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Chapter 2
Penthouse Suite, a prestigious DC hotel
*Beep. Beep. Beep.*
14-year-old Artemis Fowl looked up from his laptop and answered his cell phone.
"Master Artemis they 'found' you."
"Good. Do you have the tape?"
"Of course Master Artemis. Shall I fetch it?"
"Yes of course, Butler. Put it in the special player, but use some of those fairy FakePrints on the it."
"Right away." Butler hung up. He headed for the low security safe and twirled the combination dials. He pulled out the tape and headed for the underground high security vault. He subjected to an iris scan and entered in the password when prompted.
Inside the muggy room there were several boxes, all neatly labeled. This was the room where Artemis held his fairy loot. Butler proceeded to the box labeled "FakePrints, COPYRIGHT FOALY SO DON'T YOU DARE STEAL THEM!!!" A coat of dust covered it, as it had been given to them as a gift two years ago.
Butler put a thumb, index, middle, ring, and pinky FakePrint on a tape player he pulled from a colossal pocket. (all of his clothers were, of course, custom taylored) He pulled out his cell phone.
"Hello, Riley?"
"Ah, Butler. What can I do for you?"
"I have a delivery for you. Go to the usual place tonight, where you'll find a metal box with a passlock. The password is 0dao93. Take the tape player inside to room 16 A of the abandoned steel plant on West Avenue. Place it there and lock the door. Do that and the money's yours."
"How much?"
"Plenty."
"How much?"
"Have we ever cheated you?"
"No."
"Good-bye Riley."
"Bye Butler."
*click* Butler arranged for the box to be placed in an old alleyway. Everything was in place.
***
"Captain, the Omni stone is a myth. A bedtime tale for baby goblins."
"Well, actually I think adult goblins would also believe it."
"Shut up Foaly."
"Commander, I honestly think he has it. This is Artemis Fowl we're talking about." She paused, a grim smile on her face. "Remember the last time you hauled in experts to tell if he was lying?"
Root remembered all too well. "Yes, but this is different. The Stone isn't even entered in Foaly's records. It doesn't exist."
"Let me play the video again."
Foaly brought up a video email of Artemis Fowl, sitting casually on his HoverBoy, something he'd asked to have from the ruined Koboi Labs.
"Omnipotens Petra," he drawled. "Such was the name the ancient Roman fairies gave to the Omni Stone, a gem of such magnificent power that it controlled the very earth. The weather, minerals, and oceans for miles around were all at its holder's fingertips. Its holder could even decide to let all the tightly compacted soil above your precious city crumble."
He flashed a sly smirk.
"Be at the abandoned Paris chute on July 16th. Its owner is willing to trade a reasonable amount of gold for a 'mythical rock' that, I'm sure, would be quite useful to the LEP. Don't be late."
The email ended.
"Stupid mud boy." Root muttered.
"Are we going?" Holly asked. "The LEP could use the Omni Stone right now, all things considered."
"Captain Short if I bring this to the council they'll laugh me out of recon. How do you expect me to get a 'reasonable amount of gold' otherwise?"
"Well, there's always..." Foaly started.
Root sighed. "Trace location of gnome Mulch Diggums."
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Okay, so it was kind of boring. Sorry about that, okay? The thing is, I'm trying to lace in all the clues I'm going to have and have all the red herrings early on so I can maneuver the plot twists later.
What plot twists?
Heh, just kidding. No plot twists whatsoever...*innocent smile*