Chapter 4 - Day 4
Early the next morning saw Athos sitting on a bench near the library, coffee in one hand, newspaper in the other.
He was sure d'Artagnan was fine, but the trio had decided that someone should check anyway, just to give them all peace of mind.
It also gave Athos the chance to think about the past few days. He was feeling better about d'Artagnan taking on the assignment now that he'd had a chance to observe the boy working on his own.
He was doing a lot better than expected and Athos had to admit to himself that maybe he was being too protective over the boy.
Usually he was quite a reserved person, so it came as quite a shock to Athos - and Porthos and Aramis for that matter - the protectiveness he felt over d'Artagnan since he joined. For god's sake the boy tried to kill him when they first met! But ever since then, something had changed and he wasn't sure he liked that someone could worm their way into his heart so easily.
Noticing some movement outside of the library, Athos was given an excuse to lock his emotions away again. The bench was on the other side of the road facing the building and just far away enough that nobody would really pay that much attention to him.
Unfortunately it also meant that he wouldn't be able to hear what anyone was saying, but he was waiting with the hope that he wouldn't need to. All he needed was for d'Artagnan to come outside so that Athos could see he was alright.
A few men Athos didn't recognise exited the building. They remained huddled, talking for a few minutes, before leaving, two going in one direction, two going in the other.
Athos didn't have long to wonder what they might be up to before the front door opened again. This time he recognised the face. Vadim.
He observed as the man took out a cigarette and quickly lit it. He looked calm, not worried that anyone might be onto him.
Not even thirty seconds later, the man Athos had been hoping to see opened the door.
D'Artagnan didn't even notice Athos as he started talking to Vadim, but Athos didn't care. D'Artagnan was alive and okay and quite clearly continuing to take the assignment seriously, and that was all he needed to see.
Taking the opportunity to leave whilst the two were distracted, Athos threw his half-empty coffee cup in the nearby bin and headed to the car he had parked down the next street.
. . . . . .
When d'Artagnan woke he noticed that most people were already up and busy as usual. Vadim still hadn't told him when the robbery was taking place but if the work everyone was doing was anything to go by, it was happening soon.
Speaking of Vadim, d'Artagnan watched as he headed outside and quickly decided to follow him, though he soon ended up sprawled back on the floor after getting tangled up in his blanket in his eagerness to find out more from the man.
"Morning," Lucie giggled sleepily from her spot next to him.
D'Artagnan rolled his eyes and smiled back, wishing her 'good morning' before following Vadim out the door.
Finding him just outside the door, d'Artagnan greeted the man and asked what his job would be today.
"I'm glad you asked Christophe," came the reply, "I'll need you to help Lucie get some supplies, then we'll sit down and I'll explain the plan to you."
Finally!
"Sounds good," d'Artagnan replied, keen to still sound eager.
"Go get ready and I'll let you two know what you'll need to get for me."
D'Artagnan nodded and headed back inside, stifling a cough from the cigarette smoke Vadim had rudely let out in his face.
. . . . . .
Everyone was hard at work when Athos arrived at the station, buzzing around like devoted little worker bees. The Festival Of The People was only a few days away and they still had quite a bit to organise. It was a French national holiday and the streets of Paris were going to be filled with people. Nobody stayed at home during the festival. This meant police presence on the streets would need to be upped for security reasons and everybody was to be on duty that day. Not that anyone really minded.
It was a fun celebration - even for those on duty - with music and food and people dancing everywhere you looked. More often than not the younger officers would get roped into helping out on a stall or end up dancing with a group of excited little old ladies and at least one person would return to the station covered head to toe in luminous paint.
Unfortunately this also meant that anybody who was on another assignment had double the work to do for a little while. Which is why Athos was unsurprised to find Aramis and Porthos sitting with some of the newer officers in the break room rather than in their office.
"…don't worry Brujon, you'll know her when you see her," Porthos was informing the young cadet.
"Yeah and when she tells you to do it, make sure you listen to her, she might be old but she's quick!" Aramis added, "…like some grandma ninja!"
Sensing a good time to stop the conversation before it went too far, Athos interrupted his friends, "so you're the reason why I keep having to deal with Marguerite traumatising cadets at the festival every year."
"Oh come on Athos, she's a 92 year old woman, she's harmless." Porthos laughed.
"She's been arrested twice in the past month alone for streaking!" Athos replied, "and Brujon, if she gives you the whole 'I prefer a man out of uniform' speech, please just keep your clothes on!"
