Rendezvous in Rome (15 page)

“Did she say anything about seeing Nancy and me at the Sistine Chapel?” Mick asked.

Bess shook her head. “And I'm sure she would have, if she thought you guys were just sightseeing. She definitely knows we're on to her.”

“Claudia's been camped out near the phone in the front since you called,” Bess went on. “That way she can pick up the extension the minute Paola gets a call in her office.”

Nancy, Bess, and Mick hovered near the café's window. They had been there for about two hours when Claudia burst out of the store and ran over.

“She got a call!” Claudia exclaimed. “I am almost sure it was Mr. Azar. A man's voice said, ‘Four forty-five tomorrow. Come alone this time.' He hung up quickly, but I heard traffic noise in the background. He must have called from a pay phone so the call could not be easily traced.”

A rush of excitement swept over Nancy. “He
didn't mention a place, so he must be relying on Karine's drawing again,” she told the others.

“We could go to Piazza Navona early tomorrow morning and just ask Karine what she's going to draw,” Mick suggested. “That way we can be waiting for Paola before she even gets there, so there's no chance of her seeing us follow her.”

“Wait a minute,” Nancy said. The seed of an idea had just planted itself in her mind. “What if we could get Karine to
change
her drawing? Then we could send Paola wherever we wanted!”

“But we couldn't get Mr. Azar there,” Bess pointed out.

Nancy nodded. “Exactly. We can separate them and send the police after Mr. Azar.”

“I thought you said we had to catch Paola selling the necklaces,” Claudia objected.

“That's true, but we won't be able to catch even one of them red-handed if they see us. And if we blow it again, I'm afraid we won't get another chance,” Nancy said soberly.

Mick squeezed Nancy's shoulders, sending a shiver through her. “Besides, if you can catch Paola with the stolen jewelry, she might be willing to testify against Karine's father,” he said. “She won't want to take the rap alone.”

“So they'll testify against each other!” Bess said triumphantly. “What a great idea. But how do we get Karine to change her drawing?”

“I bet she'd do it for Massimo,” Nancy said, raising her eyebrows. “They've been getting very close these last few days. We need a good place for
our rendezvous,” she continued, her thoughts leaping ahead. “Somewhere Paola won't see us, but not so big that she'll be able to escape.”

The teens put their heads together, considering several of Rome's biggest tourist attractions. Finally they settled on the Colosseum.

“It is a huge theater in the round,” Claudia told them. “We could surround her easily. And Sandro can rig up some walkie-talkies from his job so we can be in constant contact with one another.”

“I want to see it first,” Nancy said. “We need to figure out exactly what we're going to do.”

“Let me call Sandro and tell him about the walkie-talkies,” Claudia said. “He can meet you guys at the Colosseum so you can plan for tomorrow.”

• • •

The Colosseum was a large oval sports arena more than two thousand years old. In its time it had seated over fifty thousand people. Now it was crumbling. Part of the outside wall had tumbled down, and what remained was marked with layers of arches and holes punched out of the stone by time. It looked like a stone beehive, Nancy thought.

The group walked through the arches and into one of the high tunnels that led to the open arena at the Colosseum's center. The sides sloped up around them, the wooden seats long gone. The original floor of the stadium had rotted away, exposing a maze of stone walls underneath.

“You wouldn't want to slip and fall down there,” Sandro warned as they made their way
around the edge of the maze where the floor had once been. It was closed off to tourists by a circular railing. He went on to explain that the Romans had stored supplies and animals under the arena floor. There were also tunnels around the sides, which had been used to flood the stadium for water sports.

“This is where the gladiators fought,” he told Nancy, Bess, and Mick. “They were slaves thrown together to fight for the entertainment of the masses. The crowds decided their fate.”

“What do you mean?” Bess asked.

“When each battle was over, the crowd voted on whether to grant the loser mercy. Thumbs up, he was allowed to live. Thumbs down . . .” Sandro shrugged.

Bess shuddered. “This place is giving me the creeps,” she said, eyeing the maze in front of them. “It's not a sports arena, it's a torture chamber!”

The group had walked halfway around the arena floor when Nancy saw a tall gate ahead blocking their path. “It looks like we can't go much farther, anyway,” she observed, coming to a stop.

“They don't have enough guards to open the whole place up,” Sandro explained as the group headed to the entrance. “They'd have tourists climbing through the tunnels and getting hopelessly lost.”

Bess gave a sigh of relief as they left the Colosseum. “I'm going to guard one of the entrances tomorrow,” she declared. “I don't want to be anywhere near where the gladiators actually
fought. As it is, I'm going to have nightmares for weeks!”

• • •

“Massimo convinced Karine to draw the Colosseum,” Sandro reported late the following morning when Nancy, Mick, and Bess arrived at his apartment. “Claudia asked him to do it. When she told him it was important, Massimo didn't even ask for an explanation.”

According to the plan, Sandro had stopped by Piazza Navona earlier that morning to talk to Karine. When he casually asked about her drawing she told him that her father had asked her to draw the Pantheon. “But she was drawing the Colosseum instead,” Sandro confirmed. “She didn't even seem to mind that she was drawing a building, something she usually doesn't do, since she likes colorful drawings.”

Nancy felt guilty about using Karine to catch her father, but what could she tell the other girl—that her father was smuggling jewelry and they needed her to capture him?

Claudia was already at Preziosi, Nancy knew. She would call Sandro as soon as Paola left for the Colosseum. That was Sandro and Claudia's cue to call the police and send them to the Pantheon to detain Mr. Azar for questioning. Sandro had also rigged up five walkie-talkies for the group's stakeout at the Colosseum.

The afternoon at Sandro's seemed to drag on forever. By the time the phone rang, a little after four, Nancy was so wound up that she actually jumped in her chair.

