J.M.J.
A/N: Thank you so much for continuing to read! Thank you especially to max2013, Cherylann Rivers, Drumboy100, and EvergreenDreamweaver (haha – I love The Man from U.N.C.L.E.) for your reviews since I posted the last chapter! On a side note, sorry I'm taking a little longer to update this story than I usually do. I'm a little bit busier these days than I was, but I'll keep updating as quickly as I can.
Chapter III
"This would be a lot easier if your guy wasn't pointing a machine gun at us," Joe said.
He and Frank, along with Illya and the one gunman who could speak English, were seated around a small table in the wing of the museum from which the Ruby Pendant had been taken. The only other person in the room was another gunman who was training his machine gun on the Hardys and Illya. The first gunman spoke to his companion in their language, and the gun was reluctantly lowered.
Frank took in a relieved breath. "All right. First things first. Is there a name we can call you? It will make things easier for us."
"Otherwise, I'll just have to make up a name for you, and that might not be too flattering," Joe added.
The gunman was still wearing his mask, and so it was hard to tell exactly what he was thinking. Finally, he said, "Demyan. It makes no difference whether that is my real name or not. If you must call me something, that will do."
Frank had had a faint hope that the gunman – or Demyan, as he had requested to be called – might by some chance give his full, correct name, but clearly the man was more cautious than that. However, he hadn't counted on it much, and so it wasn't difficult to keep any disappointment from showing. "Now we need some background information, first on this pendant and then on you."
"Láska here can tell you about the Pendant better than I," Demyan said.
"Every school child in our country knows the story," Illya replied.
Demyan tapped his fingers on the table. "Every school child knows a story. It's hardly the true story. I would think that an official of our government would, at least, know the truth."
"The story is simple," Illya said. "The Pendant was made in the ninth century for one of our kings on the occasion of his coronation. It was handed down from generation to generation of Laurenian royalty for the next thousand years and became the symbol of our kings, and in a way, Laurenia itself.
"Our last king, King Alfonz VI, reigned during the second World War. Laurenia was hurt badly in both world wars, but the even worse in the second. For four years in a row, our crops were destroyed or there was simply no one to gather them in. Our people went hungry, and when the War was over, those who had not been killed or starved already were forced to pay exorbitant prices for the bare essentials of life. They expected any moment that a larger nation would come in and annex our country, and many people felt that would not be such a bad alternative. Alfonz was weak, and though there was admittedly little enough he could have done for his people, he didn't even do that much.
"Some of our people were radicalized by Russian Communism. They were young and full of energy, and so they met little resistance from a people who were tired and beaten as a whole when they mounted a revolution in the early '50s. They killed the king and queen and their children, the oldest of whom was eleven, and threw their bodies down a well, along with the Pendant, though their fate was not discovered until after the Communist government was overthrown in the '80s. Later in 1996, the bodies and the Pendant were discovered in the well and after being restored, the Pendant was placed in the museum here."
Demyan scoffed and shook his head. "You are not telling me that you actually believe those lies that they tell to children?"
"That is what happened," Illya said in bored voice. "Why should I disbelieve it?"
Demyan slammed his fist against the table. "It's all lies! There is no democracy in Laurenia! There is no justice! Those revolutionaries were right in opposing the king!"
"Okay, okay," Frank said. "We don't know about all of that, and we don't really care. The king has been dead for almost seventy years, it sounds like. Why do you want his pendant?"
"To sell," Demyan explained, composing himself a bit. "It is worth a great deal of money, not only for its historic significance. You can see a picture of it there on the wall, next to where it was displayed."
Frank and Joe both stood up to go take a closer look at the board next to the display of the Ruby Pendant. It presumably explained the story behind the Pendant, but it was in the Laurenian language, and so neither of the boys could read it. The picture showed that the Pendant had been a large ruby in an ornate gold setting which was decoration with numerous symbols of royalty such as crowns and scepters as well as several figures of lions and eagles.
"So, you're just in this whole thing for the money?" Joe asked. "Then why sell it? Why not just ransom in back to the government? They'd probably pay you more than any collector would and definitely more than if you disassembled the Pendant."
"This is not just for the money," Demyan told him. "The Ruby Pendant has always been the symbol of the tyrants who have exercised their will over Laurenia, whether the monarchy or our so-called democracy. We will take away their symbol and take away something of their spirit. We will teach them to fear us from the beginning. It is but poetic justice that the money we will get from selling it will fund our revolution against the current government."
"Oh, so you're starting a revolution," Joe said. "And this is all a statement. Except someone else already stole the Pendant and ruined your statement."
Demyan snorted. "I suppose one might put it that way, but the two of you will find it back for us."
"Maybe," Frank told him. "Like I said before, we're only amateurs. There's no guarantee that we'll find this pendant back for you."
"You had better hope for your sake and your friends' that you do," Demyan warned him.
"Okay, but there's one more thing we want to know before we get down to business about that," Joe said. "Just what sort of government are you planning on starting up once you've had your whole revolution?"
"The Communists were right," Demyan replied. "Any misery our country suffered was due to the lasting effects of a thousand years of tyranny. They needed time, not to be replaced."
"The Communists came into our country like a flock of vultures to pick whatever bones were left after two world wars nearly destroyed us," Illya said, his voice as cold as ice. "The Nazis themselves were scarcely more despicable enemies, and as far as our own country is concerned, the Communists did far more harm. Every one of them ought to have been hung from the nearest tree."
Demyan turned to face him. "Thank you. You have spared us the trouble of deciding which of traitors we will execute first."
