Chapter 21
Brooke
The Reynolds control center was on high alert when I arrived downstairs after Drew’s holler for the team to gather. He sat in front of his laptop, pivoting one of the monitors with one hand, while engaging speaker mode on his phone, which lay on the table.
“I’ve got Rav, Scarlett, and Zac on the line, as well as Brie and Will from home,” he said to the room. “And I’ve got Malcolm, Jayce, Emmett, and Brooke with me here.”
“Can you share the feed to Rav’s phone?” asked Scarlett over the line.
“In progress,” said Brie.
“Night vision mode enabled,” Will said, distinguishable by his faint British accent. “Switching to thermal overlay now.”
I pushed through the small cluster of bodies to get a better view of the screen.
The grainy footage showed what looked like the large drainage chamber beneath Pompeii’s amphitheater that we’d explored yesterday—the one with the scaffolding.
The cameras we’d installed were working perfectly, though the image was dim and shadowy.
“Got it,” Rav’s voice came through the speaker.
The screen transformed into shades of green, revealing the contours of the ancient drainage tunnels beneath the amphitheater. A distinct shape moved through the passageway—mechanical, quadrupedal, and purposeful.
“That’s another robot dog,” I said.
It navigated the narrow tunnel more slowly than Hermes had; Mario’s upgrades to his machine clearly gave it an advantage.
“Has anyone called Mario?” I asked. “We should verify whether the archaeological park has scheduled any robotic surveys today before jumping to conclusions.”
Jayce was already dialing. She put the phone on speaker as it rang.
“Pronto?” Mario answered, the sounds of birds and people in the background suggesting he was outdoors.
“Mario, it’s Jayce from the villa. We’re observing a large robot dog in the drainage tunnels under the amphitheater on our surveillance feed. Is there any authorized work happening down there today?”
“What kind of robot? Definitely not Hermes?”
“No,” I said, leaning toward the phone. “Significantly larger.”
“Un momento.” Muffled Italian voices carried through from his end as he spoke with someone nearby. After about thirty seconds, he returned. “The park has three units larger than Hermes, but none of them are scheduled for deployment today. All units should be in their storage facility.”
Shit. “So whatever we’re seeing shouldn’t be there.”
“What’s it doing?” Rav asked through the speaker. “I can’t see enough detail on the phone. Is it placing equipment or taking readings?”
The camera zoomed in slightly, and Will said, “I’m guessing it’s doing a survey. It’s walking a few feet, stopping. No visible payload or equipment installation that I can detect.”
“It could be general recon,” I said. “Or mapping. Perhaps checking whether anyone has discovered equipment they’ve already installed? It might be ensuring the planned routes are still viable.”
“Tabarnak,” muttered Rav. “We’re stuck in traffic on the highway. Accident ahead. ETA is uncertain.”
“I’m going to Pompeii.” The decision was easy. I’d been underground with Mario, knew the directions to the camera’s location, and if the robot was down there to plant or start anything, I was the best one to deal with it.
“Wait until I’m there,” said Rav.
“We need to find out what’s going on.” I pulled out my phone to call my Pendragon team, but before I could dial, it buzzed. Bobcat’s name flashed on the screen. Perfect timing. “Tell me you’re seeing this, Bobcat?”
“We’ve been monitoring the feed since Reynolds shared it,” he confirmed, talking over whatever Rav was saying from the phone on the table. “If that robot belongs to Fenix, someone had to take it into those sewers. Someone’s nearby, Brooke.”
“Agreed,” I said, already hurrying to the stairs. “I’m grabbing my equipment and heading to Pompeii immediately.”
“We’re about to do the same,” Bobcat replied.
“ETA to Pompeii approximately thirty minutes, but we’ll have to shake our tail first. If you get there before us, remember our primary mission is to stop the Greek Fire deployment.
Identifying the source is our secondary objective. This might lead us to their lab.”
“Unless the robot’s been down there all along.” I took the stairs two at a time. “We only explored a tiny portion of the tunnel system yesterday. It could have been hiding in an area we didn’t check.”
“Possible. Either way, we need eyes on the ground. Can you get in touch with your contact so we can bypass security?”
