Artemis Fowl_ The Opal Deception - Eoin Colfer [14]
Artemis moved the X-ray machine down to the bottom of the box. There were no manufacturer’s markings on the door, but often craftsmen were proud and could not resist placing a signature somewhere. Even if nobody knew it was there but them. Artemis searched for maybe twenty seconds before he found what he was looking for. Inside the door itself, on the rear panel was engraved the word Blokken.
“Blokken,” said the boy triumphantly. “We were right.”
There were only six firms in the world capable of constructing deposit boxes of this quality. Artemis had hacked their computers and found International Bank on the Blokken client list. Blokken was a small family company in Vienna that also made boxes for several banks in Geneva and the Cayman Islands. Butler had paid their workshop a little visit and stolen two master keys. Of course, the keys were metal, and would not escape the detector arch, unless for some reason metal had been allowed through.
Artemis reached two fingers into his mouth, dislodging the brace from his upper teeth. Behind the brace itself was a plastic retainer, and clipped to that were two keys. The master keys.
Artemis rotated his jaw for a few seconds. “That feels better,” he said. “I thought I was going to gag.”
The next problem was one of distance. There were eight feet between the deposit box and the master keyhole by the door. Not only was it impossible for one person to open the door unassisted, but whoever stood by the master keyhole would be visible to the security guards.
Artemis pulled his scooter from the backpack. He yanked one pin from its socket, detaching the steering column from the footrest. This was no ordinary scooter. An engineer friend of Butler’s had constructed it from very specific blueprints. The footrest was completely regular, but the steering column turned into a telescope at the touch of a spring-release button. Artemis unscrewed one handgrip, reattaching it at the other end of the column. There was a slit in the end of each grip, into which Artemis screwed a master key. Now all he had to do was insert both keys into their corresponding keyholes and turn them simultaneously.
Artemis slotted one key into Crane and Sparrow’s box.
“Ready?” he asked Butler.
“Yes,” replied his bodyguard. “Don’t go one step farther than you have to.”
“Three, two, one. Go.”
Artemis pressed the spring-release button on the steering column. He shuffled across the bench, pulling the telescoping pole behind him. As the boy moved, Butler swiveled his trunk so that Artemis remained shielded by the blueprint. He moved the plan just far enough to cover the master keyhole, without exposing Artemis’s legless shoes. However, the target box, complete with telescoping pole, was visible for the time it took Artemis to insert the second key.
The master keyhole was three feet beyond the end of the steel bench. Artemis leaned as far as he could without losing his balance, slotting the key into its hole. It fit snugly. Artemis shuffled back quickly. Now Butler could once again mask Crane and Sparrow’s box. The entire plan hinged on the assumption that the guards would be concentrating on Butler, and not notice a slim pole extending toward the master keyhole. It would help that the pole was precisely the same color as the safe-deposit boxes.
Artemis returned to the original box, twisting the handgrip. A pulley and cable system inside the pole twisted the other handgrip simultaneously. Both locks flashed green. Crane and Sparrow’s box popped open. Artemis felt a moment of satisfaction. His contraption had worked. Then again, there was no reason it shouldn’t: all the laws of physics had been obeyed. Amazing how the tightest of electronic security could be defeated by a pole, a pulley, and a brace.
“Artemis,” groaned Butler. “Keeping my arms up is becoming uncomfortable. So, if you wouldn’t mind.”
Artemis cut short his mental celebration. They were not out of the vault yet. He turned the grips back to their original position, then yanked the bar toward him. Both keys popped from their