Huuygens looked up from the file, surprised.
“Who else would account for all the lights being on in the whole building? One light here or another there could mean someone working late, or a meeting, or something on that order, but all the lights on in all the different offices? They probably have women working in the other offices in the building right now; when they finish they’ll go to another building.” He stopped to frown. “That wouldn’t be a bad method of robbing a place,” he said thoughtfully. “Break in and instead of stumbling around with a flashlight, turn on every light in the place. Ah, well, maybe another time...” He turned back to the file. “Museum, museum...”
“Gallery,” André said, wanting to contribute at least something to the evening’s endeavor.
“That’s right, I forgot. Here we are. Well, well. One full drawer, just for the security system. And I would be willing to bet,” he went on, “that the duplicate copies of these security drawings held by the army in their barracks are in a safe inside of a safe inside of a safe!” He shook his head humorously. “How it goes! Well, let’s hope most of these are detail drawings; I’d hate to have to wade through all of them to find what we want. We don’t have all night.”
He leafed through the vellum sheets, noting the titles in each bottom right-hand corner; then, with a nod of triumph he pulled one out.
“Here we are. ‘Basement Electrical — General Layout.’ Let’s have some better light on it.” He carried it to one of the drafting tables, laid it flat, and pulled the gooseneck lamp over, flicking the switch. “That’s better. All right, André, where are we?”
André bent over the drawing.
“Let’s see. Yes. This must be that little room I came into first, where they have the junk and the repair shop. And this is the corridor, and here are the steps.” He looked at Kek. “We ought to have the first-floor plan, too, to see where the floor alarms are.”
“We know where the floor alarms are,” Kek said reasonably. “All around the carving case. What we want is the power source, and that should be on this drawing.”
They bent over the vellum again. André checked the list of symbols neatly printed on the edge of the drawing and then returned to his study. His heavy finger came down.
“Here we are. These are the mains coming in from the street. They go to this box, here. If this thing isn’t just schematic, it would be in the basement corridor. Those would be the main fuses.”
Kek nodded. “Fine! That’s what we want. Is there anything there indicating telephones?”
“They wouldn’t be on this, but it ought to be easy enough to trace those from the nearest telephone pole.”
“True. By the way, do you remember seeing that fuse box in the corridor when you were there?”
André grinned. He was feeling better.
“On the way in I wasn’t looking, and on the way out I didn’t have time for any sight-seeing. But if it shows on the plan, there isn’t any reason why it shouldn’t be there.”
“True enough.” Kek carried the drawing back to the cabinet. He replaced it in its proper numerical position, closed the drawer, and returned to the drafting table. The gooseneck lamp was arched into its original position and Kek stepped back.
“Good enough. Step one completed, more or less. Shall we go?”
“For a beer?”
“Later!” Kek said firmly.
“All right,” André responded with remarkable tractability. The fact was that after the incredible ease with which they had entered the architect’s office and gotten the information they wanted, André had been convinced that robbing the museum — gallery, that was — would present no great problem. Although he had no idea of what Kek planned to do, his faith was high; now all he wanted was to get it over and get back to the brandy aboard the Beachcomber. He looked at Kek admiringly. “How come you never went in for this sort of thing before? You have a flair for it.”
Kek looked at André soberly.
“I’m not so sure I have,” he said quietly, “and I sincerely hope I don’t find out I don’t before tonight is over!”
9
“It is the height of simplicity,” Huuygens observed. There was an assurance to his voice he was far from feeling. “If the idiots who designed the building had simply put the toilets in the basement, where they are in any other self-respecting museum, all we’d have to do is wait for one of them to visit the place. But since they didn’t, we’ll have to do it this way. We make enough noise to make the guards suspicious. One comes to investigate—” He raised his shoulders. “Voilà.”
The two men were strolling along the main street, their words lost in the cacophony about them. André’s interest in the conversation was such that even the soft calls from the bar doorways did not register on his consciousness. He listened to the words of his old friend and found them highly dubious.
“And if both guards come down to investigate our little noise?”
“All the better,” Kek said positively, and mentally crossed his fingers. “We simply take them, tie them up, lift the carving, and trot back to our little boat. Without, I might mention, stopping for any beer. Fini.”
André retreated. “And if only one comes downstairs?”
“As I said, we disarm him—”
“And if he yells?”
“We do our best to see he does not yell.” Kek held up his hand at once. “I don’t mean that the way I have a feeling you might think I do, if you know what I mean.”
“No,” André said honestly.
“I’m not surprised. It wasn’t well put. I mean, you hold his mouth and then we tape it up. Or, if absolutely necessary to prevent an outcry, I suppose you could knock him out, or something. But only as a last resort. And as gently as possible.”
“Gently?”
“I said, as possible. The less violence the better. I don’t want anyone hurt, that’s rule number one.”
“Including us.” André was in complete agreement. “Let’s make that rule zero. Or even minus one.”
“Fair enough. However,” Kek pointed out, “since we’re the aggressors, the burden of being careful falls on us. I don’t mind becoming a burglar — well, I do, but never mind — what I mean is I don’t want to end up being anything beyond that. Is that clear?”
André nodded. “So we have the first one tied up and gagged — because we don’t have any tape — and his partner comes down to find out what is taking the first one so long. And then we take him, too. Is that the idea?”
“In general, yes. And we do have tape. I have it in my pocket.”
André considered him admiringly. “You think of everything!” His face shifted to a small frown as he returned to considering the night’s work ahead. “But what if, when the first guard doesn’t return upstairs, instead of coming down to find out what happened, the second guard simply calls for reinforcements?”
“We intend to cut the telephone wires first, remember?”
“But what if he calls by walkie-talkie?”
“Then we run as fast as we can,” Kek said sourly. “You keep going on and on about walkie-talkies. What makes you think they have walkie-talkies? Did you see any on the daytime guards when you were in there?”
“No,” André admitted. He had been pleased with his role as devil’s advocate, but he was ready to be quitted of it. “Anyway, even if they have them we’ll be able to see them before we start anything. Like I told you, you can get a perfect look at that room through the railing from that alcove on the stair landing. You’re in the dark and they’re in the light. If they’ve got walkie-talkies, we’ll see them. Worse comes to worse, we can revise our plans—”