The Heist

Chapter 26

The National Gallery of Art, located within the National Mall, has one of the finest art displays in the world. Its collections of paintings, drawings, and sculptures traces the development of Western Art from the Middle Ages to the present.

It is also the only museum in all of America to permanently house a painting by Leonardo da Vinci.

The painting by da Vinci was a portrait of the aristocrat Genevra de Benci in 1474 to commemorate her marriage that year to Luigi de Bernardo Nicollini. She was renowned for her beauty, although her temperament in the painting was austere; she showed no smile and her expression was one of indifference.

But art thief Alan Squires didn't care about any of that. He only cares that possessing this original da Vinci would bring him enough money to live a luxuriously comfortable life in his chosen island off in the Pacific.

As Squires drove to his destination in a rented car, he turned his head to the passenger side to view his accomplice. Amanda sat quietly still and stared straight ahead, refusing to look his way. She looked so different disguised in a red-haired wig with black turtleneck and dark slacks. Her stiff body language told him she did not want to do this, that she was doing this against her will, causing Squires to almost felt sorry for her.

Almost.

After all, Alan Squires was not going to let anything get in the way of his prize!

They rolled up to the museum in the quietness of the night, an hour before it was closing. Quietly Squires parked his van off to the side of the museum and turned off its headlights. Sitting in the dark with him, Amanda figured she would make one last attempt to convince Squires out of the theft.

"Alan, please, it's not too late-you don't have to do this," Amanda pleaded, "if you drive me home right now, I promise I won't mention your plans to anyone, not even to Lee."

His smug expression told her she was wasting her time.

"Oh, Amanda, you never learn, don't you ?" he asked, "you don't seem to understand that I'm the one running the show! Actually, you should consider it an honor to work alongside someone like me, you won't get that chance again, you know."

She lowered her tone to make her point, "There is nothing honorable about being a thief and a murderer!"

Squires heavily sighed, "We're not going through all THAT again are we?"he sounded frustrated now, "The reality is...I did those killings for you, dear heart, only for you! The least you could do is show me some gratitude! Instead, what I get is the attitude of an entitled agent! Stetson must be rubbing off on you!"

Amanda stared at him with disdain, "Stop trying to justify your murders to me; you made the decision to do those heartless acts...not me! I can't believe you feel nothing for the horrible crimes you'd committed!"

"You sure are determined to take the fun out of this mission, aren't you?" he complained, "and frankly, I'm getting tired of your whining!" his tone switched to anger, "Anyway, we're getting nowhere discussing something we can't change, so let's just drop the matter!"

But Amanda was just as angry as she stubbornly folded her arms, "Fine by me!"

"Then get out and let's get on with our mission!" he rudely ordered her as he opened his car door, "Come on!"

Amanda had no choice. Opening her side of the door, she stood in the cold night air, still not believing she was going to break into a national institution. Unconsciously she straightened her bobbed wig, thinking how hot and uncomfortable it felt. Then she turned with disdain to look at Squires.

But he was nowhere to be seen.

Her head whipped the other way.

Darkness.

He had managed to meld himself into the darkness, leaving Amanda by herself.

But Amanda wasn't surprised, for that had been part of his plan and everything was proceeding like clockwork.

It was now time to play her part.

She cleared her throat, straightened up, and began walking towards the museum.

Calm down and this will be over with soon, she convinced herself.

The ticket booth was in front of her now. Taking a deep breath, she faked a smile as she walked up to it.

"Hello there!" Amanda brightly stated.

The elderly ticket agent lifted a brow. It was as if he sensed something was off.

Amanda hoped she could pull it off. She dug into her purse for the money. Keeping her hand steady, she shoved it under the glass window, "One, please."

And she waited.

But the ticket agent didn't move; he continued to watch her, as if assessing her .

Why is he just staring at me like that? she wondered to herself, why is he not handing me a ticket? Had he figured out this ridiculous red wig was a disguise? Or maybe he suspected that I was here to do something nefarious, like stealing a painting, which is exactly my purpose. Or maybe-

"You do understand, Miss, that the museum will be closing in an hour?" he spoke out at last, "to get the full benefit of viewing of these exceptional paintings, I suggest for you to come back tomorrow."

Amanda didn't know if she should feel relief or disappointment that the ticket agent had not been suspicious of her after all.

All she knew is she better come up with a good, believable story if she wanted to enter the museum.

