Release Date: February 7th, 2023
1. British Museum
LONDON, ENGLAND—PRESENT DAY
ON
A SLATE GRAY NOVEMBER DAY, ONE hundred years after the discovery of
Tutankhamen’s tomb, a group of five young people converged in a
part of London known as Bloomsbury. Like Howard Carter, they were looking
to recover treasures of Egyptian antiquity. Except they weren’t going to
dig a tunnel in the desert, they were going to sneak through one in
an abandoned section of the London Underground. And the artefacts
they sought weren’t concealed in some long-forgotten tomb, they were on display
at one of the busiest museums in the world.
“Testing
comms, one, two, three,” Kat said into the microphone hidden in the red
remembrance poppy pinned to her lapel. “Can everybody hear me?” “Loud and
clear,” said Paris.
“Perfectly,”
answered Rio.
“All
good on my end,” Brooklyn replied.
There
was a pause as they waited for a final voice to check-in.
“Sydney,
are you not responding because you can’t hear me?” Kat asked. “Or is it
because you’re still pouting?” After a moment, Sydney replied, “I’m sorry. I
was under the impression nobody cared what I had to say.” “So, pouting,”
Paris commented.
“I’m
not pouting,” Sydney said defensively. “I’m just . . . disappointed.
All I asked was that we slide the break-in a couple hours so we could see
the fireworks at Battersea Park. You know how much I love Bonfire
Night. It’s going to be huge and everyone’s going to be there.”
“Which
is exactly why we’re going to be here,” Kat said. “The
police will be spread thin, and there are no celebrations scheduled for
Bloomsbury. That means they’ll be elsewhere, which dramatically improves
the probability of us not getting caught.”
Kat
was the alpha on this mission, which meant she had to come up with the
plan to break into the British Museum. She’d studied dozens of famous
robberies and noticed that many took place on holidays or during special
events, when police and security altered their normal patterns and were
understaffed. She picked this date because of its connection to one of
the most infamous figures in British history.
For
Sydney, a born rebel who loved “making things go boom,” it was as if
Bonfire Night had been created specifically with her in mind. And here
she was in Lon don, so close to some of the biggest celebrations in the country, yet she was going to miss out.
“Just
tell me this,” Kat said. “Are you good to go with the mission? Or is this
going to be a problem?”
“Of
course, I’m good,” Sydney replied. “I never let anything affect our
work.”
“Excellent,”
Kat said. “And if it makes you feel better, I’ll try to find something
for you to blow up.” “I really appreciate it,” Sydney said. “That means a
lot.”
Rio
cleared his throat and said, “Now that we’ve got everybody’s feelings
sorted, can we please get started?” “Yeah,” Brooklyn said, “you know we can’t
do anything until you give us the word.”
As
the alpha, it was Kat’s responsibility to say the good luck phrase that
kicked off every operation. “Okay then,” she said, surveying the museum
entrance from her vantage point in the Great Court. “This operation is
hot. We are a go.”
And
just like that, the City Spies were in action. The five of them were an
experimental team of agents, aged twelve to fifteen, who worked for MI6,
British Secret Intelligence. They were called in for assignments in which adults would stand out but kids could blend in.
In
this instance, the job was to steal two items on display in a special
exhibition called “Wonderful Things: One Hundred Years of Tutmania.” They
didn’t know why they were stealing them; after all, spies weren’t
supposed to ask too many questions. All they’d been told was that it was
in the best interests of the British government for them to do so.
Kat
had never been the alpha for a mission this big, and she’d prepared for
it like she did most things, as though it were a series of complex math
equations. She split the heist into two parts so they could, in her
words, “isolate the variables.” The theft wouldn’t happen until after the museum closed. But now, while it was still open, they had to
set up things for later.
“Everyone
good with what they’re supposed to do?” she asked.
“Yes,”
Rio said with a groan. “We’ve gone over it and over it and over
it.”
“Good,”
Kat said. “Repetition leads to fluency, and fluency leads to confidence.
It’s a cornerstone of executing complicated mathematical processes.”
“Except
this isn’t math,” Rio said. “It’s a break-in.” “You’re so funny,” Kat said. “Everything’s
math. Now blend in and disappear. Do your best to stay invisible.”
“Don’t worry,” Sydney replied. “We’ll be ghosts.” “Yeah,” Rio added. “Math
ghosts.”
With
so many kids at the museum, they had no trouble blending in as they went to
work on their specific assignments. Kat had even managed to get
uniforms which matched those of schools visiting on field trips.
This let them enter with large student groups which bypassed the normal
security line.
“We’re
at the west stairs, and there are no surprises,” Sydney informed the
others.
