Kingdom of Scourge and Shadow (The Sightstone Series #1)

Chapter Forty-Four: Natalie

"The key to preparedness is what I like to refer to as the Six Ps. In other words, 'Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance.' If one plans for every contingency, then eventually, I believe, one can all but eliminate Sod's Law."

-On Military Strategy, Vol. 3, General Van Daal

***

 It was almost a let-down, Natalie's first glimpse of the gallery. After all the build-up, after all the planning, the reality of a long, dark room with stone floors and stone walls, paintings hanging at even intervals along the wall, and glass cases set atop dark wood podiums, was a bit of a disappointment.

She'd expected something more like the archives, something cozy and softly-lit, with scholars and academics dissecting the merits of every piece or art, with lengthy descriptions of the artifacts housed in the cases, with warm, wood-paneled walls and bright carpets covering the floors.

Instead, the gallery was freezing cold and draughty, dimly lit with magelights' unnaturally pale flames starkly illuminating the art. The metal plaques that hung next to the paintings and from the wood podiums bore only brief lettering, detailing nothing more than the name of the object or piece of art, where it had been found, who made it, and the date it had been made.

As Natalie and the others strolled through the door, their footfalls echoed loudly, amplified by the shape of the long hall. Natalie could hear the echoes of other people's conversations, strangely distorted as their voices rang off the stone walls and floor.

There were only a handful of people browsing the art. In fact, the guests were outnumbered by their guards. Natalie counted six guests–two couples and two high-ranking military officials on their own–and eight guards, all lightly-armed, bearing only nightsticks and knives. None of them carried guns; it was forbidden on the grounds of the embassy. Even Jan hadn't wanted to take that risk, because doubtless the Inventor would have sensed a pistol on him on their way out.

"Twenty-five minutes," Jan muttered, somehow keeping his voice from carrying. "Get familiar with the space and what's worth taking."

Nobody answered; there was no reason to speak. They all knew the roles they were to play. Natalie and Aleksei's role was twofold. As the two people most knowledgeable about art and artifacts–which, in Natalie's case, wasn't saying much–they were there to scout out what, aside from the fake necklace, was worth taking, and also as decoys, to keep the other visitors and guards from getting suspicious. They would remain after the heist, while Jan and Max would sneak out, and Zoya would leave with the plunder after the heist, and try to lay a false trail, confusing the narrative as much as possible to allow the Specters to get away without trouble. Ideally, Jan had told them, they were to find a way to implicate the Spiders and the Serpents–assuming, of course, that they could do so without arousing further suspicion.

For now, though, they had to wait. Jan had allocated a half-hour for Zoya to squeeze through the vast network of vents from the far side of the building. They'd move at ten, assuming that she could get into position and signal when she was there. If she didn't make it, they were to allow a quarter-hour of wiggle room before leaving, just in case. Then, they would leave, assuming she'd been captured or couldn't make it for some other reason, and would wait, either for her to arrive, or for information of her capture, back at the hotel suite that Captain and Mrs. Lazarov were staying in at the Hotel Ambassade.

Aleksei placed his hand on the small of Natalie's back and steered her towards the nearest painting, a landscape of the Saroviyan coast. According to the plaque next to it, it was meant to be the land around Valyograd in the south, though, to Natalie, it looked more like a fantasy world. There were even angels in the clouds. And she'd never heard of the painter, which meant it probably wasn't worth much.