The Venice Job (7 page)

‘The campanile or bell tower of St Mark's is ninety-one metres high and was built between 874 and 1150. It had been a watchtower and lighthouse for over one thousand years until it collapsed in 1902.' The tour guide droned out his spiel as if he'd been doing it for over one thousand years. ‘No-one was hurt, not even a pigeon, and of course afterwards it was rebuilt.'

The four spies had met outside the bell tower in the wide square of Piazza San Marco and had joined a tour group in order to stay incognito.

‘What did Agent 31 say?' Toby whispered as they followed at the back of the group.

‘Satellite pictures have shown something strange about the clay beds beneath Venice, and we have to go diving tonight to investigate,' Max answered.

‘Excellent.'

Max stared at Toby. Excellent?

‘Luca, you're to stay in the boat with the computer and direct us by our radios,' she continued.

Luca could tell she wasn't happy about the dive. ‘I can go for you, if you like.'

Max wilted momentarily at his accent. ‘Thanks but Agent 31 wants you by the computer to help with directions and translation.'

‘There are five bells in the tower,' the guide continued in his couldn't-care-less voice. ‘Each one has a different purpose. This one is called the
maleficio
, and signalled that there was to be an execution.'

‘What does 31 think is down there?' Toby whispered.

‘Possibly bombs, but he isn't sure, that's why we have to dive.'

Each time Max said ‘dive' it was like being dunked in an icy bath.

‘Why do we have to dive anyway?' she complained. ‘Couldn't they find out some other way?'

There was a longer than normal pause. Max looked up to see the tour guide staring at her.

‘Am I boring you?' he asked in a bored voice.

‘No. I love bells. Who doesn't love bells?'

The guide sniffed and turned to talk about the other bells.

Luca smiled and whispered into Max's ear, ‘I don't think he likes us.'

‘It doesn't matter if he likes us,' Max said indignantly. ‘What's important is that we act like tourists and don't do anything that attracts attention.'

She tripped on a cobblestone and fell forward
into the group causing a domino effect as one by one each tourist fell forward until finally the tour guide fell into the bell, ringing out the executioner's signal of the
maleficio
for all of Venice.

‘
Mi scusi
,' Max said in some of the few words of Italian she knew. ‘
Mi scusi, mi scusi
.'

‘Did she say attract or
not
attract attention?' Toby sniggered to Linden.

The tour group glared at Max from the floor as Luca helped her up.

‘I think this is where your tour ends,' the guide seethed. The tour group picked themselves up, dusted themselves down and followed a limping tour guide as he led them out of the tower.

Toby looked through the window arches of the tower and down into the Piazza. The sky had swirled from cloudless blue into a grey bulging mass. The wind had picked up and prickled with a cold edge, but a few people still braved the chilled air as they walked in long coats across the ancient stones, took photos or sat with warm drinks in cafes. Across the Piazza, Toby thought he saw someone hiding behind one of the many columns of the imposing Doge's Palace.

He turned to the others. ‘I think we're being watched.'

‘Watched?' Luca moved towards him. ‘But how is that possible? You have only just arrived in Venice.'

From out of the shadows of the Palace, Toby thought he'd seen a man looking up at them through binoculars. ‘He's gone.'

Max shivered. ‘Let's get out of here.'

‘That's a good idea.' Linden sounded like he had a plan. ‘Follow me.'

The four spies piled out of the bell tower and down the stairs to the Piazza San Marco.

‘What are we doing?'

‘We're going to have lunch.'

‘Lunch?' Max was annoyed. ‘We're on a mission, we don't have time to …'

‘Trust me, we do.' Linden looked across the Piazza at a small restaurant. ‘How about that one?'

Now Max understood. The restaurant was in full view of the square. ‘Perfect. How about some postcards as well? That should give them enough time to get a good look at us.'

‘Shouldn't we head for cover instead?' Luca asked.

‘No,' Max replied. ‘If we are being followed, it's better that we know about it.'