“I can try.” I reached my room and went straight for my equipment. “He’s on the line with Reynolds right now.”
I had a field bag ready to go: presumptive test kits, decontaminant sponges, and a durable tablet with analytical software. “I just wish the incursion suits were ready.”
“We’ve got the hazmat suits in the vehicle,” said Bobcat.
I paused to stare at the ceiling for a beat. The men on my team were great at waiting for the action, but when it presented itself, they sometimes barged in without mapping all the variables. “Leave the hazmat suits in the vehicle until we know what we’re dealing with.”
“But if the Greek Fire is—”
“The robot isn’t carrying anything, so if it belongs to Fenix, they’re doing recon.
If we go in with hazmat suits, they’ll know we’re on to them.
” I slung the small pack over my shoulder and headed for the stairs.
“If we spook Fenix, we fuck up both our goals. So tell the boys to keep their Pendragon attitude under control. Blend in. Observe.”
Bobcat grunted a laugh and spoke to whoever was with him. “Doc says we’re not allowed to stick out.”
“Good fucking luck,” said Percival in Bobcat’s background.
“You hear that?” asked my team lead.
“We obviously gave them whatever final piece they needed for the formula.” I arrived at the second-floor landing, taking the steps as quickly as I could on their route around the elevator. “If we hadn’t left it on that server in fucking Mnemis, none of this would be happening.”
“Don’t beat yourself up, Doc.”
I’d told them to delete the formula. Leaving it on the servers was a stupid, risky idea, even if I’d screwed up the data. It hadn’t been enough. I’d left too much detail behind.
“You know as well as I do—”
I paused at the bottom of the stairs as he continued.
“—if they got the chemicals together this fast, they already had at least some of Haddad’s research. They had to have been at least ninety percent of the way there before Mnemis.”
He was right. Of course, he was right. If the Greek Fire was ready, they would have ordered the constituent parts weeks, if not months, ago. There would have been waits, delays, and trials as they got their lab working.
That was why the formula hadn’t been deleted.
Our government had known someone was already close to piecing it together. The only way to make them reveal themselves before deploying it was to dangle parts of the formula in front of them, so they’d come out of hiding.
Shit.
So who was in Fenix’s lab? Who’d picked up Haddad’s research and wasn’t in custody already? And where was their lab?
Keep moving, Brooke. Figure it out later.
Before hanging up, I said to Bobcat, “I’ll call you when I’m close.”
In the operations center, Drew was still monitoring the feed while maintaining comms with Rav. Jayce was marking positions on a digital map of the tunnels, using the survey data Mario had provided yesterday.
“The robot is circling the chamber,” Drew reported. “Still no sign of human operators.”
“I’m going in,” Mario’s voice came through Jayce’s phone. “I have clearance to be underground, and I know how to disable this type of robot.”
“Negative,” Rav responded firmly. “Wait for backup. Fenix operatives might be monitoring above ground.”
“Mario’s right,” I said, setting my pack on the table to double-check its contents. “His presence won’t raise suspicion. Anyone else would immediately trigger alarms.”
“Brooke—” Rav started.
“I’m heading to Pompeii now,” I stated, my decision final. “We need a scientific assessment, and Fenix doesn’t know me either.”
“You don’t think Lark told them about everyone on your team?” Rav practically yelled. “They do know you! All of you!”
He had a point—a good one.
I stared at my bag. I couldn’t just do nothing.
“Malcolm,” came Scarlett’s voice over the open line, “take her upstairs and put her in one of my disguises.”
“Scarlett!” snapped Rav.
“We need her on-site with Mario, Rav.” They cut off, likely muting themselves to argue.
Malcolm rose, checking his watch. “Wig and glasses should do it. Then I’ll drop you off. We should have you there in forty minutes.”
I gave him a curt nod.
“Use the gate by the amphitheater,” said Mario. “I’ll talk to security before I go into the sewer.”
“And we’ll send one of Will’s drones with you.” Malcolm hurried me up the stairs. “I’ll give you my phone, and he can scout the tunnels with the drone. Maybe you won’t have to go in.”