“Paola just left,” Sandro told them after speaking briefly with Claudia. “She must be headed for Piazza Navona.”

The four teenagers raced on the Vespas to the Colosseum to take their positions. Bess watched the street in front of the building while Nancy stood inside the main entrance. Sandro and Mick disappeared inside to keep a lookout from the sides of the Colosseum where the seats used to be.

Since it was late afternoon, there weren't many tourists. Nancy knew that it would have been easier to hide in the midday crowds.

Well, we'll just have to do the best we can, she thought. Claudia would be showing up any minute, and Bess would signal them when she arrived. Claudia was going to watch the side entrance to make sure Paola didn't walk in from there and see them.

By Nancy's calculations they still had about ten minutes before Paola showed up. Each minute seemed to drag on for an eternity. Where was Claudia? Nancy fought down a bubble of unease. Had Paola seen through their trap?

Suddenly Nancy's walkie-talkie crackled. Bess's voice sputtered in and out, and Nancy couldn't make out what she was saying.

“Bess, please repeat,” she said urgently. “You're too far away.”

Bess's voice broke through the crackling. “ . . . Claudia?” Bess's voice cut out and then in again. “ . . . she's here,” Nancy heard. And then, “Through the front.”

Claudia must have arrived, Nancy thought. Bess
was trying to say she was coming to the front, not the side entrance. Paola would probably be there within a few minutes. Nancy had to warn Claudia to get out of sight quickly.

Nancy peered around the corner, keeping her body hidden behind the main arch. No sign of Claudia. Had she gone around to the side after all?

Pressing the talk button, Nancy said, “Where is she, Bess?” As she spoke she stepped out into the doorway so she could hear Bess better. “Do you see her?”

Now Bess's voice came in more clearly. “Nancy, what are you doing?” she asked. “She's right in front of you!”

Nancy looked up. She was face-to-face with Paola Rinzini!

N
ANCY GASPED
. How could she have been so careless?

Paola was about fifteen feet away, too far for Nancy to grab her. Nancy's heart sank. If Paola turned and ran out into the street, they'd never get her!

Thinking quickly, Nancy stepped to one side and started to yell. “Oh, no!” she cried, looking behind Paola. “Stop her before she gets inside the Colosseum!” There was a better chance of getting Paola inside the Colosseum if she thought they
didn't
want her there. At least that was what Nancy hoped.

Paola whirled. Bess was racing toward them, her long blond hair streaking behind her. Nancy was relieved that Claudia pulled up on her Vespa just then, too. She dropped it on the ground, not even
pausing to put the kickstand down, and ran after Bess.

Paola's face twisted as she realized she was surrounded. Swiftly she ran past Nancy and into the arena.

Nancy took up the chase. “She's on her way in,” she yelled into her walkie-talkie. “Someone call the police!” Paola was headed toward the walkway around the maze under the arena floor in the center of the amphitheater, her high heels clattering over the uneven ground. Even though Nancy was gaining on her, Paola was still several yards ahead as she reached the arena floor.

Glancing upward, Nancy could see Mick and Sandro bounding down from the sloping stands toward the maze. Paola saw them, too, and picked up her pace. But the wire fence that had blocked the teens' way the day before was looming in front of her.

Paola didn't even pause at the fence. Kicking off her shoes, she began climbing.

Nancy remembered Sandro's words about tourists getting hopelessly lost in the blocked-off area. Well, she wasn't going to let Paola lose her again, Nancy thought grimly.

With a burst of energy she launched herself at the fence and grabbed Paola's leg. Paola shook her leg violently, still trying to climb, but Nancy held on. Grabbing Paola's leg with both hands, Nancy let her feet drop away from the fence so that her entire body weight would pull Paola down.

It worked. Paola's hands slipped off the fence, and she began to fall, taking Nancy with her.

Then suddenly Paola jammed her foot into the fence, throwing both of them sideways over the safety railing. They were falling into the stone maze below!

Nancy hit the ground on her side, driving her elbow into her ribs. She rolled, trying to lessen the impact of her fall, and found herself facedown in the dirt. Gasping, she drew a ragged breath.

Nearby, Paola was lying where she had fallen, moving feebly. Her bag was on the ground beside her. Nancy forced herself to her knees and reached for Paola's bag, but Paola saw her and grabbed it away. She landed a bare foot in Nancy's chest that sent her sprawling. Then, struggling to her feet, Paola staggered down the passage. She rounded a corner and disappeared.

Nancy bounced back onto her feet with a groan. She looked up, trying to see over the high stone walls around her. The two guys were still making their way down the stands. Claudia and Bess were nowhere to be seen. Nancy hoped they were calling the police.

Hearing Paola's heavy breathing off to her right, Nancy headed toward the sound. They were playing cat and mouse, and the mouse had the advantage, Nancy realized as she leaned against a wall. Sandro had said there were tunnels for water around the side of the arena floor: If Paola knew that, too, she'd probably head for the edge of the maze. But where was she now?

“Go left and take your first right.” Nancy jumped at the sound of Mick's voice coming from the walkie-talkie tucked in her waistband. She had
forgotten that she had left it on. She looked up to see Mick standing in the stadium, waving and pointing.

He could see Paola, Nancy realized. Relief coursed through her body. All she had to do was follow his directions.

Paola must have heard Mick's voice, too, because Nancy heard her scramble through a nearby passage.

“She's running parallel to you, about twenty-five feet in front,” Mick told Nancy. “Don't take your next right, it's a dead end. Take the one after that.”

Sandro was racing down the stands, taking the stone steps two at a time. He was going to reach the fence any minute. Nancy almost grinned with relief as she saw her backup working.