Chapter 2
It was so hard for her to keep from stopping at the exhibits. The African American History and Culture Museum, The American History Museum, both had so much. And of course, her mind also pondered what each statue and mannequin would be like if they came to life. Afterall, who would have guessed Theodore Roosevelt would have a crush on Sacagawea? Thankfully, because of their current situation with things coming to life it was easy for her to refocus her mind and get back to her task. The African American History and Culture Museum was one of the newest buildings so she immediately crossed it off her mental list. Its security would be more likely to include high tech, she and Larry would have better chances with one of the older buildings.
That theory led her across the lawn to the Hirshhorn and after crossing the Sculpture Garden in front of it she headed inside the round building. It contained more contemporary art, like a statue of a 'big man' and a row of yellow and black tentacles rising from the floor. Canvases with various words written in paint sat on the clean white walls, one wall was covered in black with white sketch lines making images in between phrases. One caught her eye that read 'it's not the bullet that kills you – it's the hole.' True she supposed as she shook her head and carried on.
From the Hirshhorn she made her way to the Castle as it's brick-colored walls and ancient structure just called to her. But that might be the Potterhead in her. She passed several more exhibits but these seemed more spaced out to also display the beauty of the castle's structure – it was a piece of history too after all.
It's floor and windows were like paintings that had been put together like intricate puzzles and were polished until they shone in the sun. That's when she noticed the hue of the rays. They were more golden and she quickly turned to the nearest window and tried to get a descent look outside. Even though she couldn't see through the stained-glass mosaics to confirm it, she had a horrible feeling the sun was already going down. Grabbing her phone again she looked at the clock then unlocked the screen to open the weather app and check what time sundown was. 6:03pm. And it was 4:20 now.
Trying to control her anxiety she carried on looking for doors with security locks. She spotted a couple and there were no guards standing by any posts near them so that was a good sign.
Passing a few more display cases she turned the next corner and entered the largest room in the building. Across from her was a deep green stone. . . something with a sculpture standing at its center. As she approached she noticed it wasn't a person, it was a carving of a sarcophagus. She stepped right up to the rope and looked at the sign beside it.
'Gate of Kahmunrah' it read. She swallowed thickly, her throat suddenly dry. 'Mythic Door to the Underworld'.
Great.
She turned away and headed for a display case with a large stone vase in it as she dialed Larry.
"Anna." He answered on the first ring.
"I found something. It's in the Smithsonian Castle. And this might be our best bet to the Archives."
"Okay, I'm on my way." He said before hanging up.
Anna turned and looked over her shoulder again at the gate then she turned and made another lap through the castle, trying to keep her nerves distracted by the exhibits.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, the museum will be closing in one hour." The PA system announced just as she made it back to the hall before the atrium. She stopped, knowing she didn't want to see that creepy gate again by herself, so she planted her body in front of the last display case in the hall.
"Larry, where are you?" she muttered through nervously clenched teeth as she started tapping her foot again, her heel bouncing against the slate covered floor. She pretended to look at the display in the glass case behind her, the one featuring Al Capone. The young version of the mobster reminded her of Shane from the Walking Dead which, inadvertently brough her mind back to the Gate to the Underworld.
Groaning and letting out a sigh she pinched the bridge of her nose. She'd be so happy when this night was over. As much as she wanted to help their friends, she hated how much anxiety this was giving her. The last thing she wanted was a panic attack. Stupid anxiety.
"Anna." She heard her name and looked up to see Larry approaching.
"Hey." She replied with a relived breath, "It's over here."
She led him to the Gate of Kahmunrah but stayed a few steps back this time as Larry checked it out.
"Kahmunrah." He whispered as he reached his hand forward to where some gold had chipped and something had fallen out – or been torn out by grave robbers.
"Hey!" a new voice called making them both jump back and turn to see a guard approaching them. He was a bit overweight and had curly brown hair and a five o'clock shadow. "What are you doing? No touching."
"No, I wasn't gonna touch it." Larry denied.
