The Venice Job (6 page)

Steinberger signed off and the connection ended.

Max closed her palm computer and brushed past Luca's arm as she put it in her pocket, making her suddenly aware of how close they were sitting.

‘And now I'd like to invite you all to dinner.' Luca smiled.

‘Excellent.' Max jumped up quickly and clanged her head into the Shush Zone. ‘As soon as Linden deactivates this.'

The green glow of the Shush Zone disappeared as Linden turned away to hide a smirk and Max did her best not to look embarrassed.

Max, Toby and Linden soon realised that Luca's idea of dinner was very different from what they had expected. They stood at the entrance to a huge dining hall lit with intricate chandeliers and the soft light of candelabras. A long table was filled
with an endless banquet of food surrounded by laughing, talking, well-dressed guests.

This time, none of the three spies could speak.

‘Please,' Luca led them towards his parents who were seated at the head of the table. ‘Mama, Papa, these are my friends.'

‘Welcome.' Luca's mother's voice was warm and inviting.

‘We are very pleased to have you here,' said Luca's father. ‘If you need anything during your stay, consider it yours. Enjoy.'

Luca invited them to sit down as a tall man in an elegant suit announced them. ‘Mr Linden Franklin, Mr Toby Jennings and Ms Maxine Remy from Australia.'

The stylish diners nodded and held glasses up to them.

‘I would have been happy with pizza,' Toby whispered to Linden as they sat down, but Linden wasn't listening. He was gazing at the food before him as if he'd suddenly been dropped into heaven.

There was minestrone soup, quail baked with almonds and orange, crispy skinned roast chicken and potatoes, lasagne, spinach-filled cannelloni, grilled fish with a cream and salmon sauce, and plates overflowing with cheeses, fruit and berries.
This was followed by crystal bowls of chocolate mousse covered in strawberries and, for anyone who could fit it in, pistachio and pecan gelato.

Throughout the meal, Linden fell into bouts of dreamy silence followed by attempts to guess all the ingredients of the dishes, as if he wasn't on a top-secret mission but a gourmet tour of Italy.

‘This is like eating little pieces of happiness.' Linden stared at the quail on his fork before slowly polishing it off.

‘Linden likes food?' Luca asked Max.

‘He could be falling out of a helicopter, but someone mention food and he forgets where he is.'

Luca laughed. ‘You are very funny. I like that.'

Luca gave Max a smile that made her feel she'd lost her stomach on a roller-coaster. To stop anything stupid coming out of her mouth, she reached for her glass and took a sip of her drink, only it went down the wrong way and she turned bright crimson while trying not to choke.

‘Are you okay?' Luca asked.

‘Sure,' she said through a few wheezed coughs.

After a couple of minutes, Max's throat calmed down and she felt better. She took a deep breath and enjoyed breathing normally again. All around her were women entwined with jewels and men
sitting beneath perfectly styled hairdos and suits.

‘Who are all these people?'

‘Friends of my fathers, dignitaries, hangers-on. Being the son of a mayor means you don't have many quiet dinners at home.' He paused. ‘Except tonight I don't mind, since the guests are so very special.'

Max's stomach did the roller-coaster thing again, but this time she didn't mind so much.

She looked around the table. They were people who had lives that were probably exotic and rich, but as she watched them talk and laugh and tell stories, she knew that life as a Spyforce agent was the best life of all. She'd rescued her mother from being kidnapped and her boss from being killed, she'd been an extra in a Hollywood film, raced in an Aqua Buggy through the Amazon Jungle, flown over the boiling lava of a volcano, battled terrifying …

‘Potatoes?' Linden held a dish of baked potatoes under her nose. ‘You have got to try these.'

Max sighed, knowing there was little point talking to Linden about their lives as spies while there was food around. She took the dish and piled a few potatoes on her plate before passing it on, while on the other side of the table, through a dripping candelabrum, a pair of watchful eyes stared at her every move.

‘This is your boat?' Toby stood on the wharf in front of Luca's house and stared at the speedboat bobbing in the canal in front of him.

‘One of them,' Luca answered modestly. ‘Living in Venice gives you a taste for boats. And it's the best way to get around.'

‘Well, then.' Toby slipped on his sunglasses. ‘I guess if we're going to act like tourists we might as well do it in style.'

‘And since you'll need a few tips on style, I'll be here if you have any questions,' Linden offered as he did up the top button of his jacket.

Luca held his hand out to Max to help her on board but she pretended not to see and got on by herself, pulling her woollen hat down low on her head.

‘And this is Alberto, my personal guard. He speaks three different languages but I'm afraid English isn't one of them.'

‘
Buon giorno
,' he said before turning to face the controls. He waited until they were all seated before slowly moving away from the wharf and into the canals.

‘Venice has around one hundred and seventy-seven canals,' Luca began, ‘and is made up of about one hundred and twenty islands.' The boat sailed beneath a small bridge. ‘There are four hundred
pedestrian bridges like this one and no cars are allowed in the lanes of the old city.'

‘What's with the costumes?' Linden looked at a small shop whose windows were filled with masks and capes.

‘People are getting ready for Carnival,' Luca explained. ‘It's the festival that happens every year at this time, and people come from all over the world to party wearing colourful clothes and masks.'

Max saw a woman standing at the door of her house which was just above the water. ‘Does it ever flood here?'

