Chapter 34
Rav
“Borse? Bags?” The security guard at the Pompeii entrance held out his hand, gesturing to the table in front of him. Behind us, tourists lined up with the patience of people accustomed to checkpoints.
Mario stepped forward, pulling out his park identification. He spoke rapidly in Italian with the guard. Italian and French were close enough that I picked up the gist: Brooke and I were scientists from an American university, here to study the underground water systems.
The guard’s expression shifted to polite attention. “Ah, sì. The drainage survey.” He gestured toward our backpacks. “Please, on the table.”
My pulse kicked up as I set my pack down. Inside: my breathing apparatus, Will’s surveillance drones, communication gear, and enough tactical equipment to raise serious questions. But Mario had briefed us on this.
As the guard unzipped my pack, Mario continued in Italian, no doubt to provide a more elaborate explanation: The packs contained tools for testing pH and something about minerals.
The guard lifted out one of Will’s drones, examining it with mild curiosity.
“For the smaller tunnels,” I said in simple English, lifting my shoulders to emphasize my size, so he’d understand I couldn’t fit into some areas.
He was similarly broad and chuckled, “Sì, sì, I understand.”
Brooke opened her pack without being asked, revealing similar equipment. “We’re particularly interested in how volcanic ash affected the hydraulic systems.”
“Bene.” The guard nodded at us, then Mario, apparently satisfied. He waved us forward, more interested in moving the tourist line than in conducting detailed equipment inspections.
Mario led us away from the main entrance, his park radio crackling occasionally with chatter. “The Small Theater is in this direction. We’ll have privacy there.”
The park was packed. I’d expected early November would be a slow time, but apparently, the wonders of Pompeii were a year-round spectacle.
With the surge of tourists in the city during the Notte Bianca festival, I shouldn’t have been surprised.
If Fenix had people watching the park, they’d blend into the crowd as well as we did.
“You did well with the guard,” Mario said as we walked.
“I’m sure you had more to do with it than us,” Brooke said.
“Sì, probabile.” He barely lifted one shoulder and smirked at her, as he often did.
As much as I didn’t like him flirting with my woman—yes, my woman—I was equally curious what it would be like to be so carefree? He’d obviously been part of the effort to bring us together, but—
Calisse, Rav, get your head in the game!
There was no time for me to be so distracted by Brooke. I couldn’t let anyone get hurt again because I was so obsessed with her.
“How much farther?” I all but growled at him.
Mario’s radio squawked again—something about a blocked drainage pipe near the forum. He responded, then clipped the device back onto his belt. “Perfetto! They need me to oversee some maintenance work. I now have a real reason to be checking underground access points all afternoon.”
We reached a busy area near the two theaters, where weathered columns framed the entrance to what had once been a grand public space—and was now a public restroom.
The two-level portico provided shade for clusters of tourists studying their maps and snacking, while orange safety barriers cordoned off sections where they weren’t allowed.
“Through there.” Mario gestured toward an archway blocked by an iron-grate door. He unlocked it long enough for us to pass through, then ushered us on. “There’s another maintenance building just back here, with access to the same drainage network.”
Inside the building, another wooden ladder descended into the darkness.
I peered down into the tunnels. The musty air smelled of stagnant water. “You can lead us to the House of the Arches?”
“Mi dispiace, but no. There have been questions in the office this week already.” He winced. “If I don’t meet the maintenance team at the Villa of Mysteries in the next ten minutes, someone may mention the American scientists I escorted in, and come looking for you.”
I shook his hand. “We appreciate everything you’ve done.”
Mario checked his watch, his charming exterior slipping a little. “I also need to convince my co-workers to avoid the concert tonight without raising more questions.”
“Good luck.” Once he left, Brooke and I took a few minutes to finish with our suits.
Hoods up, gloves on, and we each tested our rebreathers.
We put the air supplies away until we got closer to our target and clipped our facemasks to our belts, ready to slip them over our heads at a moment’s notice.
I donned one of the maintenance helmets with a headlamp and descended first. My boots touched the packed earth floor, and I glanced around, finding three different corridors, two of which I wouldn’t fit through. “Clear.”
Brooke turned on her headlamp and climbed down to join me in the cramped space. “Cozy.”
“Better than that cave system in…” I started, pulling out my phone and the map. “Where was that?”
“The one near the Helmand province border?”
“The one with the IEDs.”