"Welllll, I certainly realize that you would need more than an hour to view all these fabulous works," she told him, nervously rambling, "but you see, I'm out of town, on business, and have been in back-to-back meetings for the last two days. I could not find the time to get away at all! Anyway, since I'll be flying home early tomorrow morning, tonight would be my last night here in Washington DC, and the one thing I told myself is that before I leave here, I MUST visit this museum! I've heard so much about this place, especially the wonderful paintings! So here I am... " she had blurted it out in one breath and needed to take a breath before adding,"...one ticket, please."

Her heart beat faster in anticipation as she waited for his response. Her eyes followed his hand as he slowly reached his hand towards the window for the money.

"Too bad you only have an hour," the ticket agent tsked, "it's not much time to see anything. In fact, I doubt you'll have enough time to even cover the first two sections."

"I'm sure I'll see enough," she assured him.

He then slid a ticket her way.

Amanda felt she could breathe again as she accepted the ticket.

She looked directly at him and forced a smile, "Thank you!"

He nodded and suggested, "Be sure to check out the Italian Renaissance Collection, located on the Rotunda of the West Building Main Floor."

She nodded, "Oh, I will, I promise! And you enjoy the rest of your night! " she gratefully told him as she turned to walk away.

The ticket agent watched Amanda until she disappeared into the museum.

Such a nice lady, he thought, yet, there was such a sadness to her. Perhaps the exhibits will cheer her up.

Then he brushed those thoughts aside. Checking his watch, the ticket agent reached down and put the 'closed' sign on his window, knowing no one else would be buying a ticket so late in the night.

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Amanda's role in the heist was simple.

Posing as an observer for the next forty-five minutes, she strolled through the museum, admiring all the famous paintings. The more she viewed, the more she began to enjoy herself; she couldn't help it. But she forced herself not to linger very long at any displays. Still, she couldn't help admiring the works of noteworthy artists such as Paul Cezanne, Raphael, and Henri Mattisse.

Amanda paused the longest at one of the paintings by the Dutch painter Rogier van der Weyden. The art piece was simply titled "Portrait of a Lady". In this well-known painting, the main focus of the picture was an affluent lady of that period who wore a hat with a veil. The veil did not hide her face, but cascaded lightly around her, as if at any moment she could pull the veil to cover her face, if she wished to hide herself in some way.

It was as if the woman in the picture was hiding a secret. The down-turned eyes and nervously pressed fingers of the subject further suggested that she desired to keep hidden emotions well inside of her; as if she wanted to be removed from this situation.

I know exactly how she feels, Amanda thought miserably.

But this wasn't supposed to be an artistic jaunt through the museum to view masterpieces, she reminded herself. Instead, she was here to aid in the theft in one of this museum's primary pieces.

"Attention, everyone," the loudspeaker abruptly announced, "the museum will be closing in five minutes. Please make sure you gather all your belongings with you and exit towards the front of the museum. Thank you for visiting the National Gallery of Art, and we hope to see you again!"

Still standing in front of van der Weyden painting, Amanda covertly reached into her purse, and withdrew a badge. Then still staring at the painting, she clipped the plastic badge on her turtleneck sweater. When she turned away from the art piece, she had a museum employee badge on.

People who had been milling around the art pieces were getting ready to leave. All except Amanda, who purposely didn't heed the announcement, but continued on.

Entering the next viewing room which displayed pieces of contemporary art, Amanda walked past it to the end of the east wall. She had now arrived at the hallway leading to the employees' snack room and restrooms.

Here goes, she told herself as she took a deep breath in.

She made a sharp turn and proceeded down the long passageway. Her footsteps seemed to echo loudly with each step she took. In addition, she could feel her heart beating loudly. She passed a male guard with strong biceps walking towards her the opposite way through the hallway. Her feet continued to move as her heart stopped. Trying to act as if she belonged, Amanda flashed a quick smile to which she got one back in return before he continued on his way.

Amanda wiped the sweat from her face.

Coming to the end of the hallway, she looked both ways before ducking into the ladies room. Once inside, she noted the cleaning lady, who had just completed wiping down the sinks. Clearing her throat Amanda walked to the adjacent sink.

"Good evening," Amanda greeted as she proceeded to wash her hands.

"Evenin', Ma'am," the cleaning lady noted in an accent Amanda didn't recognize, as she gave her a nod.