Illya's face didn't change expression slightly. Frank and Joe, however, glanced at one another. If Illya wasn't careful, they might have a hard time convincing Demyan not to execute him immediately.
"Well, let's get to work on the investigation," Frank said. "We'll need to start by interviewing some of the museum employees and try to pinpoint a time when the Pendant was stolen. Then we'll have to work on determining who was in the museum at the time of the theft."
Ordinarily, one of the first things Frank and Joe would have done would have been to look at the security footage, as they had both noticed a security camera trained directly on where the Ruby Pendant had been displayed. With a little luck, the thief might not have noticed it and the whole crime might be on tape. In this case, though, they didn't want to speed up the investigation any more than they could help – at least not until they had come up with a plan. Both Frank and Joe were praying that the revolutionaries wouldn't think of the security footage.
HBHBHBHBHB
"Do you think we can get out of here now?" Iola whispered. She and Callie were still hiding in the vent, and she was feeling claustrophobic.
"I don't know," Callie replied. "I don't hear anyone out there, but that doesn't mean there isn't anybody. And what about security cameras? What if they see us on there?"
"We can't really do anything about that," Iola said. "We're not doing any good just staying here. We might as well try to get out."
"Wait. What about trying to call for help first?"
"Good idea." Iola pulled her phone out of her pocket and turned on the screen. "I don't have reception in here."
Callie also checked her phone. "Neither do I. I guess we'll have to try to not get caught long enough to call for help. But then, who would we call? In the U.S., we would call 911, but do they have a system like that here?"
"Even if they do, I wouldn't know what number to call," Iola replied. "Maybe we can find out somehow when we get out of this vent. The next question, then, is whether we should try to go out the way we came or go forward."
"The boys didn't fasten down the cover the way we came in," Callie said. "The other covers, if we could for sure get to them, probably would be fastened down. I think going back would be the only way to get out of here."
"Then you'll have to go first," Iola told her. "Let's get out of here."
Callie began crawling backward until her feet touched the grate that covered the vent. It had just been propped up and Callie was able to knock it over without much pressure. It fell down with a loud clatter that made both girls flinch.
"If that doesn't bring them running, nothing will," Iola said.
"That's not exactly comforting," Callie replied as she began lowering herself down from the vent.
Iola followed as quickly as she could, but it wasn't very fast. Callie helped her down from the vent, all the while looking over her shoulder to make sure none of the gunmen had heard the crash and were coming. Evidently, none of them had.
"That was lucky," Iola whispered. "Now what's our plan?"
Callie bit her lip and looked around her. "If we could find a phone book, it would probably tell us what number to call."
"If we can for sure read it," Iola pointed out.
"Or we could find somewhere where we can get an Internet connection," Callie said. "Either way, our best bet is going to be to find the security booth. If no one's in it, we can turn off the whole security camera system so the gunmen can't spy on us."
"Wait, no, I've got a better idea than that," Iola replied. "If there's no one in the security booth, we can just bar the door from the inside and hide in there. If we can't get reception on our cell phones, there should be phones in there and the information we need to call the authorities. Plus, we can monitor the security cameras ourselves and keep the authorities up to date on what's happening in here and where."
"Good thinking, if we can pull it off." Callie took in a deep breath. "I guess we're going to have to try anyway. The worst that can happen is that we'll just get captured like everybody else."
"There might be a few worse things that can happen," Iola reminded her. "But still, we'd better give it a try. Now, which way?"
Callie sighed. "I have no idea. I guess we just poke around until we find it and hope we don't run into any gunmen first. Maybe we could find a map that would help, if we could read it."
Nervous and doubtful about their chances of success, the girls set off through one of the doors leading out of the room.
HBHBHBHBHB
"I hate this," Jerry Gilroy complained. He was lying on his back on a low bunk in one of the cells in the lowest level of the castle. The dungeons had been set up exactly as they had been in the Middle Ages when they had been used to hold prisoners. The gunmen had found it handy when they were looking for a place to put their prisoners.
"Well, you're not the only one," Biff told him drily. "How come we always get the worst end of any Frank and Joe's cases?"
"I doubt they're exactly having a blast," Jim Foy pointed out.
"Right," Phil agreed. "Especially since the only plan anyone's come up with yet is to stall for time. That doesn't do much good unless someone does something with the time they buy for us."
"They took our phones away," Tony pointed out. "We could try to get out of here, I guess, but we'd be completely on our own, and we kind of stick out like a sore thumb. We're going to need an actual plan."
They all looked about them to see if anything in the cell would spark an idea. The five of them were locked in together, and because the walls between the cells were solid, they couldn't see anyone else in their group. Chet, Vanessa, Mr. Byron, and the rest were all split between four other cells.
"We could always try the old sick routine," Biff suggested. "If they've ever seen an American movie, it probably wouldn't work, but these guys don't really look like the sort who would watch American movies."
"Yeah, well, I think we can pass on that idea anyhow," Jim said.
"You know, I wonder…" Phil paused for a moment. "Hey, Jerry, get up."
"Why?" Jerry groaned.
"Just do it." Phil dragged him off the bunk and then turned bunk upside down. There was nothing underneath, and so he started taking the blankets off and shaking them out.
"What exactly are you doing?" Jerry asked.
"I thought maybe they would have a spare key hidden in here somewhere," Phil explained. "You know, in case one of the employees got locked in here by accident when no one else was around or something. The bunk's the only place I could think of."
"They could have hidden one behind a loose stone in the wall," Tony suggested. "We might as well look."