Relic (20 page)

The man in black fired first. His shot echoed off the walls and rang inside my head like a church bell. The two guards ducked behind a display and fired back, splintering a bone on the T. rex's leg.

“What do we do?” Lisa asked frantically.

Suddenly another dark figure stood up on the right. Only this one I recognized. Colin. He held two long sticks that I quickly identified as Roman candles, each with the tip on fire. He pointed one at the guards and the other back at the T. rex and shouted a line from
Scarface
, one of his favorite movies.

“Say 'ello to my little friend!”

The ends of the Roman candles burst and colorful balls of fire streaked out, bouncing off people, displays, and the ceiling. The atrium filled with plumes of smoke. People were shouting and screaming. There was the sound of breaking glass and crunching wood.

The French man in front of us turned and aimed the pistol at Colin. Lisa went from trembling girl to ferocious animal in a split second. She screamed an ear-splitting shriek and pounced from our hiding place, landing on the man's back. Her hands were a blur as she scratched and punched. He shook right, then left, and finally managed to throw Lisa to the ground. As soon as she hit the floor, he turned, and pointed the gun at her.

This time I ran out of the bushes and jumped at his outstretched hand. I'm not sure if I kicked it or punched it, or maybe I just fell against it just the right way, but somehow I knocked the gun out of his hand and into the air. When it hit the linoleum, a shot exploded and a guard from down the atrium collapsed, grabbing his leg and screaming in pain.

The French guy looked bug-eyed in our direction. Lisa scrambled to her feet and held up her fists like she was ready to go another round. I took a step back, hoping that wasn't necessary.

The museum alarms burst to life, screeching for all the world to hear. The French man said something I couldn't quite hear but figured was probably a swear word, then sprinted out of the area, away from the Buddha head and away from the guards.

Colin's Roman candles suddenly extinguished. The vivid storm of colors fizzled out, and we were left in smoky silence. The two remaining thieves rushed down the atrium toward us. There was another shot and several shouts both in English and French.

“Stop where you are! Freeze! Don't move!” The voices seemed to come from all around and could be heard despite the wailing alarms. The two thieves dove behind displays barely ten meters from where we stood beneath the T. rex. A series of shots rang out, but I couldn't tell if they'd come from the thieves or the guards. Wisps of smoke hung in the air and made the whole scene look surreal. The looming T. rex only added to the feeling, as though we stood on a prehistoric beach during a thick fog.

A guard yelled, “Put your guns down, and come out. Now!”

There were more shouts and another series of shots. The fog thinned and I spotted Colin huddled with his hands beside his head. He made eye contact with me for a second. A look of desperation was clear in his wide eyes and unhinged jaw.

“We have to do something,” Lisa whispered.

I looked around frantically. Colin still had his backpack so I had none of the things he'd brought, not that a block of cheese or a roll of tinfoil would be overly helpful at the moment.

It happened then. If Lisa hadn't been beside me—if she hadn't just spoken to me—I might have missed the sudden change in the color of her clothing and skin, but all at once the scene turned to shades of gray.

One of the thieves had leveled his weapon, and seemed to be taking careful aim across the atrium. I imagined the guards on the other side doing the same thing.

It wasn't 10:47, but for all I knew things had changed, our involvement might have sped things along. Either way, someone was going to die. Maybe several people. Panic surged in my chest like a crashing wave. I scrambled off the platform and grabbed the first thing I could think of—the coprolite—and heaved it as hard as I could at the thief with the gun. He must've seen me because he swung around just as the giant piece of dino-turd slammed into him.

His gun burst and a chuck of the T-Rex's leg, just to my left, exploded. The metal supports roared, and for a moment, it sounded like the bullet had woken the giant. Then something snapped, and a second later, more groans rose from the beast as the rest of the metal struts strained to keep the skeleton upright, but it was no use.

The guards and thieves must've heard the groaning metal, because all of them looked up as the skeleton lurched. Another groan, this one louder than all the rest, drowned out the museum alarms. It almost sounded like the dinosaur itself was roaring. A noise like a dozen cracking whips rose up all at once, and the T. rex dove to the floor.