"You're moving in with some I.T.T. bro."
"I.T.T.?"
"That's 'intent to touch' homey." The guard explained as he joined Larry by the rope.
"No, I wasn't. You're not allowed to go over the?-"
"What, are you gonna kiss it?"
"All right, sorry." Larry chuckled.
But the guard wasn't finding this humorous, "Put your hand on it and touch it. Cause I stand there and I wait all day for a little girl like you to come in and put her precious nail polished nails all over the exhibits."
Anna tilted her head offended before looking at her unpolished nails then back to the guard.
"Sorry. Last time I checked, I thought we lived in a free country so. . . "
"No, we don't."
"No?"
"It's the United State of Don't Touch That Thing Right in Front of You."
"Seriously?" Anna asked now amused too. Sure the guard had a point not to touch anything but turning USA into USDTTTRIFOY? Did this guy take himself seriously or did he know he sounded ridiculous?
"I just want to – I'm allowed to look at it here, okay?"
"See what happens when you touch it!"
"So you're threatening me? You're threatening me, Brandon?"
"It's Brundon." He corrected softly, the fight draining out of him like he'd had to explain this several times before.
"Excuse me?"
"Brundon!"
"Brundon? What did they run out of u's on your nameplate maker?"
"I don't know, did they run out of jokes at the interesting joke store that you shop at?"
"They must have because that one wasn't any good." Anna chimed in getting a dirty look from Br-U-ndon.
"Sorry, it looks like Brandon –"
"I'm not here to be your speech therapist. It's Brundon! You never heard of the name before? Look up most popular baby names of 1984, Brundon."
Anna did just that then laughed, "Dude even when you type Brundon it autocorrects to Brandon!" she laughed.
Brundon started to take something from his belt when Larry stopped him.
"Whoa! Whoa. Are you threatening her now too, Brundon?" Larry asked getting back to the – admittedly stupid – subject at hand.
"I don't know Princess Jasmine, am I?" he lifted his coat and showed them what he'd been about to grab, not a gun, not a baton, a flashlight. But Larry was impressed, must be a night guard thing.
"Oh, wow, Lunabeam nine-volt."
"Yeah."
"Wonderful piece of hardware huh?"
"That's their title, Lunabeam Nine."
"That's great. I prefer the Maglite LED myself, but that's just me."
"Do me a huge favor. Shove your hands into your pockets, put your attitude way down, and also, be nice to people." Brundon said before walking away.
"Great. But could I just ask you one thing?" Larry called making Brundon turn, "Okay so just to be clear, I can't do this, right?" he asked slapping his hand on the sarcophagus.
Brundon literally jumped like Larry pulled a gun on someone. "Okay! That's actually crazy." He stormed back over, "Did you just make a decision to possibly end your life earlier then you were expecting? I'm gonna hit you with the flashlight."
"Now you are threatening me, okay."
"Do not touch it."
"Don't touch me."
"Do not touch it."
"Don't touch me."
"Do not touch it."
"Don't touch me."
"I will touch you with my flashlight all day. I will literally rent a camper, and we will drive across America with my flashlight on your chest."
"I thought you renamed America to 'Don't touch that thing right in front of you'." Anna smirked now just being cheeky. Larry barely held back a chortle. Until Brundon touched his flashlight to Larry's shoulder.
"Don't do that."
"Don't do what? Want to see what happens when I do it one more time? Watch you do nothing. Let's watch you do nothing when I do this -"
But when Brundon went to tap the torch to Larry's shoulder, Daley grabbed Brundon's arm and pulled it to the side, while he was stunned by the speed Larry quickly rose Brundon's arm over his own head and bent it so it wrapped around the back of his head. Larry quickly let go of one hand and grabbed the flashlight getting Brundon in a headlock.
"Seriously Brandon –"
"Brundon."
"Brundon, you do not know who you're dealing with. You think you know what it means to be a guard, huh? Trust me, you don't know the meaning of the word. I have seen things that you could not imagine."
