. He strode towards them, his height matching that of Daniel.
"Quoi?" he said in French.
"J'ai oublié mon portmonnaie dans la museum," Julius responded in fluent French. "I forgot my wallet."
The guard seemed to hesitate.
"Et aussi ma veste," he continued.
The guard continued to hesitate, yet after a few seconds, in which he seemed to be thinking, he nodded.
"The lost and found is directly to the left of the door as you enter the museum," the guard turned and unlocked the door. "I will be able to see you from my desk." He turned, disgruntled.
Julius nodded, having known all of this hours before the entire episode took place. He entered with Daniel. Feigning ignorance of the large box, labeled Lost and Found, right in front of them, he looked around and raised his voice, making sure the guard could hear them, "I can't see it… can you?"
"No. I'll go and ask that nice guard you talked to earlier," he replied, equally loud.
He turned and approached the ticket booth. "We have trouble finding the lost and found…"
With an exasperated sigh, the French guard stood up. As he roughly brushed past Daniel,the bodyguard thought he heard the man mutter, "Les touristes… ils sont très stupides," under his breath.
The moment the guard had departed, Forte turned to the computer, remembering what Julius had said to him earlier about this particular aspect of the plan. As you face the computer, you will be in the sight of two cameras: one directly in front of you, and the other one directly behind you. As long as you keep your movements subtle, I doubt the camera in your back will pick up anything; however, the one in front is more of a problem. However, everything between the computer and you goes completely unnoticed.
Trying hard to look as if he were reading the sign with the museum's opening and closing times, which hung behind the desk, Benjamin leaned over. His right hand slipped into his pocket, drawing out a tiny, thumb-sized USB stick. It was several years ahead of anything on the market, however – Julius had designed it himself.
Breathing deeply to help control his nervousness, Daniel inserted the black thumb drive into the USB port at the back of the computer, which conveniently faced directly at him. The drive blended in perfectly with its surroundings, and given the fact that it was extremely small, Julius had been reasonably confident it would escape the guards' suspicions.
The drive itself contained nothing more than a simple array program, something everyone who had finished a programming course could do. However, Julius had added his own modifications – to the USB stick as well as to the program. Typically, an array program would record the computer's key presses and store them in any convenient file. However, this one also immediately sent them to one of Julius' online email accounts. The idea behind this being that, the next time the guard entered his almighty password, it would be sent directly to Julius. He had even included a program to make the program run the moment the stick was inserted, and another one to hide the program from accidentally being noticed.
Daniel drew back, apparently having read the times and dates on the sign, just as the night guard returned, Julius in tow. After locking the entrance, the guard turned to face Julius and Daniel with a scowl. The entire episode had taken no more than two minutes; yet to the unexperienced Daniel, it had seemed like ages.
"Allez! Allez!" he told them.
They wisely did as they were told, Julius shouting over his shoulder, "Merci beaucoup! Au revoir!"
Benjamin started the engine and drove them a couple of blocks away. Julius had insisted they wait out of sight of the museum until Julius could get the password, which the security guard was forced to reenter every half an hour for security reasons.
How ironic, thought Julius, that one of their security measures renders them helpless. He started his laptop and waited, with only the occasional interruption from Daniel, who wasn't nearly as patient as the other two.
Shortly thereafter, the "New Mail" icon flashed brightly across Julius's screen. He worked intensively for a few minutes, hacking into the system and reprogramming the cameras.
"OK, let's go. I looped the cameras in our path. Everything they're recording now, they're going to keep recording for the next couple of hours."
Benjamin nodded. Daniel, however, seemed less accommodating. "Why don't I get to drive? It's always Benjamin that gets to drive!"
"Because I'm more experienced!" Benjamin replied, with an air of superiority that seemed so unlike the serious, calm man.
This put Daniel into a pout. "How will I ever get experienced if I never get to drive?"
This made Julius chuckle – a rare sight indeed. The Forte brothers were so responsible and mature in most ways – well, at least Benjamin was – yet they squabbled constantly, and when they did so, they seemed reduced to five-year-olds fighting over the last slice of pizza.
Nevertheless, Benjamin started the motor and drove to the back of the Louvre. They were going to take a fire entrance; there were less guards here, and it was also much closer to the actual painting.
The older bodyguard got out of the car; Daniel eagerly clambering up into the driver's seat.
"I'm in," he said a few minutes later. Lock didn't give me much trouble.
Back in the car, Julius nodded, well aware of the fact that Benjamin couldn't see him. Typical, he thought. An extremely advanced security system all falls apart because of one measly fire exit.
"OK. Keep going. Once you reach the end of the hallway, take a right. You'll see stairs to your left," he said out loud.
Benjamin clambered up the stairs. "I'm on the third floor now. Where to?"
"Go down the hallway to your right."
Benjamin did as he told, recognizing the hallways now. However, he heard footsteps up ahead. Immediately, he turned down a side passage.
"Guards were approaching from ahead. I turned right. Now I'm next to a picture by a certain Pierre," he whispered as loudly as he dared.
Back in the car, Julius followed his position with his fingertip, comparing it to the most typical patrol routes of the guards. "Well, that's odd. My best guess is a guard had to use the restroom. Is he still behind you?"
When Benjamin confirmed this, Julius said, "Yep, that makes sense. You'll want to take a left, and then another shortly afterward. The Mona Lisa will be the third exit on the right."
