Double Vision (22 page)

“You two should get together sometime,” I mumbled. “All we need to do is get within twenty feet. So once we're inside the gift shop, it should be easy to find the evil
Mona Lisa
.”

We made our way back to the giant Louvre central courtyard, going against the flow of tourists. The fire alarm stunt I'd pulled had probably changed their plans for the day.

“Watch out!” I pulled Françoise's sleeve as I saw him: Drake, scanning the crowd for his precious children.

We used the clusters of tourists to hide and get closer to the museum. Sometimes being a kid comes in mighty handy: you're short, and everyone assumes you belong to the adult you stand closest to.

“Let's sneak in,” Françoise said once we reached the pyramid entrance to the Louvre.

But a guard stopped us in our tracks. “There are no visitors allowed in the museum,” he said matter-of-factly. “There was a fire alarm.”

“We lost our parents, and now we're trying to find them,” Françoise said with a smile. She could be pretty nice and sweet when she wanted to be.

“There are no visitors inside,” the guard simply said, pointing at the plaza that stretched to the other side of the pyramid. “They're probably out here somewhere.” This wasn't going to work.

Françoise nodded.

And then I saw him: Benjamin Green. He was propping open a door on the far end of the southern wall, motioning for us to come inside.

Like he was our ally.

NO, THANKS. I WOULDN'T TRUST BENJAMIN
Green if he was the last person on earth.

“Hey, isn't that Benjamin Green?” Françoise asked me, poking my ribs. The door was still cracked open a little. “Is he keeping it open for us?”

I pulled her arm, since she seemed ready to run on over. “What if this is a trap? Why would we trust this guy?”

Françoise motioned at the guard. “We don't have too many other options, do we?”

All right, so she had a point, much as I hated to admit it. I followed Françoise, looking over my shoulder one last time for Drake. We slipped inside the Louvre through the door Ben was holding open, into a narrow corridor.

Ben was instantly up in my face. “What are you two doing here? It's a good thing I saved you. Don't you know that Drake is right outside?”

“Which is why we're in here with you.” My face was inches from his. I could see Ben's left eye was twitching. He looked tired. “So are you going to turn us over to Drake now?”

“That's a negative.” Ben stepped back. “Infiltrating Drake's organization was my top secret mission. To get the Dangerous Double to a secure location.”

“Really? Seems like teaming up with the bad guy is the worst way to do that.”

“Actually, it's pretty smart,” Françoise said next to me. “Drake is after the Dangerous Double, too. Joining him would let you snatch the painting out of his hands as soon as he got it.”

“Thanks for the support, Françoise.”

“She's right.” Ben nodded. “After we visited the bakery, Pandora set up the exchange. But we all knew it was a doomed effort. Then Agent Fullerton told me Albert Black had decided the best way to get to the Dangerous Double was for me to go deep undercover. Top secret. No contact with the Pandora team.”

“But Albert Black knew nothing about this,” I said.

Ben actually looked embarrassed as he continued. “By the time I figured that out, you'd checked me out of the Princesse Hotel, and I was being interrogated by Albert Black,” Ben said. “Agent Fullerton even had me believing that I couldn't trust Albert Black, that he was the one who was crooked.”

“So you were double-crossed,” Françoise said, sounding sympathetic.

“That's correct,” Benjamin Green said.

“We're supposed to believe you were one of the good guys all along?” I couldn't help feeling irritated.

“It doesn't matter what you believe.” Ben's face hardened. “What matters is finishing our mission: to find the evil
Mona Lisa
and keep everyone safe.”

“Super-Agent Ben, to the rescue,” I joked, but he ignored me. Françoise told him about the clue we found in the tunnels.

“Hmmm, do you know anyone with the initials
NW
?” Ben asked, crossing his arms with a serious frown on his face.

“Actually, Linc figured out that
NW
stands for
northwest
, like on a compass,” Françoise said. “There's a gift shop northwest of the pyramid. We think my father hid the evil
Mona Lisa
there.”

“Nice job, Baker.” Ben slapped my shoulder.

“Don't sound so surprised.”

“Let's not waste any more time standing around,” Ben said.

“I couldn't agree more.” The guy was getting on my nerves. “Let's get to the gift shop already, before Drake finds us.”

Ben and I followed Françoise past a whole bunch of Roman statues, marble columns, high ceilings with gold-leaf detail—enough to make you dizzy. Luckily, the hall was deserted. We were so busy looking back for Drake, that when we turned left, we walked right into a group of guards.

One of them looked up and raised an eyebrow. He said something in French, and all the guards turned to face us. There was nowhere to hide.

Françoise smiled. “We lost our parents,” she said.

I'm pretty sure Ben and I were both holding our breaths, waiting for these guards to come over and handcuff us or something. Neither one of us had the guts to say anything or make a run for it. Let's face it, we were busted.

But then one of the guards smiled. “How did you kids manage to miss the fire alarm evacuation?” He shook his head. “I'll take you outside.”

“Actually, I think they're in the gift shop,” I tried. I took my phone out my pocket. “Mom just called me and told me so.”

The guard frowned, then motioned for us to follow him. “We make it quick, yes?”

THERE'S SOMETHING REALLY COOL ABOUT
being in a museum as grand as the Louvre when it's closed, and only a few guards are around. Our footsteps echoed as we made our way down the stairs, to the massive lobby under the pyramid. It was almost like being in church or at the ocean—it made me feel small. I thought of Grandpa, and hoped he was okay.