Aramis and Porthos couldn't contain their laughter at the look on Brujon's face. The poor boy didn't know whether to be concerned or terrified.
Athos smiled at the boy, "go on, go see if Marcus has anything for you to do."
"Yes sir," Brujon laughed lightly before leaving.
Athos took the recently vacated seat at the table and turned to his friends.
"I saw d'Artagnan this morning. He looked okay. I think he slept in the library last night."
Aramis and Porthos breathed a sigh of relief, happy that they wouldn't have another thing to worry about.
"Did he find out anything about the plans yet?" Aramis asked.
"I don't know, he was with Vadim so I couldn't go and talk to him. But I think for today we should focus on the festival and let him get on with his job. Then tonight, if we manage to talk to him, we'll find out what he knows." Athos replied.
Treville chose this moment to make an appearance, "I trust you three still have the Vadim assignment in hand?"
"Yes sir." Athos assured him.
"Good, because I'm going to need your help with this festival stuff." He sat down at the table with them and laid his paperwork down for them all to see. "I'm putting all of the cadets on parade duty all day, so they can gain experience of dealing with large groups of people, but I want more experienced officers out with them."
"Yeah, that's fine," Athos confirmed for the three of them.
Treville began adding to his notes, "Okay, so Aramis and Porthos, I'm putting you on Rue Saint-Honoré with Brujon, Marcel and Clare, then Athos I'm putting you and Marcus on Rue du Pont-Neuf with Marie, Jean and Stefan. I'm going to have Michael, Bernadette, Anne and Sebastien out in the morning with the cadets as well, and then at lunchtime I'll swap you all over."
"Perfect, enough time to find me some ladies," Aramis began, quickly noting the glare from Treville, "…to protect from any passing dangers…of course."
Porthos sniggered, "Don't worry mate, I'm sure Marguerite will be more than happy to see you."
"Porthos, please, there is a bar. It might be low, but it's not that low."
"Um I'm sorry wasn't it just last year I found the two of you in that ball pool-"
"Woah, woah, right I'm leaving before I hear something that'll make me want to fire the pair of you." Treville said, shaking his head as he walked away.
"What were you and a 92 year old woman doing in the ball pool, Aramis?" Athos asked as Porthos struggled to contain his laughter and Aramis' cheeks slowly grew more red.
. . . . . .
D'Artagnan and Lucie had spent the best part of the morning collecting a range of supplies for Vadim.
He'd sent them on an hour's walk to pick up smoke grenades from some big burly guy - the type you wouldn't want to cross in a dark alley. Then another half an hour for some rope, gloves and a glass cutter from the (not so local) hardware store. They weren't allowed to take the bus.
"You know he's only doing this to assert his authority," Lucie commented as they entered the store. "He must have hundreds of supplies like this from all the other jobs, but he still sends someone out every time. It's ridiculous."
"Do I detect a hint of resentment there Lucie?" D'Artagnan joked.
"Look, he took me in and I'd do anything for the guy, but that doesn't mean he's easy to work for. He doesn't tell us anything about the job, he even doesn't need any of this rubbish, he just likes making us do what he wants."
D'Artagnan was surprised to hear this, he'd thought everyone looked up to Vadim.
"I thought you were all some big family, looking out for each other?"
"Yeah we might be some big dysfunctional family, but let's just say if we were all in a burning building, Vadim would get himself out and wouldn't look back…He doesn't care about any of us, not really. You'll learn that soon enough if you decide to stick around after this job."
. . . . . .
It was clear to d'Artagnan that Lucie didn't want to talk about it anymore, so he didn't bring it up again as they bought the supplies and headed back to the library.
He was eager to get back and finally find out the plan, then the others might actually be able to get some work done and stop Vadim before it was too late.
Lucie went in first, dumping the bag on the table without saying a word. Vadim gave her a questioning look, but said nothing.
"We got you what you wanted." D'Artagnan stated as he strolled over to the table and took the seat opposite Vadim.
"So I see," Vadim said before gesturing to one of the stools. "I guess it's time for you to know the plan."
D'Artagnan nodded in agreement, taking a seat.
"We're going in tomorrow."
"Tomorrow?!" That was way too soon! D'Artagnan still needed to get word to the others and sort out how they were going to stop the whole thing. "But it's the day of the festival?"
"Exactly. It's the perfect opportunity."
"But isn't that a bit soon?"
