Why indeed Mr Scant said glancing down at the long-haired boy who had led us here It seems your little friend thinks we should have a look inside Meeting Mr Scant’s eye the child gestured toward the door and said in his small voice Julien j’pense qu’il est I risked another glimpse Is that one of those Maxim guns he has One of the men was huge and obviously very strong because he was holding a very big gun The other one was there simply to hold the chain of bullets but had his own rifle on his back It was not a very heartening sight A Hotchkiss said Mr Scant Though no mat ter who makes a gun its effect on your general health and well-being will be much the same On the other hand if he thinks he can heft that monster and fire it with any accuracy his poor judgment will be to our advantage Let’s hope this is the only obstacle that stands between us and Reggie Do you think we’ll find him inside If I know my brother he’s gotten himself in hot water It would be wise to make sure Should we find a window or something to look in through 2
What do you think Master Oliver I paused I suppose even if we look in we won’t be sure unless we check everywhere That means we need to be able to get inside Should we try to sneak in somewhere else I would prefer to deal with these two now if that’s all the same to you Master Oliver Best not to risk their overhearing our investigations and catching us by surprise if we sneak in And well if I find out something has happened to my brother I’ll have dif ficulty restraining myself Mr Scant had raised his claw There was an omi nous quality to the way the long sharp blades caught the dim evening light I licked my dry lips I suppose for their sake we’d better deal with them now then Is it going to be that easy I shouldn’t think it will be especially difficult I shall approach from the side and we’ll see how quickly he can turn that great gun of his around What should I do Make sure your little vagabond friend stays exactly where he is And if they shoot me well I suppose that will distract them long enough for you to bop them on the head and have a look around 3
yourself On your way out I would be grateful if you could pick up whatever pieces of me are left I wasn’t sure if this was Mr Scant’s idea of a joke He wasn’t really the joking sort So I nodded and put my hands close enough to the French boy’s shoulders that I could grab him if he did anything unexpected yet without having to actually touch his jacket Mr Scant cycled the blades of his claw to ensure they were all moving as expected His maintenance routine remained meticulous no matter where in the world he was Then he gave me a nod before jump ing up to scale the wall I fought the compulsion to peer around at the guards and thankfully the boy just watched the place where Mr Scant had vanished as though afraid we would never see him again It was about twenty seconds later that we heard the great roar of the big gun for only half a second before abruptly it stopped 4
I La Gioconda Do you think you could steal it Mr Scant raised an eyebrow at me For what reason Master Oliver I’m just curious Mr Scant regarded the small painting again The Mona Lisa looked back with the placid expression of one with no eyebrows to raise Anyone can steal anything that does not belong to them at any time You know what I mean I said as we turned away to let the next visitors look at the ordinary but apparently well-known painting Could you steal it without getting caught I would like to think I would manage The Louvre is too large to guard perfectly I smiled Maybe but Dr Mikolaitis says this one’s special Maybe it has special protection 5
