Jax Sheppard and the Seven Mirrors by Sharon Warchol

Author:Sharon Warchol [Warchol, Sharon]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780990449904
Publisher: BookBaby
Published: 2014-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 16

Indigestion, a Naked Statue, and a Half-Naked Old Guy with Indigestion

The sun had dipped over the horizon. It had painted the evening sky with strokes of orange and pink. Our taxi had just dropped us off at the main gate of the palace. I, for one, was regretting that I had won the “Eat the Whole Duck and Your Meal Is Free” challenge. I rubbed my belly and groaned.

Cletus was wearing my duckbill hat prize. He clapped me on the back. “For a little guy, you can sure put away some waterfowl!”

“Boys!” Kat said. “Focus and follow me.”

She led our group all the way around the side of the palace. We went past the wing that William said contained the opera house, and behind the north-facing side. Finally, we stopped by a door in the back. Kat surveyed the area and then cracked open the door. My heart thumped in my ears—I was both excited and anxious. I braced myself for the squeal of an alarm. Luckily, the only sound was our own nervous, shallow breaths. We all filed through the door.

Kat motioned for us to stay behind her. We tiptoed along as she led us through a maze of darkened hallways with massive marble arches and impressive stone statues, and then up a set of steps to the second floor. Eventually, Kat paused in a magnificent room decked out with large panels containing bronze, stucco, and marble carvings. The centerpiece of the room was a wall panel with a massive carving showing one of the former kings riding a horse.

“This is the Salon of War,” William whispered. “And that,” he said, pointing to the carving, “was King Louis XIV. I saw it in my book. That means the Hall of Mirrors will be right through there." He pointed to an enormous arched opening.

Kat approached the opening. Her back was pressed against the wall. She peeked into the other room to see if it was clear. Just then, we all heard the rhythmic clicking of heels making their way across the wood floor. Someone was coming!

Kat waved us away from the door. We all crept to the other end of the room. I held my breath as a second set of footsteps joined the first. Muffled voices floated from the Hall of Mirrors.

I pressed my fingertips to my temples and tried to block out everything but the voices. There was squealing and static, and then the voices tuned in. It actually worked!

“Clearly, they are no longer here,” a thickly accented woman’s voice said. She sounded like a Russian spy.

“Are you sure we got the coordinates right?” It was a man’s voice now.

“The repository tracked the call to here. It wasn’t flagged as suspicious until the suspects’ profiles were distributed across the IOM database,” the woman said. “As soon as the customer service rep recognized the photograph of Jackson Sheppard, she notified KIA command center. According to the repository’s records, the call came in approximately six hours ago.”

“Then they’re obviously long gone by now.

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