"Like what kind of stuff?"
"I'm not gonna tell you. But you're gonna drop the flashlight -"
"The way you said it, it sounded like you were gonna say something cool."
"Yeah, well you don't get to hear it. Drop the flashlight."
Brundon let go and Larry took the light, he pressed something that opened the bottom and all the batteries fell out. Then he spun the flashlight over one shoulder then the other before slapping it back into Brundon's palm.
"We cool?"
"That's actually pretty cool, what you just did."
"Thank you. No hard feelings?" Larry held out his hand. Brundon took it and the two tapped shoulders.
"I'm sorry."
"No, it's my fault, I shouldn't have. . . "Larry trailed off as he stepped away from the exhibit and Anna followed him.
"No. It takes two opposing forces to cause friction –"
"You're just doing your job. Take it easy man." Larry waved before turning around.
Anna even heard Brundon mutter a quiet, "That guy's great."
She turned and saw him already trying to practice some cool moves with his flashlight. Then she turned back to Larry. "What was the point of that nonsense?"
"This." He flicked his wrist and Brundon's ID badge slipped from his sleeve. Daley looked up at her and they smirked. "Now, where's the closest security door?"
She nodded to the hall branching off to their right, "I saw one down this way."
Anna led the way to the restricted area and Larry slid the card into the panel. They entered a beige hall filled with mops and brooms and trash bins. Anna kept her eyes peeled for anything marked "Archives" until they heard voices up ahead. Larry ducked into the room to his left while Anna dove into the room on the right. Pressing her back to the door she saw she was in a small kitchenette, there was a microwave, a fridge, sink and a table with thermoses of coffee on it and some food wrappers.
She listened at the door waiting for the voices to pass. Once they did she cracked the door open and waited for any sign of Larry. When she saw him step out of the door across from her she saw him straightening his new tie. The door was labelled 'Locker Room' and she put together where he'd gotten the uniform he was now wearing. He noticed her and nodded that the coast was clear. Joining him in the hall he took out his phone and dialed Nicky.
"Okay buddy we're in."
'Great, where are you?' she heard him through the phone.
"The northeast corridor of the Castle, just off the Commons. I need you to talk us to the Archives."
'Okay. At the end of the hall, turn right, and there should be a stairwell coming up on your left.'
"Got it."
'Now, it's kind of a maze down there. Those underground tunnels connect a bunch of different buildings. It could get complicated.'
Anna pulled out her phone as they headed down the stairs and checked the time. The museum had closed at 5:30, but they'd had their little back and forth with Brundon. That left them at now, 5:43, and sunset was at 6:03. "We need to hurry. Sunset's going to be soon."
'When you get down to B level, you want to take another left –'
Static took over Nicky's voice and Larry stopped, Anna paused a few steps in front of him.
"Nick? Hello? Nick?"
'Dad, can you hear. . . '
"Nick, you're –"
The sound of a door opening above drew their attention and they took off down the stairs and went through the first door they saw at Level B. It was almost pitch black in there. The only light came from emergency lights way up high. From what they could see the place looked like a giant warehouse, lots of sections marked off by tall metal linked fencing for walls. Not far from the door was a security post but no one was inside. There was a camera perched on the top corner and Larry crept over to it, waving Anna to stick behind him.
He pulled out Brundon's ID card again and held it up to the lens. As he hit the button to be buzzed in.
"ID." The voice on the PA said, then gave an approving, "Brundon!"
"Hey!" Larry grunted trying to disguise his voice.
"Later dude."
"All right, yeah." Larry replied as a buzzing went off and the gate in front of them unlocked. Anna rushed forward as Larry continued to block the lens. She opened the door and Larry rushed over before he could get caught on the camera.
Inside it was even darker but luckily Larry had grabbed a flashlight along with his 'borrowed' uniform.
"All right, now where do you think they are?"
"McPhee told you they were going to permanent storage right? So my guess would be somewhere behind all the non-permanent stuff. We might be walking for a while." She checked her phone again. 5:48.