And I hoped we could fib our way inside that gift shop.

“There it is,” the guard said once we got to the north end of the hallway—northwest, I guessed, thinking of Dad's compass.

At the entrance there was an old lady, with silver hair that looked like it had been set with at least half a container of hairspray. She had a small pin in the shape of a flame on the lapel of her pink dress.

The guard spoke to her in French. The gift shop lady must've said the right thing, because he nodded and took off.

“I'm Madame Basque,” the lady said as she shook Françoise's hand. “I'm a friend of your father's.”

“She's the kind lady.” I was feeling pretty smart right about then.

Madame Basque blinked, looking at Ben and me. “Twins. How fascinating.”

“We're not twins, actually,” I argued. “We just look alike.”

“You copied me,” Ben said.

“Only because I had to.”

“Guys!” Françoise smacked me on the shoulder. “Seriously.” To Madame Basque, “My father sent me here for something. A painting.”

Madame Basque smiled at Françoise. “You're here for your package.” Françoise nodded.

“Follow me.” We followed her down a narrow hallway. “The storage room is back here.” The room was the size of Dad's auto shop and was lit by just a dangling bulb, casting shadows across rows and rows of boxes, storage racks full of snow globes, and big replicas of the Eiffel Tower.

“Which box is it?” Françoise asked Madame Basque.

“He didn't tell me. But he marked the box with a red flame symbol—just in case I would run across it. Not that I've seen it.” Madame Basque sighed. “For my safety, he said. I think your father was afraid whoever is after the painting would come here and make me tell.”

“It'll take hours to go through all these boxes!” Françoise was losing it a little now. “We don't have time for that. How am I supposed to find it?”

“With Henry's help,” I said, and pulled the Double Detector from my cargo pants' pocket. I punched the blue button four times. Waited for the blue screen to show, hoping Henry would come through for us.

Now, you knew he would, right? Henry is a genius. The screen showed a bright red rectangle, in the far right corner of the stockroom.

“Tell Henry he gets free croissants for life!” Françoise rushed over to the stack of boxes, and with Ben's help she manuevered the one that held the evil
Mona Lisa
free. Sure enough, there was a little red flame drawn on it.

“Should we verify the contents?” Ben asked. It was the first time I'd heard him ask something, not order it.

Françoise dug into her pocket and pulled out the glasses, the ones her father had given her on the plane. Then she handed them to me. “You go ahead.”

Ben crossed his arms, giving me a little glare. He obviously wasn't used to being the bystander.

I took the glasses, feeling my heart race as I pried the top off the box. “You know you're only letting me do this because you're too much of a chicken.” But neither one of us laughed. With the help of Françoise and Ben (who looked away), I lifted the wooden frame from the box.

I looked at the painting, blurred by the old glasses. “Hey, this one has eyebrows!”

Françoise laughed. “All right, let's pack her up now that we know it's the evil
Mona Lisa
.”

We did, and Ben and I helped her lift the box. I was distracted by finding the evil historic treasure, because should I now turn the painting over to Drake to save Grandpa, knowing it might be used as a weapon? Much as I loved Grandpa, I knew I couldn't.

As we moved to leave, I heard a door slam shut behind us. And I turned to look at the face I saw when this all began, the face of the man who was supposed to protect me on this mission. Agent Fullerton.

He pointed a gun at us and smiled. “I knew I could count on you for a diversion. And then for Ben to lead me right here? It's too good to be true.”

Ben looked embarrassed. “You followed me.”

“Thanks a lot, Agent Green,” I mumbled. I looked for a speedy escape, but there was none.

Agent Fullerton waved his gun. “Drop the box. The evil
Mona Lisa
is mine now.”

WE LOWERED THE BOX. WHEN SOMEONE
is pointing a gun at you, you just don't get to argue or call the shots. And I knew Agent Fullerton well enough to know he wasn't afraid to use it.

“So that's why you wanted me to take Ben's place so bad?” I asked, looking for an escape. “To get me to find the evil
Mona Lisa
?”

Agent Fullerton laughed. “Heck, no. I didn't think you were smart enough. I just figured you would make for a good diversion, and I needed this operation to keep moving. That way Drake could get Mégère to give up the location of the Dangerous Double and the secret da Vinci collection, and then I'd take out Drake.

“Of course, that was plan A, which you ruined, Linc.”

“You're welcome,” I mumbled.

“But things turned out so much better! All I had to do was get Drake to send one of his guys to California to take your grandfather for a little ride.”

“That was your idea?” I was about to jump Agent Fullerton, until I remembered the gun.

“Nothing like a little pressure on the family to get someone to do what you want. You led me right to the painting, and I get the five hundred million dollars.” He checked his watch. “Just in time for the one o'clock transaction. Thanks, kids.”

“You set me up?” Benjamin Green asked.

“You were just too good at your job,” Agent Fullerton said with a shrug. “I needed you out of the way, and what better way than a ‘deep undercover' mission.” He laughed. “I knew you couldn't resist.”

Ben swallowed. I actually felt bad for the guy now.

“So now what?” I asked Fullerton, looking for a way out of this jam. “You're going to sell this evil
Mona Lisa
to some bad guy who'll use it to hypnotize a mob? Don't you care about the death and destruction you'll cause?”

“What they do with it, I don't care.” Agent Fullerton smiled. “I just want my money.”

If only some of our secret agent buddies like Albert Black or Agent Stark were here to see the true Agent Fullerton. But they were probably busy being miffed at me for missing the cab that we were supposed to catch.