Artemis Fowl_ The Opal Deception - Eoin Colfer [13]
Both men turned their keys simultaneously. The master key safeguard prevented a thief opening a box with a single key. If the two keys were not turned within one second of each other, the box would not open.
The light around both keys switched from red to green. The door on Butler’s safe-deposit box popped open.
“Thank you, Bertholt,” said Butler, reaching into the box.
“Of course, sir,” replied Bertholt, almost bowing. “I’ll be right outside. Even with the camera, there is a three-minute inspection rule. So I’ll see you in one hundred and eighty seconds.”
Once the bank official had gone, Artemis shot his bodyguard a quizzical look.
“Alfonse?” he said out of the side of his mouth. “I don’t remember deciding on a name for my character.”
Butler set the stopwatch on his chronograph. “I was improvising, Artemis. I thought the situation required it. And if I may say so, you make a very convincing obnoxious teenager.”
“Thank you, old friend. I try.”
Butler removed an architect’s drawing from his deposit box, unfolding the document until it was almost six feet square. He held it at arm’s length, apparently studying the design inked onto the paper.
Artemis glanced upward at the ceiling-mounted camera. “Raise your arms another two inches and take a step to your left.”
Butler did so casually, covering the movements with a cough, and a shake of the parchment.
“Good. Perfect. Stay right there.”
When Butler had rented the box on his last visit, he’d taken numerous photographs of the vault with a button camera. Artemis had used these photos to render a digital reconstruction of the room. According to his calculations, Butler’s present position provided Artemis with a thirty-three-foot box of cover. In that area his movements would be hidden by the drawing. At the moment, only his trainers could be seen by the security guards.
Artemis rested his back against a wall of security boxes, between two steel benches. He braced both arms against the benches, levering himself out of the oversized trainers. Carefully, the boy slid onto the bench.
“Keep your head down,” advised Butler.
Artemis rooted through his backpack for the video cube. Though the box did actually play a computer game, its primary function was an X-ray panel with real-time viewing. The X-ray panels were in common usage among the upper criminal echelons, and it had been a relatively simple matter for Artemis to disguise one as a teenager’s toy.
Artemis activated the X-ray, sliding it across the door of the deposit box beside Butler’s. The bodyguard had rented his box two days after Crane and Sparrow. It stood to reason that the boxes would be close to one another, unless Crane and Sparrow had requested a specific number. In that case it was back to the drawing board. Artemis reckoned that this first attempt to steal The Fairy Thief had a forty percent chance of success. These were not ideal odds, but he had no option but to go ahead. At the very least, he would learn more about the bank’s security.
The game cube’s small screen revealed that the first box was stuffed with currency.
“Negative,” said Artemis. “Cash only.”
Butler raised an eyebrow. “You know what they say; you can never have too much cash.”
Artemis had already moved on to the next box. “Not today, old friend. But let’s keep up the rental on our box, in case we ever need to return.”
The next box contained legal papers tied together with ribbons. The one after that was piled high with loose diamonds in a tray. Artemis struck gold on the fourth box. Figuratively speaking. Inside the deposit box was a long tube containing a rolled-up canvas.
“I think we have it, Butler. I think this could be it.”
“Time enough to get excited when the painting is hanging on the wall in Fowl Manor. Hurry up, Artemis, my arms are beginning to ache.”
Artemis steadied himself. Of course Butler was right. They were still a long way from possessing The Fairy Thief, if indeed this painting was Hervé’s lost masterpiece. It could just as easily be some proud grandfather’s crayon