The collapse of the dinosaur sounded like cannonballs pounding the earth as hundreds of plaster shards scattered around the atrium. Something struck my shoulder and knocked me to the floor, then a chunk of bone—I think it was a rib—came out of nowhere and slammed into my stomach and knocked the wind out of me, sending stars swirling around my head.

Another gunshot rang out, followed by muffled groans, and the sudden flood of color back into the room.
No!
I thought, not after everything we'd been through. I wanted to call out, but I couldn't manage a breath, let alone a shout.

Colin was suddenly beside me. He and Lisa heaved me to my feet and pulled me a few feet down the atrium before I slipped on a shard of glass or bone and hit the ground again, this time hauling Colin down with me.

“C'mon, guys,” Lisa said. “We gotta get out of here. The police will be here any minute.” She helped us to our feet and pulled us toward the exit.

The three of us pushed against the glass door and bounced back. “It's locked,” Colin said. The horror in his voice was palpable. Lisa rushed back to the atrium, grabbed a small wooden chair from a display near the doors, and held it over her head.

“We're already in trouble if we get caught,” she said. “Another piece of glass isn't going to matter much more at this point.” Colin and I backed up, and she heaved it at the glass. The chair hit its mark but bounced back and broke when it hit the floor. The glass didn't even crack.

Angry shouts echoed from the smoky haze and shadowy figures moved, some crouched, others upright, in all directions. It was only a matter of time before we would be caught. Colin dug into his bag, pulled out the firecrackers, lit them with the BBQ lighter, and threw them as hard as he could. The angry shouts became panicked when they went off, and I'm sure everyone in there thought they were being fired upon by a machine gun.

“We could hide in the loading dock,” Lisa said, blinking at the wooden pieces at her feet.

“They'll find us,” I said.

Colin heaved his backpack off the floor. “Stand back,” he said. He swung the bag in three arcs and then released it at the window. The entire pane disintegrated, and the bag sailed through the door.

I gasped. “What's in there?”

“The head, of course,” Colin said.

“You got it?” Lisa sounded awestruck.

Colin looked confused. “What? You think I was going to leave it behind after all that?”

 

We sprinted across the street, through the gate of the playground, and dove to the grass. We quickly slipped off our dark clothes and shoved them back into our bags just as a police cruiser rounded the corner and pulled up in front of the building.

Lisa whispered, “Let's get out of here. Stay low.”

“Wait. Look,” Colin whispered, pointing to the roof. “Up there.”

At first I thought it was just a shadow. But then a figure emerged. Two figures, both dressed in black. One of them was partially supporting the other as they moved to the edge of the roof. Then something slid across the gap to the roof of the bakery—a large plank by the looks of it—and the two thieves used it as a bridge to dart across, retracting their bridge on the other side.

“They made it out,” Lisa said, with a smile. Then her face became serious again. “We can't wait around. No one's going to die, so let's get out of here. We have to get to the theater.” She prodded me forward and then grabbed Colin's arm and pulled him too.

It was a bit early to say no one was going to die. Or that no one was dead. There had been a shot as we ran from the building, I remembered, and I knew for sure that one guard had been shot in the leg. Also, it wasn't yet 10:47, and for all I knew, Sok was still going to die along with the guard who got shot. Or maybe when the dinosaur collapsed, it had crushed someone. There were way too many possibilities and no time to think through them all.

We clamored over the fence and moved as quickly as we could through side streets and alleys, traveling the two and a half blocks to the theater. About halfway there, we heard more police cars, their sirens blaring as they raced toward the museum. There was a steady stream of people leaving the theater when we got there, and we shoved our way past and darted into one of the private bathrooms to clean up.

It was 10:47 when I checked my watch. It was over, though I didn't have any idea if we'd saved anyone. For all I knew, we'd made it worse.

