Mousetrap

Chapter 4: Night at the Museum

Neal and Henry arrived in Saint Petersburg early on Saturday morning. There'd be no time for sightseeing as they intended to return to Prague on Sunday. They spent most of the day at the Hermitage. Henry's task was to surreptitiously use a device invented by Travis to locate cameras and sensors while they strolled through the collection. The electronics were concealed in what appeared to be an ordinary pair of glasses. Neal knew they had to limit their time in the Rembrandt Gallery to avoid attracting attention, but what visitor wouldn't want to spend at least an hour in the gallery?

When he arrived at his forgery, he focused on the essentials. The frame was identical. The placement on the wall next to the alcove containing The Return of the Prodigal Son was the same. But this was his work, not Raphael's. To him, it blared I don't belong here! He was shocked at the violence of his reaction.

As usual, a crowd stood in front of the painting of the prodigal son. He looked at it with fresh eyes. Henry had smoothed the way for him to reunite with the Caffreys. In Neal's case, did he have a prodigal father? James was back in WITSEC but they'd had a chance for reconciliation and a fresh understanding of each other. Chantal had aided Klaus's rapprochement with his parents and his youngest brother. As for Rolf, he'd carved out his own destiny and Neal didn't see a happy ending in his future.

* * * * *

Henry stared into the dark tunnel and grimaced. Neal was happy as a mole, gleeful at the prospect of entering the bowels of Saint Petersburg. But not him. Uttering a silent prayer to ward off the ghost of Rasputin and any other vengeful spirits, Henry plunged into the darkness after him.

Their night at the museum had an auspicious start. The Saint Petersburg metro was gorgeous—much more elegant than Henry had expected. Unfortunately, he only had a few minutes to enjoy the setting, before Neal raised a manhole cover and beckoned for him to plunge inside.

This brought back too many memories of when Henry went into the Columbia University tunnel system to rescue Neal. At least this time, Neal wasn't delirious. And Henry gave Neal points for making it look easy. Finding out the guards' uniforms hadn't changed during the intervening years was a lucky break.

Klaus had stashed guards' uniforms for himself and Neal in a cubbyhole in a service tunnel five years ago, and they were still there. Henry was the same height as Klaus and the clothes fit him well. It was like he was destined to take Klaus's part. He was tempted to call it a backscratch, using Neal's expression.

Klaus had filled in for Henry in Europe when Henry was out of the picture, acting as Neal's mentor and protector. Neal had usurped that role for himself during this heist, but Henry intended to grab it back as soon as the job was done.

Klaus had reviewed in meticulous detail the route between the old service tunnel and an opening in the basement of the museum. If Neal was caught, Henry was under orders to flee the scene. He hadn't argued the point, but he was determined that scenario wouldn't come to pass.

The thirty-minute trek through the tunnel was best glossed over. The darkness was total. Without Travis's night-vision goggles, they would have been sunk. Travis had refined them with infrared detectors so that once they were close to the museum, they'd know if anyone was on the other side before they lifted the heavy base plate into the basement.

They entered the museum through an old sewer pipe in a maintenance area. Klaus had explained the Hermitage made use of audio sensors so they used nudges and gestures to communicate.

Whenever they picked up an infrared heat source, they dove for cover. This was a high-stakes adrenaline rush unlike any he'd ever experienced. He kept reminding himself he wasn't in a video game, and the penalty box would be incarceration in a Siberian gulag.