Chapter 22
Rav
My heart thundered in my ears as I sprinted toward the Pompeii Archaeological Park’s entrance, Scarlett lagging behind me. Served her right for wearing her ridiculous high heels. Zac had driven away after dropping us off to circle the park until we needed exfil.
“There’s Malcolm,” Scarlett said from behind me, slightly breathless.
Malcolm stood just outside the security checkpoint, pacing with his hands in his pockets. When he spotted us, relief flashed across his face.
“Guards wouldn’t let you through?” I asked as we reached him.
“Mario called ahead,” Malcolm said, wrapping his arms around Scarlett when she got close enough. “He told them our entire group had clearance for the day, so I waited for you. Brooke’s already inside. She said she was heading to the maintenance shed.”
I hadn’t heard that right. “You let her go in alone?”
Malcolm had put his desire to see Scarlett ahead of Brooke’s safety? “No, she said her team is meeting her there. And she’s in disguise.”
“Where’s your phone?” Scarlett asked, glancing at his empty hands. “I tried calling you when we were a few minutes out.”
“I gave it to Brooke.” Malcolm gestured toward the security gate. “Will’s using it to pilot his drone through the tunnels.”
I barely registered the rest of their exchange. Brooke had gone ahead alone. If any Fenix operatives were watching, or worse—if they’d already started staging the Greek Fire—Pendragon couldn’t save her.
“I’m heading to the shed,” I announced, already starting for the entrance.
“Rav—” Scarlett started.
“Stay with Malcolm,” I called over my shoulder as one of the guards waved me through. “I’ll update you when I have eyes on Brooke.”
I didn’t wait for her response, breaking into a full run once I cleared the entrance plaza. My focus narrowed to a single objective: Brooke. The park was already filling with tourists despite the early hour. I wove through them, muttering apologies as I shouldered past.
Fenix’s operatives would blend in with the crowds. And Brooke had walked right in, possibly alone.
Keep your eyes open, man. Enzo could be here. Noah. Pavel. Thomas.
Between the strolling couples, motorized wheelchairs, and small children, I had to slow down too many times. The maintenance shed, where Mario had shown us the underground access point, was close to the amphitheater entrance, but not close enough.
My mind threw every nightmare at me: Brooke stumbling upon Fenix agents preparing the Greek Fire deployment; the deadly liquid spraying across her skin; or worse, her captured, used as leverage—
Focus!
But I couldn’t. Not when it was Brooke who’d come in alone.
I’d told her to wait, goddammit. The woman never listened. No, she used to listen. Six years ago, she’d listened to me. But it had been her government-issued responsibility to listen to me.
But she was also twenty-five at the time. She was young.
Calisse, we were young.
The shed finally came into view, and I slowed to a jog, suddenly conscious of both the curious stares from nearby tourists and the fact that carrying a sidearm was illegal in Italy. If I were caught not just possessing one, but concealing one, that would be the end of my looking out for my team.
The door stood ajar. I approached with caution. In a quick mental scan, I mapped potential exits and cover positions before gently pushing the door wider with my foot.
“Buongiorno?” I called, using as neutral a word as possible.
“We’re in here, Rav,” came her immediate reply.
My heart gave a thunderous beat of relief, so intense I had to steady myself against the doorframe. She was all right.
I stepped inside, blinking to adjust to the dim light.
Brooke—in a long blonde wig and horn-rimmed glasses—stood bent over a workbench with Percival beside her, both studying the screen of a smartphone. She looked up with a crooked smile. “That was fast.”
“What the hell were you thinking?” The words burst out before I could stop them. “I told you to wait for backup.”
“I had backup,” she said, gesturing to Percival. “The entire Pendragon team is inside the park.”
Percival nodded. “Bobcat and three others are within thirty seconds of this position.”
I blinked, realizing I hadn’t spotted a single one. “Your whole team is here?”
“Four agents plus Brooke and me,” Percival said. They hadn’t brought any new members after losing two in Mnemis. “Ready to move at a moment’s notice.”
Brooke’s lips quirked. “Look at that, Percy. It appears the team really is keeping things low-key for once.”
Her casual tone only fueled my frustration, and I hissed, “Fenix knows the Pendragon team, Brooke. This was a risk.”
She slid the glasses down her nose to look over the top rims at me. “I came in separately. They wouldn’t have recognized me, so I’m safe. Percival and the guys are the only ones who are exposed.”
“You should have waited.”
“There wasn’t time,” she countered, pushing the glasses back up and turning Malcolm’s phone to face me. “Will’s drone is already in the tunnels.”
I moved closer, recognizing the feed from one of Will’s micro-drones. The small device navigated the narrow passages with remarkable precision.
“Will’s piloting remotely?” I asked, forcing my brain back to the mission.
“I am,” came Will’s voice from the phone. “She patched me into Malcolm’s phone on the way in.”
Through the drone’s camera, we could all see the centuries-old stone walls of the drainage system. The feed was impressively clear despite the low-light conditions.
“There,” Percival pointed to a moving shape ahead. “Mario’s already in position.”
The archaeologist moved through the tunnel, whistling and occasionally muttering to himself in Italian. Beyond him, partially obscured by shadow, was the robot dog.
“He’s actually doing a good job of looking like he’s down there for work,” Brooke said.
“Will, can you identify the unit?” I asked.
