The Plan Set in Stone

"To sneak into the "Red Cap"? Are you nuts, Eugene?"

The first one to react to his proposal was Maurice, he looked the most shocked out of the five Eugene told his plan to. From Lawrence's lips escaped a heavy sigh, Cossette unexpectedly delved into thought, Jessie smiled viciously and Sophie's expression remained unchanged.

"Do we really have to do it? Why not just wait until the end of the first day of the festival? I doubt the la Avise family would remain there for any longer." suggested Lawrence, to which Eugene replied, "Perhaps, you are right. But Cormorant will definitely not just wait here until he is caught. He already stole a few valuable items, who knows how much he might steal tomorrow when everyone would celebrate! He might as well simply escape, we do not know."

Eugene's reasoning put Lawrence into thought, meanwhile Cossette was eager to say something, but her words were swayed away by that of Maurice.

"No, no and no! I couldn't care less about the Cormorant, sorry. If we get caught, I will have huge trouble at the University, I even could get expelled!"

"Why would you? This is not like we are robbing someone, but simply sneaking into the party." crossed her hands Jessie, her eyes were glittering in excitement, which further irritated Maurice, "You might get expelled too, you know."

"Jesus, you are such a buzz killer."

"Shut up, better listen to your seniors!"

"So, what is the plan?" suddenly said Sophie while everyone else observed the argument between Maurice and Jessie. Lawrence whispered something to Cossette, which made her smile, but it soon dropped to listen carefully.

"Well, I thought of sneaking at night through the main gate. I doubt that there would be a lot of guard. Maybe we could find some kind of narrow passage through it."

"Your plan is full of shit Eugene," shook his head Maurice and continued, "What if guards will be there? What if the gate will be closed shut? What if there would not be any passage way? If any of these scenarios is true, then we would just go there and then go back home after a while spent at the gate."

After hearing out his friend's harsh observation, Eugene sulked down. He truly did not think that one through, and he had a nerve to call himself a detective with such lack of planning and observation. He was about to give up on this idea, but then Cossette finally made a notice.

"There is a manhole in the backside of the walls. It is quite small, but I would say only Lawrence might have a problem upon getting through it."

Lawrence raised his brow and quietly murmured, "From when on am I in this?"

"Alright!" exclaimed Eugene, "I guess, we can go through that manhole. If it is indeed too small, we can send in Jessie first, and then she will open the gate!"

"I will pay my tribute to madam Bettignies with this mission."

"Alright, let's assume we all snuck in, the buildings behind the walls will most certainly be closed, moreover, if Jessie will come there alone, how will she open the gate by herself without getting noticed?"

Jessie shook her head and showed a thumbs down to Maurice, "Booo, how much lamer can you get?" Eugene, however, only crossed his hands and sighed, "Truly, what a lame man you are."

"If you are calling a common sense lame, then you certainly are an idiot!"

"Alright, that's enough." said Lawrence and stood between the three of them. Then, he slowly turned to Eugene and Jessie, choosing to side with Maurice. He rubbed his chin and presented a question, "Would not doors to the main building be closed even during the day? In the end, hosts will hold ball inside tomorrow, it would certainly be a bad manner if someone from the outside would be able to break into the premise and interrupt everything."

His reasoning put Eugene and Jessie into thought, it was indeed a fair assumption, considering there would be plenty of nobility and higher ups that would not tolerate partying with some country men. It looked dire for the two, their plans were completely ruined and nearly given up upon, however, the voice of another woman could be heard, who was silent all this time.

Sophie casually declared, "Well, if you really need to get inside, I can help you with that."

Everyone's gazes raised at her, like she was an idol in front of people of faith. She pulled out a letter from her case where tens or even hundreds of photographs were residing. Then, Sophie extended her hand for everyone to see the elegant shrift on the paper.

"I was invited to the Fire of Prometheus. I will definitely be able to leave some kind of door or window open for all of you." she said with a smile to everyone's excitement, except of Maurice. Most educated one was still sceptical of this idea, but since a foundation for the infiltration of the "Red Cap" was successfully laid, he had nowhere to escape from the status of accomplice.

Eugene nodded enthusiastically, seeing the agreement over the idea of the infiltration of the "Red Cap". And while everyone kept silence, he spoke, "Alright, then, I guess we are in the clear! Then the plan is next. Since Sophie will be at a party next morning, we should get started at around eight o'clock. There would not be much people celebrating early in the morning while having a weekend, thus it will not be as much guarded. We will come through the manhole and then enter the premise via Sophie's window. If the manhole will be way too small for all of us to fit, then only Jessie will come through and while Sophie will be distracting the guards, Jessie would be able to open the gates for all of us. Does it sound good?"

Cossette silently nodded without muttering a word. Jessie, on the other hand, smiled widely and exclaimed with a loud clap, "Finally! Something interesting is going to happen!"

"Was not the robbery of your café not interesting enough?" sighed Lawrence and added, "Well, I will help you out with everything I can. Hopefully, we will not become a centre of attention there."

"All the world is a stage, Monsieur Lawrence. I commend your bravery, young ones!" proudly declared Sophie, making Jessie giggle. Lawrence, however, only shook his head and scratched his arm, "I would not really call it bravery."

The one who sidelined from the conversation was now crossing his hands and pouting, while looking elsewhere as if trying to sway away from the group. Eugene noticed those signs of bitterness and turned to him.

"Come on, Maurice. Our plan is flawless and even if we get caught, this is not like we will be sentenced to death."

"This is not like you will get in much trouble if we indeed get caught! I can be expelled from the university, I already have a few strikes for following through with your and Douglas's stupid ideas."

Now Eugene narrowed his brows and replied, "You can get expelled, and I can get fired, those are the outcomes if we get caught!"

"Does not sound too convincing," murmured Maurice, to which Eugene said, "In the worst case, of course! I know quite a few officers, I will be able to convince them to let us go if something would go wrong. In the end, this is not such big of a deal as the property damage, for example."

Silence was once again established in the circle. The five of those who agreed to the terms were watching over the last member of their team. Soon enough, his foot started hitting the ground to the unheard tact. The peer pressure was truly a powerful tool to push to your side, even the ones more witted. Maurice looked over those standing in front of him. Some were smiling, some were blankly staring at him with their hands clutched into fists.

At once, the man made a heavy sigh and declared, "If I will get expelled after this, Eugene, you better prepare your damn windows."

An uproar of happiness spread in the group, even among the ones who were still sceptical of this mission. Eugene, as a leader, came forward and pat on the shoulder of Maurice. Then, he declared, "Thank you, Maurice and everyone else! We will use this strength in number to find our way into the "Red Cap". Afterwards, we will get to Sylvia and with her help, we will definitely catch the Phantom Cormorant!"