The Musketeers BBC / I can't breathe without you

Attack

Chapter 16: Attack

Hey, here is chapter 16 for you guys. I would say, the title will give you a little teaser what happens in the following lines. I would be happy, if some of you would write a little comment or so. :D 

So far, the night was very quiet. The whole chateau lay in darkness, the only thing visible was the rhythmic blinking light on the security cameras. Jonsen had the nightshift today and was at his usual place in the surveillance room. His counterpart, Bernand, was out doing his round. Jonsen's seniority allowed him to stay in the surveillance room; he had proven himself enough.

The room had two desks set against the wall, with a smaller table in the middle of the room. Above the desks was a bank of ten monitors, cycling through the different cameras. Jonsen had a keyboard and control panel to manually select specific cameras, zoom in and out and change the camera angle.

One of the monitors had just switched to an outside area and Jonsen noticed two figures, However, they quickly turned out to be Athos and Aramis, both of whom were supporting the "nightwatchmen" – the affectionate nickname for the security team assigned primarily to the night shifts – tonight and kept an eye on the possible blind spots within the security net. A lot of the men, Jonsen included, had families and did not mind taking the occasional night shift, since it meant that they could spend the day with their families.

The monitor switched again. It looked to be a quiet night, but suddenly Jonsen noticed a shadow moving near the gallery. The monitor automatically cycled on and he reached for the control panel, typing a command to switch the view back to the gallery. He rotated the camera in all directions, but could not see anything suspicious. Other cameras in the vicinity of the gallery did not show anything out of the ordinary either.

He reached for the walkie-talkie on the table beside him. "Bernand, come in." Only static greeted him. "Come in, Bernand. Do you read?" he tried again, still without success. "Merde..." he cursed, activating the automatic facial recognition programme. Now the cameras would scan every recorded face and compare it to the database. If a person was not recognized, a silent alarm would go out to the security team covering the respective area. Jonsen checked his gun and left the room the check out the gallery and the access to Louis' rooms himself.

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"Looks like a quiet night again," Aramis remarked, perched on the railing and watching Athos, who was checking possible hiding places.

"Don't tempt fate," Athos said. Suddenly, both their cellphones started to vibrate. "You just had to jinx it..."

Both men took out their cellphones. The display showed a message that an unknown face has been registered near the fireside room. Immediately, Aramis hopped of the railing. "Anne," was all he said.

"He's close to the king," Athos noted, checking the location of the camera that had recorded the intruder. "I'll check out the access to Louis's rooms. Who's on duty tonight?"

"Jonsen and Bernand are manning the cameras," Aramis said, anxious to leave.

"Good, they're sure to keep an eye on the intruder. Call the others, silent alarm only. We want to catch whoever it is. Make sure our guest are safe." Athos quietly issued the orders, before they split up, Athos to the fireside room, Aramis in the opposite direction, since Anne's rooms were closer to the English Garden.

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When Athos arrived at the fireside room, he saw a person lying on the floor in the passage to the west wing. He drew his gun and slowly approached the unmoving body. He could see now that it was a man. He knelt down, still keeping an eye on his surroundings. A short look down and he recognized the man lying before him. It was Jonsen. Athos checked his pulse, but even after 30 seconds he felt nothing. Since the current situation demanded radio silence, he could neither report the death nor call an ambulance, which would most probably be too late anyway. Smoothly he rose to his feet again and hurried on to the king, his gun drawn.