‘Yes, I see. You are very clever.'

Max tried to wipe a rising goofy smile off her face while Toby scowled and stepped away.

After buying postcards, they entered the restaurant and kept up their cover of being tourists. They ordered food, pulled out tourist maps and took photos of each other with regular cameras. Then Toby spotted his man.

‘That's him. Only this time he has a friend.' He looked past Max's shoulder and bit into a slice of pizza. ‘They're looking at those masks in the window of that souvenir shop.'

Max looked over the top of her tourist map at two men in sunglasses, long leather coats and perfectly combed hair. ‘The ones who look like they just stepped out of a fashion magazine? How do you think they'd like a photo?' Max bit into her focaccia.

‘The way those guys are dressed, I think they'd love it.' Toby put his elbow on the table and leant his chin into his palm, so that his watch faced the souvenir shop. He pressed down on the camera button a few times. ‘Done.' He dropped his hand into his lap. ‘I'll get that to Steinberger to see if he can find out who they are.'

Toby took his palm computer out of his pack and kept it hidden under the table while he downloaded the photo from his camera and sent it to Spyforce.

‘You guys are good,' Luca was impressed.

‘Thanks,' Toby said with fake modesty. ‘If the world needs saving, we're your team.'

Linden finished the last of his pizza. ‘And now it's time to lose these guys.'

The four spies walked across the Piazza San Marco, careful not to appear suspicious, until they came to the edge of the canal near the Doge's Palace.

Linden held a tourist booklet in front of them as a cover. ‘Luca, how well do you know the Palace?'

‘I almost grew up there.'

‘Know any secret exits?'

Luca smiled. ‘Sure.'

‘Good. We'll all go into the palace to see if those guys have followed us. Max and Luca, you lead them further inside, while Toby and I sneak back out. You can then give them the slip using one of Luca's secret exits, and we'll all meet at Luca's house as soon as we can.'

‘We're going to split up?' Max asked with alarm. ‘Is that necessary?'

‘Yep. It'll be harder for these guys to follow us if we're in two groups.' Linden gave a teasing smile that made Max think that wasn't the only reason he'd teamed her up with Luca. ‘Let's go.'

The woman at the ticket desk recognised Luca
as the mayor's son and let them enter the Doge's Palace for free. Behind her, Max could see the two men in their sunglasses and leather jackets hurriedly buying tickets. She and Luca dawdled at the entrance to give the goons time to catch up, while with a nod Linden and Toby slipped away.

As Max and Luca made their way through the ornate interior, Max knew that any other time she would have been blown away by the Palace with its Golden Staircase, intricately painted ceilings and walls covered with famous artworks. But right now all she could think about was being so close to Luca and making a fool of herself again. She tried to act normal, but felt self-conscious about every part of her body and wondered which part would let her down next.

She snuck a look at Luca. He looked so relaxed and calm, so in control. He made it look easy, and Max decided she would do the same. She couldn't think about him now. They had to lose these guys quickly so they could get on with the mission.

Every so often they stopped to look at paintings and sculptures, but mostly to see if they were still being followed.

‘They're determined,' Luca said as he continued through the vast palace.

‘And not very good. We can lose them. We just have to wait for the right moment.'

Max began to feel a little more relaxed around Luca. She was proud of herself. It was working. ‘How did you learn to speak English so well?'

‘School,' Luca replied easily. ‘And from meeting wonderful people like you.'

Max tripped over her feet and would have fallen against a marble sculpture if Luca hadn't caught her.

‘I think they want to keep that one.' Luca smiled. ‘It's about eight hundred years old.'

Luca let her go and kept walking, while Max slumped in a sigh of her own clumsiness.

‘I've visited this place a lot. Venice used to be ruled from here. And this,' he stopped in a covered walkway that led over a canal, ‘is the Bridge of Sighs.'

Max was doing her best to ignore his accent and actually listen.

‘Look through here.' Luca pointed towards a window that looked out into the Venetian Lagoon. ‘Many people come to Venice to sail beneath this bridge in a gondola and think it is very romantic.'

