by Gabrielle N. Rippel

“Only you could find a charming hole in the wall like this,” he gestures around the small dining room of L’Antica Salumeria as it fills up with adventurous tourists and off-duty priests.

“Archie, it’s wonderful to see you.” I leap from my secluded table wrapping my arms around my trusted companion. He removes his hat to wipe the sweat from the Roman heat off his forehead.

 “What are you dragging me into Amelia?” In the decade since I met Archie in my World History class at Oxford freshman year, I can guarantee he always questions my elaborate plans.

“Follow me,” I lead Archie down the hall behind the deli counter to an unassuming broom closet with three shelves and a used mop. I feel along the interior frame of the closet until I locate the key hole just above my head.

Using the skeleton key hanging from a chain around my neck hold my breath as I put it in place. I let out a small sigh when I hear the anticipated click of a lock unlatching as the shelving unit of the broom closet opens into a secret room.

“Christ Amelia, what is this place?” I see the wheels turning in Archie’s mind and I close the false door behind us before any employees notice. Flipping the switch to a single lamp illuminating the cold, dark, and damp space, I get close to him making sure my voice doesn’t carry beyond the cramped space.

“My great-great uncle Aldo was an engineer in Milan who was brought to the Rome on a special assignment during the Victorian era. He was never allowed to speak of the work he did but he did leave two pieces of history for the family–the skeleton key that let us in here, and a map.” I pull out a frail folded paper from my leather satchel and place it between us.

“We’re breaking into the Vatican Archives.” I bring him up to speed.

“Have you lost your mind?” Archie nearly shouts and the color drains from his face. “It’s impossible to break into the archives—they’re the most protected documents in the world. Why are you doing this? How do you plan to pull this off?”

“The why should be obvious Archie.” I motion for him to sit at the feeble table in the center of the room as I layout Aldo’s map between us.

“The Vatican holds what it likely the largest amount of historical artifacts from around the world covering most, if not all, of human history. There are contents within those archives that have been lost to society for a millennium.” I smooth out Aldo’s map anchoring it on the edges.

“The archives hold proof of whether or not Jesus actually existed, evidence for which side the Pope was on during World War II, the truth behind the Three Secrets of Fatima.” I walk around the small room knocking on the interior walls, listening for the evidence of a hallow space.

“Don’t you want to know the truth about extraterrestrial life, or find the lost books from the Library of Alexandria?  Within those damn archives there are 53 miles of bookshelves housing all the worlds knowledge and they’re hiding it all from society. You’re a historian Archie, shouldn’t we as a human race have access to our own history?”

 A loud crack on the wall opposite of the entrance echo’s in the small room. The wall gives way and Archie pulls out a concealed gun aimed perfectly across the room, with a laser target squarely on the forehead of an unexpected individual.

“Mena it’s wonderful to see you!” I exclaim, even though I was convinced Aldo’s map of the underground tunnels were true, her emergence from them solidified the hypothesis.

“Christ Mena, I nearly blew your face off!” Archie looks like he could faint.

“You were right Amelia, this tunnel leads right up to the belly of the beast. We just need someone on the inside.” I smile, realizing the plan was getting close to fruition.

“I don’t understand…you want to steal from the Vatican archives?” he stares blankly. Mena lets out a cackle, I roll my eyes dragging his focus to Aldo’s map.

“The Apostolic Library allows up to 60 qualified scholars in per day.” I reach into my satchel and produce the necessary documentation filled out with Archie’s information. “Turns out, you happen to be on the approved list.” He raises an eyebrow.

“You can thank me later.” Mena, our technological wizard previously broke into the database to generate the qualifications.

“I need you to get in once and go here.” Pointing to a section on the map of the Apostolic Library.

“Mena and I will travel the mile and a half through this underground tunnel,” I trace our path on Aldo’s map following an airshaft used by the engineers when they reinforced a portion of the archive rooms. “We’ll wait on the other side of your location listening for your signal. Once you hear our response knock you need to keep that section clear of any other scholars so that Mena and I can create an entrance in the weakened wall behind that section of the archives.”

“I don’t understand, how are you going to steal 53 miles worth of documents?” Archie questions my sanity.

“Not exactly. Mena and I will create a false wall using chicken wire and plaster—one that can be easily removed while remaining seamless in the wall. Once we have our access point, our team can enter the library each night when it’s closed giving us time to scan all of the documents. We’ll create the largest digital library of our world’s history to ever exist.” I smile knowing this plan will work.

“What do you say Archie?” I ask watching him weigh the outcome of this heist in his mind. He scoffs before saying those two words that make my heart leap with exhilaration.

“I’m in.”

The above story was a section finalist in an NYC Midnight Flash Fiction Challenge.