“You really got it?” I asked Colin as we washed the dirt and smoky smell from our skin.

He smiled and unzipped his bag and spoke with an English accent. “The name's Blane. Colin Blane. World famous cat burglar and super spy.”

“Don't forget master wielder of Roman candles,” I said.

He nodded. “That too.” Then he said, “Don't worry, I know a good place to hide it.”

“Are you sure?” Lisa asked.

“Trust me.”

The relic seemed to smile as Colin pulled back the fabric, as if it had known everything was going to work out and it didn't have a worry in the world.

I didn't feel the same way.

 

For the next few days, my body felt like…well, I guess it felt like it had been hit by a dinosaur. The
Gazette
didn't have an article on what had happened until Monday, but TV news stations from all over the country had picked up the story on Sunday and were interviewing all the guards who had been on the scene. The reports indicated there'd been a group of at least six thieves but none had been identified.

The spiky-haired rookie had been the one who got shot, but a full recovery was expected and he was being hailed as a hero. A couple others had minor injuries from bits of dinosaur shrapnel. Mr. Overton gave the museum's official statement, which was that there had been a break-in, and extensive, even catastrophic damage done to several of their artifacts. He listed several pieces, the T. rex skeleton, the Rube Goldberg machine, a few pieces of art, and of course, the Buddhist relic.

At first it sounded like he thought the relic had been destroyed, but then he added that the police were still investigating and that he couldn't comment further while the investigation was underway. I figured either they knew the relic had been stolen, or there'd been so much debris that they might have actually thought the relic had been obliterated by falling dino bones.

At the end of his statement, Mr. Overton took the opportunity to plug some of the new exhibits the museum would be displaying, and thanked the public for some of the very large donations that had come in to help cover repairs.

My mom said that she'd spoken to Mr. Overton, and despite everything, the museum had been given more attention this summer than ever before, and the public awareness it generated would be enough to keep crowds coming all year long. My mom said he couldn't have been happier.

Archer finally got back to us the Thursday after the incident. He asked us where we could meet and Colin insisted on the park near my house, which Archer agreed to. I thought he'd be furious with us for how things had played out, but he wasn't mad at all—quite the opposite, actually.

“Great job, guys,” he said after we explained what had happened. “You not only saved lives, you made it so a life wouldn't be risked for the same purpose again. Well done.”

“Then you're not disappointed that we basically robbed a museum?” Lisa asked.

“Greater good, Lisa,” Archer added. “Property is meaningless compared to life. Frankly, I'm impressed. I know veteran members who wouldn't have had the guts you guys displayed.” He patted her shoulder. “You saved lives, Lisa. Don't forget that. That's what matters.” He rubbed his hands together and looked at us expectantly. “Did you bring it?”

“It's close,” Colin said.

Archer nodded. “Good. I spoke to Sok and asked him to meet me here.”

“You did?” Lisa asked. “Does he know we have the head?”

Archer shook his head. “I'm pretty sure he thinks I'm turning him in.”

“Why would he think that?” I asked. “He could take us down with him pretty easily.”

“Well, when I talked to him, I didn't mention you three. Thought it would be an interesting surprise.” He smiled. “But listen, you guys did amazing. Feel good about it.”

For the next few minutes that's exactly what we did. The three of us beamed. Colin's smile was wider than usual and I knew he was reliving the night in his mind and enjoying every second of it. Lisa, too, had a grin and seemed to relax. She leaned against a tree and nodded to herself.

About thirty minutes later, Sok showed up wearing regular street clothes, along with an elderly bald man who wasn't his grandfather but whom I recognized as one of the other monks, also in inconspicuous clothes.

Sok looked bruised and utterly defeated. He sighed when he got to us and said, “Okay. We're here. Let's get this over with.” He looked around the area focusing on a few of the people wandering nearby. “Where are they?”

“Who?” I asked.

“What do you mean, who?” he asked. “The police, obviously.”

“He really does think we're turning him in,” Colin said. Then he laughed. “You think we'd get the police involved after what we did?”