"Okay but stay close, I have no idea how I'd explain to Don that I lost you down here."
She gave a small chuckle but did as he said. They passed rows of mannequins hanging in large plastic bags that looked like something out of a horror movie. At the end of them was a large open space with crates bigger then cars. Larry approached one marked ZUR 513 and unlatched it. Burgundy tentacles fell out and made a slapping noise as they hit the floor.
"Ew." She whined, she always hated the rubbery-ness of raw fish and even fake this thing still looked too lifelike for her.
"Here, help me get it back in." Larry said placing his torch on top of the crate as they hurried and relatched it.
"I never want to see that thing again." Anna whispered as they continued on.
They passed a large metal wheel, the kind you'd see on a farm. Hanging next to it were more plastic bags. One mannequin she recognized.
"Ew."
"What?" Larry asked with a chuckle, "He remind you too much of sushi too?"
"No, but Custer is a big reason we had more battles with the Indians." She explained, "President Grant had made peace with the Indians, notably Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse. They had a reservation the size of Ohio near the Black Hills. But when America hit its first depression and there were rumors of gold there, Grant sent Custer on a secret mission to find out if the rumors were true."
"Were they?"
She nodded, "But instead of telling the President Custer wrote to the New York paper. People flooded to the Indian Territory for gold so they could feed their families again. And the peace the President had made fell apart. Hundreds of Indians died as a result of battle after battle because of Custer and his desire for glory."
She saw Larry staring at her, "Robert Redford made an eight part documentary series on it. The American West, it was actually pretty good."
"Good to know." He replied as they kept walking.
They came across a few tables with artefacts spread out under lamps, maybe things that were being restored? They looked good considering how old they probably were and shined like they'd been freshly polished. Among them was a life size figure of Amelia Earhart, she stood next to her plaque that read 'First female pilot to cross the Atlantic, Lost at sea 1937.'
"Hey what about this?" Larry called to her and she saw him standing by a door made of red metal, not grey like the others. "This looks very 'lock away forever' don't you think?"
"Very." She nodded and they headed through.
Almost immediately they found what they were looking for. Six Egyptian soldiers stood with spears in their hands aimed and ready to attack a large red crate in the center of the room. One had already approached and looked like he'd been trying to stab his way inside. The others all had their jaws open with silent battle cries. So did their leader who stood at the center of the circle of warriors pointing forward, no doubt shouting orders.
Kahmunrah.
"Oh, my God." Larry said slowly in shock.
Anna whipped out her phone. 6:01. "We have to hurry!"
She rushed forward and Larry followed her. He shone his flashlight into the crate and there were all their friends, weapons drawn and ready for battle. Sacagawea had her bow ready, Attila had his axe, his Huns were trying to keep the door closed, the cavemen had their clubs raised, even Jed had his guns drawn and Octavius had his sword. Beside Jed was a phone and behind that was Dexter, grasping the tablet in his little paws.
"You little troublemaker." Larry whispered, "I'm gonna deal with you later."
"Let's get this open." Anna reminded him, "We need to turn one piece before sunset in less then a minute!"
Larry backed out the opening and helped her pull but the metal door wouldn't budge.
"Hit that light." Larry told her nodding to a large switch in the concrete pillar. He grabbed the nearest man's spear and slid himself back into the thin opening between the crate doors.
It took both hands but Anna was able to flip the switch. A loud sound echoed as the lights kicked on illuminating the whole level brightly. She rushed back over to stand behind Larry, he fished the tablet on his first try then plucked it off the end of the spear. But just as he was exhaling a relived breath it began to glow.
"No. No! No, no, no!"
"Eck ta!" a shout came from behind them and Anna turned as Kahmunrah yelled commands. His men pushed the doors shut and locked them then turned their weapons on her and Larry surrounding them. Larry threw out one hand to keep her behind him only to look around and notice that was pointless. Anna turned back to the crate only for one Egyptian to press his spear to her throat.