"Don't worry Christophe, we were planning this long before you arrived, you were just a useful addition to the plan."
Vadim went on to explain everything in detail. Tomorrow morning they were to split into two groups. Zoe, Lucie, Felix, Pierre and Louis were going to the front of the museum. The Louvre was closed on public holidays so there would already be less security and with the festival always came fights and public disturbances. So the five of them were to create a distraction big enough to at least attract the security on the doors. This would give d'Artagnan and Vadim less to worry about.
Then the two of them were to go in through the back. The smoke grenades were to distract the remaining guards and the rope was to tie up any who got in the way. They would make their way to the room with the La Rose et Les Nymphéas and carefully cut the glass encasing it and take it off the wall. Marc was in charge of cutting all alarm systems so they should be able to retrieve it without tripping any sensors. They would then get out and get it back to the library as soon as possible.
With a plan so simple, there was a lot that could go wrong, but Vadim wouldn't hear of it. Either that, or he just didn't want to tell d'Artagnan any more than that.
"I sent Pierre and Louis to the museum today, they've double checked everything. We know where all the cameras are, the alarm system and guards shifts. Nothing can go wrong."
"Okay, well what do we do after we get it back here?"
"That Christophe, is for me to know and you to find out. Should you play your part correctly." Vadim smiled.
. . . . . .
That afternoon Vadim had let everyone go out for some fun. He said he wanted them in good spirits, ready for the big day tomorrow.
D'Artagnan had wondered why he would risk them all getting drunk or staying out all night, but Lucie had assured him that he did this every time. They couldn't always celebrate afterwards if the police were on their tails.
Fortunately for d'Artagnan though, this provided the perfect opportunity for him to pass on the intel he'd gained.
He left the others on the way to some pub and headed back to his flat, eager to call the others.
. . . . . .
Porthos had been sitting in the break room when the video chat had popped up on Athos' laptop.
He was actually going to ignore the ringing notification in favour of continuing watching the tv, but then he noticed who was calling.
"Athos!" he shouted towards the doorway, before clicking accept.
The video feed took a moment to clear up properly, but after a few seconds he could see d'Artagnan, sitting on his sofa.
"Hey Porthos! Sorry I'm…early," the boy said, grinning, which made Porthos laugh.
"Time-keeping really is a bad habit with us lot. Are you okay? We were worried about you yesterday."
Before d'Artagnan could answer, Athos, Aramis and Treville appeared at the doorway.
"You hollered." Aramis said as he entered the room.
Porthos nodded at the laptop, "d'Artagnan's here."
The three men exchanged surprised looks at each other before hurrying over to the laptop.
"D'Artagnan…" Athos breathed, happy to see the boy safe and unharmed.
"Hey," d'Artagnan greeted, "Listen, I'm sorry about last night, I wasn't allowed out."
"No, no that's fine, we're just glad you're okay…Are you okay?"
D'Artagnan nodded, "Yeah, just really eager to get this over and done with now. Vadim's told me everything, we're going in tomorrow…"
D'Artagnan went on to tell them the plan. How a group of them would be at the front to create a distraction, how someone would be cutting the alarms, and how he and Vadim were in charge of getting the painting. He gave detailed descriptions of the tools Vadim was going to take and explained all the preparation that had been untaken already.
Listening to d'Artagnan, Athos felt so proud of the boy. He'd gained more information than they could have hoped for.
"This does mean we're going to have to change the plan for tomorrow then…" Aramis commented, glancing at Treville.
"I'll sort it," Treville nodded before asking d'Artagnan, "does Vadim know anything about where the police presence is based tomorrow?"
"No, he knows that there's gonna be police around tomorrow and he's expecting some to be near the Louvre, but that's all…"
This was good news for them. Everything could be planned around the intel they now had, allowing d'Artagnan to continue as normal and focus on not getting caught out by Vadim.
Treville left the four of them talking as he went to update the other officers.
"We still need to get an earpiece and microphone to him before tomorrow," Porthos reminded his friends.
Athos nodded, "I'll deal with it."
He was still wary about giving them to d'Artagnan. If Vadim caught sight of either, even for just a second, d'Artagnan's cover could be blown. But he knew he was just overly worrying about the boy again, it was protocol for them all to have this equipment when on assignments like this as it was important for them all to be able to stay in contact with each other.
With no more to discuss about tomorrow, d'Artagnan said goodbye to his friends, returning him to the silence of his flat, whilst the others went in search of Treville to see what changes had been made.