“Trying,” said Will. “It’s equipped with a camera, and I think a lot of environmental sensors. Brie’s attempting to intercept its signal now.”
The drone edged closer to the robot, dropping almost to the floor to hover under its mechanical legs. Hopefully, it didn’t have cameras on its underbelly.
Through the audio feed, Mario’s voice grew clearer.
“Che ci fai qui?” Mario called out to the robot, his voice echoing in the tunnel. “None of the scouts are scheduled to be in here until tomorrow. Let’s get you back to the office to make sure you’re ready for work.”
His performance was perfect—exactly what a park employee would say upon finding unauthorized equipment. Except he was speaking in English?
“Any luck with the signal?” Brooke asked.
“Negative,” Will replied. “It’s running on an encrypted frequency we can’t access remotely. We’re capturing its transmission pattern.”
“Mario needs to disable it now,” I said. “Before whoever’s controlling it gets suspicious.”
Percival nodded in agreement. “If Fenix has eyes on that feed and spots our drone, the entire operation could be compromised.”
“Do we have comms with Mario?” This was not a position I liked—being in the dark when my own team was working a job.
“Such a clever boy,” said Mario. That was an odd thing to say.
Brooke said, “Malcolm also gave him an earpiece. He can hear everything we say.”
Of course. That was why he was speaking in English, not in Italian.
The drone pulled back to show us Mario kneeling beside the robot dog.
He pulled a tool from his pocket and opened a panel on its side.
The robot lurched forward, but Mario grabbed it.
“You must be malfunctioning, little one. I’ll get you repaired.
You just need to wait here until I can find someone to help me transport you back to the office. ”
The robot’s legs jerked, but Mario poked at something inside the panel. Its legs stiffened momentarily before folding beneath it, settling onto the tunnel floor.
“It’s off,” Brooke said, the barest smile forming on her lips.
Mario stood and faced the drone, putting out his hand as though hoping for a butterfly to land. “I need one of these.”
“We’re coming down,” I said.
“Sì, but of course.” Mario put his tool back into his pocket. “If it was recording locally, you may be able to access its data.”
Brooke was already gathering her equipment. “Good idea. Maybe we can find out where it was before this.”
“Or,” I said, “who delivered it and why.”
We moved to the back of the shed, where a hatch in the floor led to the tunnel system below. After donning helmets that had hung from pegs on the wall, Percival descended first, followed by Brooke and then me. The air was cool and damp, smelling of earth and stone.
Mario met us halfway, his headlamp illuminating the narrow passage. “The robot is this way. Someone’s gone to a lot of trouble to smuggle it in here. I’ll have to speak with security.”
“Any identification?” Brooke asked as we followed him deeper into the tunnels.
“Nothing obvious. I didn’t see any serial numbers.” He led us to where the robot lay motionless on the stone floor, its mechanical limbs folded neatly beneath its body.
Brooke knelt beside the robot, reaching into her pack for a multi-tool. “Will, can you walk us through extracting the memory module?”
“You’ll need to remove the top panel first,” Will instructed through the phone. “There should be four recessed screws at each corner.”
I held out my hand, and his drone landed. I brought its camera to where Brooke was working.
Mario kept the light on us while Brooke loosened the screws. I flashed back to the day we met and to how those hands had captivated me.
She wasn’t the junior scientist anymore, being taunted by the two older ones. She was a brilliant woman who’d been working with special operators for so long, she didn’t think twice about launching herself into a dangerous situation.
“Perfect,” Will said as the panel came free. “Now you should see a rectangular module with cooling fins. That’s what we want.”
Brooke carefully revealed the module. “Should I disconnect it?”
“We’ll leave it in place in case someone comes looking for it,” I said. “Mario put on a good show, but if it’s Fenix, they may be scrambling to recover it before he takes it.”
“I have a thumb drive.” Brooke pulled a small device from her pack. “It has a port.”
“Bene,” said Mario, in an appreciative tone that did something to my stomach I didn’t like. “Do you carry things like this normally?”
“A girl’s gotta be prepared.”
I moved closer to her, growing progressively more aware of how long we’d been down here. “We should hurry.”
“USB won’t work while it’s powered down, and we don’t want to wake it up with all of you there,” Will said. “Place Malcolm’s phone on the memory module. I may be able to clone the drive.”
“With a phone?” asked Percival.
I glanced up at him. “Told you my team was good.”
Brooke held the phone against the open panel, and Will made a few noises on his end. After what felt like ten minutes but was likely only one, he said, “Got it! Close the robot and get out.”
As Brooke sealed the robot, Percival said, “Bobcat doesn’t report any tangos.”
That made my worry drop only a fraction. They could have been watching. And I’d run straight to the shed. “The maintenance shed might be monitored if Fenix has people in the park.”
“There’s a western exit I can guide you to,” Mario said. “Less visible, and it comes out near the House of the Arches. It’s a difficult walk through some narrow tunnels, so it’s unlikely anyone would be looking in that direction.”
Brooke stood and put her pack back on.
“I’ll circle back and exit through this shed,” said Mario. “If they saw me on the feed and come looking for the robot, they would be waiting for me to leave.”
“Smart thinking,” I said. “Give me five minutes to move one of our cameras in here, though. I’ll grab one from the chamber with the scaffolding.”