“Oh my god, I remember that.” She nudged my shoulder and laughed. “You always knew how to show a girl a good time.”
The only corridor large enough for me stretched out to the east. “I think that’s our path to the House of the Arches.”
After the first half an hour, I stopped and dropped my backpack. “Let’s do our tech check here. We’re far enough underground to verify if the signal’s still good.”
We each put in our tiny earpieces, connected them to our phones, and enabled comms.
“Comms check,” Brooke said. “Reynolds base, this is Brooke. We’ve entered the underground tunnels.”
“Copy,” Brie’s voice came through the earpiece. “Coming through loud and clear. Rav?”
“Copy.” I dug in my pack, pulling out one of the drones. “Will’s upgrades are working flawlessly down here.”
“Good to hear,” came Will’s voice. After two subterranean jobs this past year—one in the Roman Catacombs and the other under the Rock of Monaco—he’d made several upgrades to our phones to improve reception underground.
Everything had been fine close to the amphitheater, but it was always wise to check. “Want to test the drones?”
“I do.”
Before we could launch the first one, the phone I’d given Brooke buzzed. She showed me the screen with Bobcat’s name. “How do I patch it through to the whole team?”
“Here.” I tapped the screen above the Accept button, on the hidden spot that would do as she’d asked. “I’ll keep my voice channel open with Reynolds, and we’ll set yours up for Pendragon. It should provide a suitable loop.”
“Bobcat?” she said. “You’re on speaker with the Reynolds team.”
“Good.” His voice carried new urgency. “Those western trucks were decoys. Empty containers, fake hazard placards, the whole nine yards.”
Tabarnak. I moved closer to Brooke so he’d hear me. “What about the third vehicle?”
“Still tracking it north, but I’m betting it’s empty too. I suspect Scarlett was right, and they’re moving the real payload differently—small vehicles, multiple trips, staying under the radar.”
That made tactical sense. Greek Fire didn’t require massive quantities to be devastatingly effective. A few strategically placed containers of liquid, combined with the powder in the fireworks, would create the dual-deployment scenario we’d identified.
“You’re still ready to move without authorization?” I asked.
“We don’t have a choice.” Bobcat’s tone hardened. “When you confirm the Greek Fire presence, we’re hitting the lab.”
Brooke met my eyes. Pendragon was about to go completely off-book. “You understand the implications?”
“We’ll handle the fallout,” he said. “Thousands of civilians don’t wait for bureaucracy.”
“What do you need from us?” I asked.
“Visual confirmation of the deployment system. Once we have that, we move simultaneously—you neutralize the amphitheater threat, we take down their production facility.”
“And when the authorities respond to the inevitable emergency calls from the lab?”
“We let the situation develop naturally. Sometimes, doing the right thing means breaking the rules.”
I’d made similar choices myself.
“Reynolds copies,” Scarlett cut in. “We’ll coordinate timing on our end.”
“Appreciated. Rav, Brooke—watch yourselves down there,” said Bobcat. “If they got the system in place without us seeing them on the cameras, there might be other surprises we aren’t ready for.”
Surprises were the last thing I wanted. The last thing anyone on our team wanted.
I pulled a drone out of my backpack.
Brooke pulled out the second drone. “Did you get close enough to test the trucks?”
“Only one of them,” he said.
“And?”
“The field test kit lit up. The truck had definitely been in contact with the chemical.”
“Fuck,” muttered Brooke. “Well, at least we know we aren’t chasing our tails. Did they clock you?”
“No. We waited for them to make a pit stop, busted the lock on the back, and peeked inside. Ran the test before they were back out.”
Brooke scrunched her nose. “They didn’t leave someone in the truck?”
Bobcat grunted. “They were probably told to drive around randomly for a few hours. I’d bet they had no idea what they were doing.”
“Anything else?” I asked.
“That’s it for now.”
After Bobcat disconnected, I set my drone down, and Brie did the same. Will’s latest design was virtually silent with low-light cameras and infrared.
Through my earpiece, Scarlett asked, “What are you thinking, Rav?”
“We need to do the drone test.”
“Seriously.”
I rose from my crouch and stretched my knees, watching Brooke do the same. “We’ve missed something. Decoy trucks mean they know someone’s watching. If Noah’s to be believed, they still only know about Pendragon. But three trucks is a classic shell game—”
“And the pea is never actually under one of the shells,” Scarlett finished for me.