Chapter Eleven
That night Gambit and Amanda were outside the museum, waiting until the guards that were around had left. Finally they were gone.
"Ok," Amanda whispered, "Show time."
Gambit nodded and slung one of the ropes he was carrying off his shoulder. Amanda quickly and efficiently tied a grappling hook onto it, and then he swung it around and let it fly straight up towards the window. It hit the ledge and stuck. He tugged on it a few times to make sure it was secure, then Amanda started to climb up it. Gambit couldn't help but watch her climb up. She was wearing a slinky black leather bodysuit, complete with high-heeled knee boots and black gloves. He was just wearing a black tee shirt, a loan from Macleod because he didn't have any black shirts with him, a pair of his own black jeans and his own boots. And of course, his Thieves Jacket and the gloves with a few fingers missing.
When Amanda had reached the window, he started to climb up. Eventually he joined her, and they came to the hardest part of the operation. How to get into the building. They had to do it without setting off the alarm, and without alerting the guards to their presence. Amanda reached into the backpack she had taken off, and removed a funky looking contraption that was designed to cut glass. It had a suction cup to attach it to the window and an extendable arm with a diamond on the end to cut the glass with. She stuck it onto the window, and extended the arm to the right length to create a hole big enough for them to get through. Then she started turning the arm around in a circle. The glass made a funny scratching noise as it was cut. Finally the circle of glass was cut out, and she put it down in the ledge beside her. Gambit pulled the other rope off his arm, tied it to a piece of rebar sticking out of the cement, then flung it through the hole. This time, he went first. Down he slid, only holding onto the rope with his hands, trusting himself not to fall. He landed lightly on his feet, caught the bag she tossed down, and got out of the way so Amanda wouldn't land on him. They knew there were video cameras, so, just to give the caper a bit of an edge and make it a little more fun, Gambit found the control for the cameras in the Mayan Artifacts exhibit, and using his power, fried them. Or, to be more correct, blew them up.
"I can pretty much guarantee dey won't be usin' dese cameras again fo' a while, eh cher?"
Amanda smiled, then looked at her watch. "We probably have a couple minutes before the guards get here. Better get moving." She set off down the hall. Gambit followed her.
It was no problem getting into the exhibit, but they ran into a bit of a snag when they got to the Amulet Room. The portcullis was closed.
"Oh, damn." Amanda swore as she saw the way was blocked. She turned to her companion. "I don't suppose you could blow up the door."
"Non. It too big. An' it would alert de guards."
She reached into a pocket in her suit and pulled out her tool kit. "Looks like we're doing this the old fashioned way." She found the panel on the wall that covered the door controls, and pulled it off. Then she snipped and spliced wires together until the door lifted. "Easy as pie." She announced as she got up.
"If you say so." Gambit was looking at the room revealed before them. They both knew there would be a laser net, but this was ridiculous. It seemed there wasn't an inch of space that didn't have a laser in it. There was no way they could get in it.
"I've seen some impossible puzzles in my time, but this, this takes the cake." Amanda said. "I don't want to say it, but I don't think we can get in."
"Don' be so sure." Gambit pulled the last few cards out of his pocket and charged them. As he did so, he thought, 'I'm going to have to restock.' He threw the cards at a few choice places along the walls, and they exploded, taking out the laser emitters, luckily he could fine-tune his power. Amanda stared. Was there anything this guy couldn't do? As the smoke cleared, they ran in, and carefully removed the lid off the Amulet case. Then, double-checking to make sure there wasn't anything that she had missed before, she took the Amulet off the velvet cushion. The alarm didn't go off. Both of the thieves breathed a sigh of relief, she stuffed the amulet in a little bag, and shoved the whole thing into the backpack. Then they retraced their path out of there.
When Amanda was going up the rope, and Gambit was waiting down below, their luck changed. Gambit looked up just as a guard came into the room. He picked up some information cards off a table beside him, and charged them. When he threw one at the unsuspecting guard it hit the floor in front of him, making enough noise and smoke to alarm but not hurt him. He ran for cover and hid behind a table. Gambit tossed a couple more and while the guard was hiding like a mouse, Gambit shimmied up the rope, down the other side, and got lost in the dark with Amanda.
