Quite Lavish

The empty hallway offered her the opportunity to open her purse, take out the earpiece communicator, and ready it. Once set inconspicuously in her ear, she tested it. “Cleopatra has entered the temple, over,” She said softly. “Roger Cleopatra, this is John…er, Ra, over,”. “This is Osisris, over,” she heard the voice of the boss, “proceed Cleopatra, and confirm when you have discovered the pyramid, over.” “Copy that,” she acknowledged, wondering whose brilliant idea it was to pick the Egyptian theme for the communicator code. Regardless, it was time to get to work. She admired herself in the full-length hallway mirror, and as John had mentioned earlier, she was a knockout. Amanda ran her hands over her body, smoothing out the dress. She adjusted her breasts to pop out her cleavage a bit more, and adjusted the slit of the dress so that a good amount of her smooth thigh and leg was showing. She nodded to herself and then said confidently in a whisper, “let’s do this!”

Entering a larger circular formal hall, Amanda turned three-hundred and sixty degrees and admired the architecture. A mahogany staircase hugged the outside of the room and spiraled upward reaching a second and third floor. She walked a around the room, hearing the solid marble under her heels. This place was amazing, and this was only the front hall. From this room there was access not only to the other floors, but three other rooms.

Looking towards the right, she saw that the entrance opened up into a huge, high-ceiling, gallery room. As she entered, a server approached with a tray of champagne glasses and offered her one. Thanking him, she took one, and moved on to the rest of the room, feeling his eyes run over the back of her body as she walked onward. The room was definitely designed for art presentation, and was filled with rare works spanning the multiple genres of artistic expression. In one corner there was a variety of sculptures from the renaissance era, while the rest of the room housed paintings from all periods. Amanda felt a rush of energy through her body as she realized that regardless of what Kellner was up to, he did have a keen eye for art, and had amassed an impressive private collection. She was eager to view these pieces.

She stopped in front of Monet’s Water Lilies and became lost in the shades of blue and purple. She sipped her champagne when she heard a voice in the distance giving a message of welcome. She moved towards the sound. Passing by several fine paintings, she lingered at Van Gogh’s Cypresses and smiled at it like an old familiar friend before continuing onward to the voice.

As she turned a corner out of the room, she saw a large collection of people watching a man at the far end address them through a microphone. It was Dietrich Kellner. He matched his intelligence profile to a tee. Late fifties, clean-cut grey hair with just a speckling of black, just over six feet talk, and in remarkable shape for his age. He was an imposing figure, and she could see why he was able to wield so much power. He was flanked on each side by two people, a stunning red-haired woman of similar height wearing a short black dress that hugged her body. She was exactly the type of arm candy that she would expect Kellner to have. She was evidence of his power and wealth, and an example of his virility and prowess. The other person at Kellner’s side was Eric Melville, Kellner’s personal valet, representative, advisor, consultant, bodyguard, cohort, whatever you would call it. Melville was less of a public figure and little was known of his personal life, but his voracious sexual appetite for women, and his brute physical strength, was well known. Melville stood stoically next to Kellner, barely even blinking, and Amanda knew that she would have to pass through Melville to even get a shot at Kellner.

As he concluded his welcome greeting, Dietrich Kellner gestured to an easel to his left, the contents of which were concealed by a cloth. There was a hush of anticipation as Melville went to remove the cloth. The painting was revealed, and while Amanda couldn’t say that she had ever seen it before, the artistic style was definitely that of Alphonse Mucha. Kellner introduced the piece as a Mucha original that the world had never seen before, and Amanda believed it. There was fervour about the patrons as they whispered to each other about the work. Amanda remembered that some of Mucha’s works had been commissioned by Czech families of Jewish heritage. Could this work be one of those un-patriated pieces that should be returned to the original owners? Amanda noticed several buyers from the art gallery community, and no doubt they would recognize her, but only as a Van Gogh aficionado. She deduced that obviously Kellner was looking to sell this work, and turn a nice profit on it. People shouted questions to him about what the work was called, and what the price was. Amanda cleared her throat before asking, “Mr. Kellner, how did you come across such a beautiful rarity?” The volume of the room dimmed slightly, and Kellner retorted, “My dear, the details of that are hardly something I want to bore my guests with, but perhaps you and I can discuss it later. In the meantime, let us bask in the beauty of this marvelous painting. The work will be for sale by auction later this evening. Thank you ladies and gentlemen.” And with that, Kellner gently took the arm of his woman, and retired to an antechamber off of the main room. A few private guests and VIPs followed him with Melville bringing up the rear. He perched himself by the doorway. Amanda could see Kellner in the antechamber, but passage was road blocked by Melville. The rest of the party guests crowded the painting, some being gently restrained by attendants.

This whole thing was extremely civil. Amanda was somewhat surprised at how gracious a host Kellner was, and how he seemed to truly enjoy his new showpiece. The guests were the elite of Los Angeles’, and indeed the world’s, art community. Champagne and hors d’oeuvres were present everywhere, and an open bar provided access to more substantial drinks. A string quartet played in the background, situated in the corner of the gallery room. The tune was familiar…was it Haydn, or maybe Dvorak? Amanda looked over at the antechamber entrance again. Kellner and his woman could be seen conversing with some other guests, and laughing, but not much else could be seen with Melville in the way.

Amanda took a moment to remove herself from the crowd and check in with base. “Cleopatra checking in, over,” she whispered. “This is Osiris,” the deep voice of the boss responded, “Report, Cleopatra,” “I have infiltrated the temple and have made visual contact with, um, King Tut (?), and Rameses (?) but have not yet found the entrance to the Pyramid.” “Great work Cleopatra,” John said, “Proceed with plan Sphinx 1 and…” “Listen, can we drop this Egyptian theme,” Amanda responded “My knowledge of the subject is only skin deep, and I am seriously running out of codenames for things unless you want me to bring out every character name from the Ten Commandments.” “Hey, I thought it was neat,” John quipped. “You would,” Amanda poked “Can we PLEASE just speak English?” There was a moment of silence, and then John said, “Please continue with the report, agent.” Amanda informed them of the piece of art, and asked home base to run a check on identified and catalogued works by Mucha within galleries and private collections around the world. “That will take time,” the boss said “how do you intend to proceed in getting close to Kellner?” Amanda paused, “well, the main objective is to get information on Kellner’s foundation and Future Canvas. If I can find out where Kellner’s room of operation is, and get access, I may not even need to be in contact with Kellner at all.” It was an interesting plan. John asked, “Is there a way to see if our planted agent in the household can help with this? I mean she has been there for a few months, and has probably uncovered some information. We can use that.” There was a short silence, and then the boss spoke up, “I agree, but I want to limit your contact with her, Amanda. The more you two aren’t seen together, the better. I will contact her and see if she can connect with you. Boss out.” Amanda wasn’t sure what to be more thankful for, the help, or the fact that the stupid Egyptian names had been dropped. John piped up, “Amanda, what is your assessment of the situation?” Calculating options, Amanda said “honestly, my main goal is to get Melville out of the way. I can’t get near Kellner until he is neutralized. Conversely, if there is access to any of Kellner’s private rooms, then I may not even have to go with the first plan. I need to wait for a reply from the boss and, wait…someone is coming.”