Benjamin hurried along the currently empty and quiet hallways. The place certainly was a lot different than during opening times. Suddenly, he came to a stop. "Sorry, Julius, but there's some kind of metal wall blocking the way."
"The kind you always see in front of closed shops in the mall?"
An uncharacteristic example, Benjamin thought as he answered in the affirmative.
"Can you move it?"
Benjamin strained against the bars, yet the metal did not so much as budge. "They must be electrically raised and lowered. I can't see anyone lifting this."
"Hmm…" Julius replied, thoughtfully. Benjamin could imagine him typing away at his laptop furiously, searching for a way to raise the bars or, at best, find a wide-route.
"I can't seem to access it. Are you sure there isn't some kind of keypad?"
The bodyguard looked around. He hadn't thought of that. Immediately, he spotted it – a small keypad to the right of the blocked hallway. "Yes, its there. However, there's no way we can crack that. We don't even know how many digits the code has. The possibilities are endless!"
"No matter. Go back the way you came and take the first left." Benjamin did as commanded, although he was slightly confused. "What do you see to the left of where you are?"
"You mean next to the collection of Impressionist art? Nothing. Merely a bare wall."
"Tap it. How thick would you estimate it is?" Once again, Benjamin followed Julius's instructions carefully.
"Not much. A few inches at most."
"Exactly. You see, the hallway you are standing in originally belonged to the same one the Mona Lisa is kept in. It was merely one, thick hallway. So, if you break through that wall, the Mona Lisa will be directly in front of you for the taking."
"Don't you think that's a bit… risky? What if I damage some of the artwork?"
"Well, if you break through exactly ten feet from the start of the hallway, there shouldn't be any artwork on the other side, and even if there is – Benjamin, we're about to steal one of the most famous paintings in history. I honestly doubt if it will make any difference, although I am loath to break anything irreplaceable."
The tall man thought he heard another voice in the background exclaim, "Yeah, and art is boring anyway!" He grinned. He had wondered how Julius had managed doing to keep his excitable brother so quiet.
He resigned himself to the task. For him, this seemed just as bad as stealing the Mona Lisa in the first place. Like Julius, and unlike his younger brother, he preferred finesse to simple burglary. He reached into his backpack and pulled out the knife he always kept there.
A few seconds later, he was through. The wall really was no more than one and a half inches thick, and so no problem to break through for a man of his physical prowess.
As he clambered through the whole he had made, his gasped in surprise.
Hearing his sharp intake of breath, Julius asked, "What? What's wrong?"
"The Mona Lisa – it's – it's gone!"
*****
They were back in the hotel. Julius was pacing in his room, repeating, "I can't believe it" to himself over and over again.
Normally under these conditions, he would have tried to meditate in order to form a cohesive thought, but now, all he could do was wait for the download to complete. He had flawlessly executed a perfect plan to steal one of the world's most treasured paintings, and what did he get for it?
On cue, a loud "beep" came from the laptop he had opened on his bed. "Download complete" was flashing on the screen.
It was time to examine the records. Julius had downloaded all the vide footage of the entire hotel that had been taken since shortly before closing until after they had left. Obviously, he wouldn't be able to see anything shortly before Butler arrived as he had looped the video himself, yet he highly doubted that the theft had occurred so shortly before theirs anyway.
Benjamin and Daniel entered. "So, tough night, huh?" Daniel attempted a grin.
Julius wasn't amused. "Well, no matter what happens, we can always still make the copies of the Mona Lisa and sell them."
Benjamin nodded. "Right. Julius, our plane leaves in three hours. I already packed. We'll be leaving the hotel in two hours."
"That should be enough time."
*****
Half an hour later, Julius called Benjamin and Daniel back to his room. "Look at this," he breathed, almost whispering.
Daniel shot Benjamin a glance. "Anything that's got him surprised has to be large." He grinned.
And it was. There, on the screen, plain for all to see, was the same dark-haired woman in robes Julius had noticed on his former trip to the museum. Except here, she was grinning maniacally, and holding what seemed like a piece of wood. Occasionally, jets of light would flash out of its tip, always accompanied by the destruction of an object, the stunning of a guard, the opening of a locked door. The Forte brothers stared at the laptop in disbelief, Daniel's mouth open wide and Benjamin reminding himself that his professionalism prevented him from doing the same. Daniel almost thought this was some cruel joke on Julius's part, until he remembered that Julius never made any jokes. None he could understand, anyway.
"Why didn't I see anything burnt?" Benjamin asked once he had recovered.
"She cleaned up after herself. That comes later." Julius fast-forwarded a bit. Indeed, the woman in the video swung her short rod around and, as she did so, objects reassembled themselves, doors suddenly became locked, and men lying on the ground moaning were standing up with dazed looks on their faces.
Benjamin and Daniel were flabbergasted.
They stood there like that for minutes. Eventually, however, Daniel forced a grin. "So I suppose this means we're forgetting about the Mona Lisa?"
"Perhaps. It does look as if we have bigger fish to fry."
Benjamin put in, "What happens when they find this?"
"They can't. I deleted all their files. The only two copies left in the world are on this laptop and on a CD I burned. I also remote-destructed the information on the USB stick. To them, it'll seem as if they had an unusually good burglar break in."
Daniel grinned. "Which they did, of course. Twice!"
Butler put in, "Won't they be suspicious?"
"I doubt it. We did break in. That'll leave them with enough evidence for them to extrapolate that they merely had an unusually good burglar."
He settled back in his chair.
"What we need, men, is information."