Amanda continued washing her hands, this time using the soap dispenser, trying to waste time. When the cleaning lady finally completed her duty and walked out, Amanda quickly went over, and opened the door to check the hallway. Finding no one in sight, she reached into her purse and pulled out an "Out of Order" sign and taped it on the bathroom door before closing it and this time locking it.

Squires had earlier told her that the employee restrooms and hallway were not protected by any alarm systems or cameras. As all the guards were men, no one would think a thief would enter through the women's bathroom. The sign and locked door she posted, however, were just safeguards.

Amanda couldn't help but admired how meticulous Alan's plans were.

In actuality, he had planned out this heist four months ago. He certainly had enough time to think about it, being that he was in jail during that time.

As he explained it, he plotted to enter the museum by tunneling in from the city's sewer system. Through secret messages sent out from prison by way of his attorney, Squires had recruited four unemployed construction workers, experienced with digging and demolishing tunnels. For two months the men had dug a tunnel from the sewer collector line to a spot directly below the museum's employee women's restroom.

Squires' plan was to break into the restroom, surprise the guards, turn off the alarms and steal the painting. The plan was as simple as that.

And it was now about to be played out. Amanda turned her wrist over to look at her watch.

She was exactly on time; now it was Squires' turn.

And he didn't disappoint.

Within minutes, Amanda heard some noise coming from the floor. Moving aside, she watched as Squires expertly cut a hole though the floor of the women's bathroom with a thermal lance. When he was almost done, she bent down to remove some of the pieces of the floor, so that he could pull himself up. When completed, Squires quietly climbed out of the tunnel, a Colt semi-automatic rifle strapped on his right shoulder, his face disguised with huge black frame glasses and a thick mustache.

"Great job, Amanda," he complimented her, once he was standing on firm ground again.

She sounded bitter, "You can forgo the compliments, Alan; I just want this over with!"

"It will be if you will stop jabbering about it!" he criticized. Next he ordered, "Now, go to the door and check the hallway to make sure it's clear! And hurry up about it!"

"Alright! And you don't have to be so bossy!"

Resentfully Amanda went and opened the door to peek out again. By now the museum was close to shutting down. Some of the major overhead lights had been turned off in the museum, although enough were left turned on so that it would not impede anyone's vision.

"It's clear of people," she announced.

"Then get out there!" he ordered her, as he dropped his thermal lance and hefted up his backpack, over his shoulder. The backpack was filled with two gas masks and gas bombs, "Keep moving! I'll be right behind you! And remember, at this point in the game, you don't want to be caught, either!"

Amanda followed orders and left the ladies' room into the main hallway.

Just as Alan followed right behind her...

Click!

...he felt something cold and hard pressed against his left ear.

And then a familiar voice spoke out.

"Squires, I've got my Glock pointed at your head, " Lee snarled at him, "and if you make my finger twitch, Pal, your head will explode like a overblown balloon... so don't do anything that might startle me!"

Amanda froze when she heard Lee's voice and whipped her head around. The sight of him brought a sob to her throat as she also wondered how she missed seeing him. It didn't matter now. All that matter was that he was here!

And he had his gun barrel pressed against Squires' temple.

"Stay facing forward, Squires," Lee warned him, "No need to turn around...you already know what I look like. Now slowly put your hands up."

Squires started to raise his hand in surrender mode, as Amanda walked back towards them.

Lee was ecstatic to see Amanda. He was slightly taken aback by her red wig, but then decided that she looked great in it; sexy even. But then, she would look great in anything. From the corner of eye Squires could sense Lee giving Amanda a reassured smile

And he knew Stetson's attention was diverted for a split second.

So Squires swiftly reacted.

He decisively brought his rifle up and with it's butt, jabbed Lee hard in his stomach as Lee stumbled backwards. At the same time Squires then roughly grabbed Amanda and yanked her against the front of his body for protection. His left arm had a stronghold around her throat while his right arm pinned her down her arms at her waist. Lee recovered and moved forward, but he quickly froze when he realized Squires had a hold of Amanda.

"Put the gun down, Stetson!" Squires warned him, "or I swear, I will break Amanda's neck with one, swift yank of my arm!"

Lee looked on helplessly as Amanda struggled, but Squires held firm. He had no choice but to surrender. He felt angry at himself for letting Squires get the upper hand because he had been distracted by Amanda's presence.

Lee blew it and it may cost him and Amanda their lives.

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