Max's skin prickled at the word romantic. Stop it, she warned herself silently.

‘But the people who once walked along the
bridge were prisoners being led from the courts in the Palace to the prisons. As they passed, they say you could hear their sighs of sadness as they knew they were seeing their beautiful city for the last time before they were locked away.' Luca was quiet. ‘It will be very sad if anything happens to this place.'

Max had heard every word that time. ‘Nothing will happen to Venice. That's what we're here for. Now, where's that exit?'

‘This way,' Luca smiled, and the two of them took off, running along a narrow and twisting passage past small, cramped rooms. ‘These were the prison cells and this leads to a secret set of stairs.'

Luca pushed into a heavy door. ‘After you.'

Max heard the heavy tread of their two pursuers as she bolted through the door and down the stairs with Luca behind her. The echoing of their footsteps swirled around them as they flew over three steps at a time until they reached a small, dark exit.

‘And here we are.'

Max and Luca ran out onto a small street, flying over the cobbled stones. Behind them they heard the door slam shut.

‘They're still coming!' Max looked over her shoulder. ‘This way.'

She ran into a narrow street, wide enough for only a few people to stand. She jumped over flowerpots and baskets of washing and squeezed past a box of oranges.

‘In here.' Luca dived into the open door of a house. ‘I know them.'

He ran up a set of small circular stairs to the second level, where he ran into a short, round woman.

‘
Buon giorno, Signora Pucci
,' Luca said, puffing. ‘
Come sta
?'

‘
Bene, grazie
,' the woman smiled, happy at the unexpected visit.

But apart from asking how she was, Luca had no time to talk. He glanced down at the street and saw the two men, who at that moment looked up. Luca said something to Signora Pucci Max didn't understand.

She nodded and said, ‘
Bene
.'

Luca ran to the opposite window. It looked down on a small passageway, with a clothes line strung from the windowsill to another house across the way.

‘Care for a ride?' Luca smiled.

‘We can't leave Signora Pucci to face those men.'

‘Don't worry, she is very good at taking care of herself. Ready?' Luca asked.

Max looked down into the alley below and felt herself pulled foward. Her head started to spin and her breath caught in her throat.

‘Max? Are you okay?'

Max's fear of heights gripped her like one of Uncle Ben's bear hugs.

‘Sure,' she lied. ‘Let's go.'

She climbed onto the windowsill and grabbed hold of the clothesline as Luca spun the rope outwards. With her eyes jammed shut and a large pair of trousers flapping in her face, Max swung her way towards the open window on the opposite side of the lane. When she felt the window ledge, she began breathing again, opened her eyes and climbed inside. She turned to pull the clothes line towards her and helped Luca follow her across.

They looked back just in time to see the two men being beaten over the head by a saucepan held in Signora Pucci's small but strong hands.

‘Told you she could look after herself.' Luca smiled and looked around the bedroom they'd landed in. ‘Hopefully no-one's home so we can make an unseen getaway.'

But as Max went to open the door she was met
by the open mouth and raised eyebrows of an elderly Italian woman. One who wasn't quiet for very long.

‘Aaaaahhhh!'

She tried to shush the woman and explain in a very broken Italian that it was okay. ‘
Scusi … mi dispiace … arrivederci …
'

‘I think we should just go,' Luca said. ‘
Mi scusi, signora
.'

They each ran around the woman and barrelled through the door. They flung themselves down the staircase, but when they'd reached the bottom they saw the two goons running along the passageway towards them.

‘Is there a back way?' Max asked.

‘Usually.'

With the woman screaming above them, they ran towards the exit at the other side of the house, but when Max tried to open the door she found it locked. Behind them, the front doors of the house were flung open and the two men stood before them.

The screaming woman, unable to cope with even more intruders in her house, fainted.

‘I was hoping she'd stop screaming,' Max said.

One of the men smiled and said something in Italian.

‘What did he say?' Max asked Luca.