She
and Rio were double-checking the route they needed to take later that
night. The team had plotted it using a virtual tour of the museum they
found online. This let them carefully study every room and look for vulnerabilities. Now, they had to make sure that nothing had changed or
been added in the time since the tour was filmed.
“There’s
a CCTV camera on the ceiling,” Rio said. “And the entrance to the
Egyptian gallery is protected by a roll-down gate that’s operated by a
keypad next to the doorway.”
“We’ll
be able to control those once Brooklyn hacks their computer system,” said
Kat.
“Got
it,” Sydney answered.
She
motioned for Rio to stand near the pad so it would look like she was
taking a picture of him and not the device.
“Smile,”
she said, and he flashed a goofy grin. Next, they walked through the Egyptian
sculpture gallery, where they noted and took pictures of three different
security features. There were motion detectors along the wall, closed
circuit television cameras on the ceiling, and sensors eighteen inches
above the floor that were part of a laser trip-wire system.
They
made special note of these locations because, unlike in the movies, there
wouldn’t be brightly colored beams of light they could dance around. The
lasers would be nearly invisible and tripping any one of them would
mean disaster for the mission.
As
they mapped the location of two sensors near a giant statue of Rameses
II, Rio noticed a security guard standing nearby. His nametag read
officer hawk, although his droopy moustache and lumpy physique seemed more walrus than bird of prey.
“Target
acquired,” Rio said in a low voice to Sydney. “Why him?” she asked.
“Two
things,” Rio answered. “He’s friendly and he’s awkward.”
Sydney
gave him a curious look.
“Security
guards are supposed to be standoffish to intimidate you,” Rio said. “But
notice how he smiles and makes eye contact with people. He wants to
connect and be liked.”
“And
awkward?”
“His
tie’s crooked and his shirt’s tucked in unevenly,” Rio explained. “Not
only that, but his ID badge is clipped to his belt instead of his shirt
pocket, which makes it easier to lift.”
“It’s
scary how well you read people,” Sydney said. “I’ve got skills,” Rio said.
“Nice of someone to notice for a change.”
For
years, Rio’s ability to read people had been essential to his survival. He’d
lived on the streets of Rio de Janeiro and made money by performing magic
for tourists on a sidewalk near Copacabana Beach. To do that, he had to
know how to read an audience and be able to perform amazing sleight of
hand maneuvers. He was about to do both to steal a security card they’d
need later.
The
lift was a two-person job that they’d done many times. Sydney’s role was
to be the diversion. “Excuse me,” she said, approaching the guard. “Do
you think you could take a picture of me with this statue in the
background?”
According
to regulations, the guard wasn’t supposed to do anything except keep an
eye on the gallery. However, like Rio said, he was friendly and had trouble saying no. “Of course,” he replied with a smile. “Let’s make it
quick.”
She
handed him her phone and struck a pose. He snapped the shot and gave it
back to her, but when she looked at the picture, she frowned.
“Ugh,”
she said. “I’m sorry could you do it again. My eyes are closed, and it’s
backlit so you can’t see my face.” She directed him to move over a few feet,
and as she became more difficult, the guard became more distracted. This
was when Rio brushed past him and deftly slipped the badge off his belt.
Next came the tricky part. Rio had to copy the badge and put it back
before the guard noticed it was missing. If it was reported lost,
the protocol was for that card to be deactivated, which would render it
useless.
Rio
slid it into his pocket and pressed it against his phone, which had a
built-in scanner and cloning app. After a few seconds, he heard a single
beep that told him it was done. Then he moved back to them, where Sydney
was unsatisfied with another picture and the guard’s patience was running
thin.
Rio
nosed into their conversation. “The problem is the light from that
window,” he said pointing at the photo on Sydney’s phone. “You need to be
on the opposite side of the room.”
The
guard wanted no part of this. “I’m not moving to . . .”
“Why
don’t I take it?” Rio offered.
“Good
idea,” said the guard.
As
he handed Sydney’s phone back to her, Rio clipped the ID badge back to
the guard’s belt.
“Here
you go,” said the guard.
“Thank
you for your help,” said Sydney.
They
walked away, and once they were out of earshot, Rio whispered, “friendly
and awkward, my two favorite traits.” They crossed the room to take the
picture with better lighting so as not to draw suspicion from the
guard, and then they went directly to another gallery and found a door marked
staff only. They waited until no one was around, and then Rio held up his
phone next to the ID sensor. A light on the sensor turned from red
to green and they heard the lock click open.
“We’re
all set with the security doors,” Rio said proudly.
“Nice
job,” answered Kat.
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