Amanda grabbed Thibodeaux's bag and pulled out the batteries and put them in her minicam. Everyone sat down and began to listen.

The two men were talking about the whisky that was in the bar and how much they were going to drink. The children sat listening with bored looks on their faces. The suddenly it became interesting.

"I think we can leave now. I have not seen any police, nothing but three little kids," said Man One.

"Do you think they are through loading up at Harry Winston?" asked Man Two.

"I guess we could go to the safe house and ask, but I sure hate to leave this Scotch," said Man One. "But you know Kilgairn is not through. The jewels at Harry Winston were just the start."

"Do you think he will quit when he's finished at Tiffany's?"

"Not him. He won't stop until he has every diamond in this city," said Man One.

"He sure was mad at the guys who went to 46th Street and didn't get anything. All those jewelers had shot guns," said Man Two.

"Two years of planning and those guys risk getting shot trying to blast into the Diamond District. What a bunch of cowboys?" said Man One.

"Well, by Wednesday night, we'll be done. I can't wait to get out of here," said Man Two.

Amanda stopped the recorder. "They are jewel thieves. They blew up the city to steal jewels?"

"Man that's rich. Where do they think people will wear jewels if there is no New York. They sure won't be wearing them in New Orleans," said Thibodeaux.

"We need to tell someone," said Amanda.

"How? Thibodeaux said there is no one out there to tell," said Peter.

"They left this. I found it on the bar." Peter showed them the flash drive.

"Give me that." Amanda grabbed for the flash drive but Peter pulled it away from her and put it in his netbook.

"What's on it?" asked Thibodeaux.

"It's password protected," Peter said.

Amanda took the flash drive from Peter's computer.

"Give it back. We can crack it later. What kind of password would those jewel thieves have anyway? They wouldn't be able to remember anything big. It has to be something simple," said Peter.

Thibodeaux looked at Peter with amazement. "Is he always like that?" He asked Amanda.

"Yeah, I've lived my whole life with Baby Einstein," said Amanda.

"Don't call me Baby Einstein," said Peter.

"Hey, let's go to the roof," said Thibodeaux.

"The roof?" asked Amanda.

"So we can see what's going on and try to use our cell phones," said Thibodeaux.

"Aren't there a lot of floors?" asked Cindy.

"Nope. Just twenty or so," answered Thibodeaux.

"Twenty floors? We are going to climb twenty floors?" asked Cindy.

"Well, are you in or are you not?" asked Thibodeaux.

"If we are on the roof, maybe I can find a signal and get on the internet and find out what is going on," said Peter.

"Okay, let's go." Amanda led her charges back into the hall, sticking the hanger back in the doorway, and onto the stairway where they proceeded to climb up twenty flights of stairs by light of their flashlights.

When they reached the roof, they saw a sign that said, "Roof door locks from the inside."

"We need something to prop open the door. We don't want to end up like that guy in the The Hangover," said Thibodeaux.

"What's the The Hangover?" asked Peter.

"Oh just some film where this guy got locked on the roof," said Thibodeaux.

"I didn't see it," said Peter.

"It's rated R," said Thibodeaux.

"Your mother allows you watch rated R movies?" asked Cindy.

"I told you, my Mamma is in New Orleans," said Thibodeaux.

"Oh," said Peter.

Amanda opened the door and saw a brick just to the side of the door. "I guess someone else did not want to get locked on the roof. Everyone go outside. We need to take turns standing here to be sure no one comes up here and closes the door."

"I'll sit by the door and try to get on the internet," said Peter.

"Try CNN, it's in Atlanta and it may be up," said Amanda.

"I know that. You aren't the only one who goes to school," said Peter.

Everyone walked out on the roof. Peter sat down on the roof deck next to the door and took out his netbook and tried to log onto CNN.com.

Amanda, Cindy, and Thibodeaux all walked to the edge of the roof, pulled out their cell phones and tried to dial. The city was dark except for some sporadic areas that still had electricity. There was no one on the street. It was dark but there were no signs of movement.

Amanda dialed and held her phone to her ear. Suddenly she heard her mother's voice. "Mom, it's Amanda."

"Where are you?"

