What's your Price?

Chapter 9- Stealing Hope

Chapter 9

Date: July 27th

Location: National Museum of Natural History (more commonly referred as one of the Smithsonian’s)

Time: 11:02 a.m.

I sat on a bench that gave me the perfect view of the building of who was filing in and who was going out. I wasn’t good at remembering everyone’s faces but it was good to have someone keep watch. John was a few blocks away with the car keeping tabs on the police activity. Fran was already inside walking down the halls making sure no one was doing something they shouldn’t be doing. Iris was probably crawling through the air vents and Matt was, well I don’t know where he is. His work was done for the day so I think he was chilling back at the hotel.

My phone buzzed and I nearly jumped out of my seat. I had to stop being so jumpy. I pull out my phone to see Fran calling me.

“Hello?”

“Kay Aura it’s almost time for Iris to make her entrance I need you to put in a code that will shut down the Hope Diamond exhibit.”

“On it.”

I pull out my laptop from my backpack and quickly wake it up. Fran was still on the phone waiting for my conformation. I turned it on and got signal immediately. I hacked into the Smithsonian website and went into their security database and went to the section of the diamond. I clicked on it ready to shut it down but nothing happened.

“Uh oh.” I tried it again but still got nothing.

“What’s uh oh?” Fran says tersely into the phone.

“The Smithsonian has a section blocker.”

“A what?”

“It means that you can only shut down certain parts of the building in a certain range of it. I have to be within ten feet of the exhibit otherwise the code won’t go through.”

“Shit,” She hisses through the phone. “Get in here now, you can shut it down here.”

“The computer will look obvious.” I say getting up from my spot and run across the grassy fields and up the white marble stairs.

“Then what do you do? It’s not like there is a bathroom close by.”

“I can access it from my phone after I set up all the details. I’ll just have to text the code in .7 seconds.”

“Great, will you still be able to watch Iris when she goes in?”

“Miss all electronics have to go through the metal detector.” I look to see a security guard blocking my way to the exhibit and gesturing to the bag check.

“Sorry.” I say and put my bag and phone in a box that went quickly through. I snatched the items back up. “Fran?”

“Still here, so can you?” She asked referring to her previous question.

“Yeah but it may take a little longer to get my phone to be able to do all that.”

“Just hurry, call me when you’re ready.” The line disconnects and I go into the bathroom. A few people were in, mostly high school students fixing their makeup. They left quickly after.

I go into a stall and lock the stall door getting my laptop out again. I plug a USB cord into the laptop to download the information onto my phone. My foot taps the floor impatiently. A few minutes later the download was complete.

I hear the door open and giggles come inside the bathroom. I groan mentally and try and think this through. After erasing the laptop I put it behind the base of the toilet, easily seen by anyone, so it was there for the taking. I flush the toilet and walk out of the stall to wash my hands quickly and skirt past them and went back into the hustle and bustle.