The Dark Persian (short story)

2:43AM. The Louver, Paris France…

The metro stopped at 1:15 AM. A single guard walks down an old-fashioned hallway. Art pieces line the walls on either side of him. He stops at a doorway and peers into a room. Inside there is a large display in the middle of the room almost a fake wall with red velvet ropes surrounding it.

On the wall inside a box made of bulletproof glass, a single painting inside a frame hangs. The guard looks into the silent room for a few moments and then continues his rounds.

As soon as he has pasted and his footsteps have faded. Glowing eyes appear in the dark above the display. They seem to be suspended in mid-air. The glow comes from a pair of night vision goggles their owner breathes out the breath she hadn’t realized she was holding while the night guard past.

She presses a button on her belt and continues to repel toward the display as if she had never been interrupted. As she reaches a height level with the glass box she carefully places a device that can be used to disarm any alarms and security measures protecting the art inside. She pushes a button on it effectively jamming any and all signals that could alert the authorities.

Once again reaching for her belt this time she pulls from it what looks at first glance to be a pen but as she points it toward the glass it radiates a small point of red-hot light. The glass under the little point of light begins to melt and carefully she draws the laser down the seams of the glass display box.

Her gloved hand steady under ready to catch the panel of glass should it slip. When the front of the case has been removed she reaches in carefully and holds the $790,000,000 painting of the Mona Lisa. Placing the painting into a bag that has been resting on her back, it slides into a contraption that is exact dimensions of the frame that holds it so there is no chance of damaging the art. Returning the bag to her back. She then reheats the display glass until it melts back into place. Leaving in the paintings place a tiny origami cat resting in the bottom of the display glass.

“Now the real challenge,” she whispers to herself.

Lowering herself to the ground she unclips the pulley attached to the ceiling and quietly moves to the doorway of the room. Peeking out she sees the hall is clear for the moment. Across from the door on the wall to the right, there is a vent. Leaving the safety of the side room and entering the hall she moves quickly to the vent. Adrenalin pumping faster than before she rapidly unscrews that air vent from the wall with a multi-tool.

Gently placing the grate to the side she crawls into the opening in the wall head first. “Alright Maggie time to book it, I’ve only got a limited time until that guard comes snooping around again.” She mutters to herself the sound muffled by the mask she wears. She follows the vents up to the top floor. Strangely she hasn’t heard any alarms yet. “So far, so good,” she breathes thinking out loud. On the top floor, she finds the went with hinges on it left open and sliding her small body out into a less traveled hallway. Windows line the wall across from the vent she had just vacated. She moves to the window directly across from her. It leads out onto a ledge attached to the roof. Using another blocking device she places it on the window frame turns it on then slowly opens the window. A cool breeze touches her face as crouching she steps onto the ledge and climbs up to the roof. Smiling behind the mask as she climbs. When she reaches the roof pauses for a moment she just looks at the lights of Paris, enjoying the beauty and the chill of the cold night air.

“Another victory,” she says still smiling.

“I wouldn’t celebrate just yet.” A semi-deep voice say from behind her, making her blood run cold.

Swearing under her breath she slowly turns to face the owner of the voice. expecting to see some sort of law enforcement or guard. The man who confronts her is surprisingly neither.

Dressed in all black the same as her, but instead of a mask, he wore what looked to be sunglasses and a beanie. Blond hair stuck out in the front of his hat, he was smiling.

“Is he smiling at me?” Maggie wondered for a second. Then spoke again.

“Let me guess, by the looks of those cute little cat ears on your mask and the black outfit you must be the infamous Dark Persian. Did you leave the little origami cat that is your calling card?” The stranger asked.

“Of course,” she replied. Then with a fake apologetic tone to her voice. “What was your name I didn’t catch it before.”

His smile grew at that and he answered with, “that’s because I never shared it.”

“I see,” she almost purred true to character. “well it was nice chatting with you but I really must be on my way.” She turned as if to leave.

In a flash, he was beside her. Startled she jumped out of his reach just in time… Or so she thought until she felt a tug, looking down she realized he had caught the strap of her bag.

“You won’t be leaving with this,” he stated. The smile was gone from his face and voice.

Before he could move to stop her a second time she pulled a pistol from her belt and had it against his head. Clicking a bullet into the chamber in less than the time it took him to reach her the first time. She was the one smiling now as he froze in place.

“Just one question,” she mocked. While pretending to examine her fingernails, considering she was still wearing gloves.

“What’s with the sunglasses at night? Is it because your future is so bright?” She mused with a smirk.

Ignoring the question he said coolly. “So the kitty does have claws.” As he slowly backed away letting go of the bag.

Her gun still pointed at his head. She couldn’t tell if there was fear behind his glasses or not, but he seemed more amused than anything else.

“Well Kitty it was nice to meet you but it seems my plans are cut short since your ride seems to have arrived.”

As he spoke the helicopter she had been waiting on swooped close to the roof dropping a rope ladder from its belly. Shouting to be heard over the sound of the propeller the last thing she said to him was, “well aren’t you charming, ditto Sunglasses.” As she stepped onto the ladder and was carried away into the night.