"We are on the roof of a hotel. I have Peter and Cindy with me. Mom.... Mom...." Amanda had lost her connection.

Amanda dialed again but this time the phone did not even ring.

"My phone won't work," said Cindy.

"Mine does not work either." Thibodeaux had an I-Phone he was trying to use.

"How did you get an I-Phone?" asked Cindy.

"My Mamma misses me and she sends presents," said Thibodeaux.

"Oh," said Cindy.

"Hey, I'm online," said Peter.

Thibodeaux, Cindy, and Amanda ran over to where Peter was sitting next to the propped open door.

"Here, let me email Mom." Amanda grabbed the netbook and typed. "Mom, this is Amanda. We are okay. We are in a hotel but there are bad guys in the city." Suddenly Peter's netbook lost his connection.

"What do we do now?" asked Cindy.

"We keep on trying," said Amanda.

The children stayed on the roof for another hour trying to use their cell phones and trying to get a signal on Peter's computer. But whatever internet or cell signals that had been present when they arrived were gone. The city was getting darker. The few places that were lit up were slowly going dark. It was also getting cold.

"It's time to go back to the rooms. We need to find some food and make a plan," said Amanda.

"I need to go help my Auntie," said Thibodeaux.

"Well, you can't go help her now. It is going to be night soon and there are some really bad people on the streets so we need to hide right now," said Amanda.

"Does she have food?" asked Cindy.

"Yeah, she does. But I don't want her to be stuck up there by herself," said Thibodeaux.

"Well, we need to find out what is going on and what we need to do and also how to help your Auntie, but right now, we need food and we need to get inside where it is warmer," said Amanda.

So the band of four climbed back down the stairs, from the 20th floor to the 4th and went back into the room and closed the door.

"I'm starving," said Cindy.

"There is bound to be some kind of kitchen in this hotel. I will go downstairs and get some food," said Thibodeaux.

"Will you come back?" Cindy sounded very worried.

"Yeah. Just where am I going to go?" asked Thibodeaux.

"I'll go with you," said Peter.

"Oh, no you won't. I told Mom I would watch you and you are not leaving," said Amanda.

"Hey, I'll take care of him," said Thibodeaux.

"I am going. I am a boy and I am going," said Peter.

"Okay, but if you don't come back in ten minutes, we are coming to find you," said Amanda. She was so tired and it was nice to let someone else take care of things for a while.

The boys emptied the contents of their backpacks on the floor and picking up the now empty backpacks, they left.

Chapter VII.

It was cold in the room. The heat from the sun shining on the window was gone. Amanda and Cindy were seated on the bed, huddled under a down comforter, trying to dial out on their cell phones. But there was no signal in the room and after a while they gave up.

"I am really hungry. I hope they come back soon," Cindy said.

Amanda walked over to the mini bar and took out the last coke. "Do you want to split this with me?"

"Sure." Cindy grabbed two glasses from the bathroom and brought them to Amanda.

"I'm scared. Do you think they will come back soon?" Cindy asked.

"I should never have allowed Peter to leave with him. Peter is my responsibility."

"That boy Thibodeaux seems really smart. His Aunt lets him go outside by himself, so he isn't as scared as we are," said Cindy.

"I hope so." Amanda was really worried. She had let Peter leave with a stranger. What would she tell her mother? When Peter came back, if he came back...but she could not think about that. When he came back she would never let me him go anywhere without her again. Amanda was about to cry. No matter how annoying Peter was, he was her brother.

There was a knock on the door and they heard Thibodeaux's voice saying, "Hey, let us in."

Amanda quickly opened the door. Thibodeaux and Peter ran into the room and quickly closed the door. The backpacks were full but they looked like they had seen a ghost.

"What happened?" asked Amanda. She was thrilled to see them, but the looks on their faces made her really scared.

"We went across the street into this restaurant to get some food and these looters saw us and chased us back into the hotel," said Peter.

"What?" Amanda asked.

"We were taking the food when these guys came into the restaurant and saw us. They yelled at us, but we ran as fast as we could to get back here," said Thibodeaux.

"Do they know which room we are in?" asked Amanda.

"No, I don't think they followed us into the stairs," said Thibodeaux.