‘Sometimes. There was a bad one in 1966 that caused a lot of damage. A storm or heavy rain can do it, or a very high tide, but you'll hear warning sirens if that's about to happen.' Luca looked up at the grand houses beside them. ‘In some of the older houses, people don't live downstairs anymore because of the flooding. Some people think the water eventually will ruin the city. It has sunk centimetres in the last century.'

‘Your city is sinking?' Linden asked.

‘It has been, but the government has done a lot to stop it.'

Luca's guard steered them carefully through many snaking canals filled with boats carrying food,
people and even furniture. They passed barges filled with fruit and vegetables for sale, tourists on gondolas, and children playing soccer on the narrow paths between the houses and the water, until they pulled up beside a set of algae-stained steps.

Luca jumped out of the boat. ‘It is time to meet our contact.'

He waved Alberto off and led the way over the cobbled stone path to the Accademia.

‘Your guard doesn't stay with you all the time?' Linden asked.

‘No. Only when I need him. We will attract less attention without him today.'

Luca came to a stop in front of an old church-like building. ‘We are now standing in front of one of the finest art galleries in Venice. Where should we begin?'

‘I think it'd be better if we split up.' Max grabbed Linden's hand. ‘We'll take the east and north of the building, you two take the west and south.'

‘How will we know who to look for?' Luca asked.

‘He'll find you. He's very good,' Max said before quickly pulling Linden inside.

After they'd paid their entrance fee and checked their packs with the gallery staff, they bought a floor
plan of the Accademia and began looking at artworks while discreetly searching for their contact.

‘Tell me, Max, is it that you enjoy my company so much, or you don't want to be close to Luca?'

Max pretended to be studying the floorplan. ‘I always enjoy being with you.'

‘But the answer to my question is …?'

Max sighed. ‘Luca makes me feel … strange, Linden. I'm not myself around him. He's saying smooth, mushy things and I don't feel like throwing up like I usually do – in fact, I can't stop listening!'

‘I'd noticed,' Linden smiled.

She looked around and whispered. ‘What's going on?'

‘You sure you want to hear this?' Linden asked.

‘Yes. I can't go through a whole mission feeling like this.'

‘Do you stare into the distance a lot? Have you lost your appetite? Do your eyes have a dreamy glow?'

‘Yeah,' Max admitted.

‘You've got what Ralph's got.'

‘I'm sorry?' Max turned her ear to Linden as if she hadn't heard properly.

Linden braced himself. ‘I'd say that you, Max Remy, are in lo–'

‘No!' Max cut him off. ‘No, I'm not. I know what you're going to say, but that is something that old people do, and pets apparently, not me. It's revolting and ridiculous and makes people act strange. Does that sound like me?' Her hands were on her hips and her eyes flared wildly.

Linden knew when not to push it with Max. ‘No.'

‘And if you tell anyone I said any of this I'll make sure your next mission is at the bottom of some really dark ocean.'

‘Okay.'

Max moved along a few paintings to the far corner. She stopped in front of a portrait and stared closely. There was something about it that didn't feel right.

‘Linden, look at this. These eyes are so lifelike they almost feel real.'

Linden stared hard into the eyes. ‘They're real!'

The eyes blinked.

‘Aaaah!' Max cried before waving to the gallery guard. ‘Stubbed my toe,' she said, clutching exaggeratedly at her foot.

A voice came from the painting. ‘How do I look?'

Max looked closer. ‘Agent 31?'

Agent 31 was Spyforce's secret hidden agent. It was his job to relay information to agents from places no-one would think to check.

‘Good cover, 31.'

‘Thanks. I always fancied myself as a famous piece of art. How do I look?'

‘Eye-catching,' Linden answered warily. ‘You know you're wearing a dress?'

‘Yes, but green suits me, don't you think?'

Max was keen to stop talking about the dress and start talking about the mission. ‘What have you found out?'

‘Spyforce have finished analysing the note sent to the mayor. And it's … Are you okay, Max? You look different somehow.'

‘I'm fine. Why do people keep asking that?' She scowled.

‘You've got this kind of dreamy glow.'

Linden tried badly to cover his laughter.

Max glared at the two of them. ‘Can we just get on with it?'

‘Sure.' Agent 31 raised his eyebrows briefly. ‘The note was written on very expensive Italian paper and ink, so we believe we are dealing with someone wealthy and local. I've also seen the satellite data of the city, and it's hard to make out,
but it seems there has been some unauthorised work in the clay beds beneath the city. I …'

Agent 31 stopped dead. ‘Someone's coming,' he whispered.

Max and Linden pretended to study the floorplan again as a rich-looking man with a sweeping moustache and a woman in a long leather coat moved up beside them.

‘Not one of his best,' the woman complained in a posh English accent. ‘He's got the eyes all wrong for a start.'

She sniffed before they both walked away.

The eyes blinked again. ‘Eyes all wrong?' Agent 31 sounded crestfallen. ‘My mum used to say my eyes were my best feature.'

‘Don't listen to her. You've got great eyes,' Linden tried to reassure him.

‘You think so?'

‘Yes,' Max cut Linden off before the talk about the eyes got too much. ‘You were saying? About the clay beds beneath the city?'

‘Yes, yes, of course. It seems they have been tampered with, and we are concerned that explosive devices may have been laid beneath the city. The only way we can find out for sure is to look at one of the areas in question up close.'

‘Up close?' Max didn't like the sound of that.

‘Yes,' Agent 31 answered excitedly. ‘You'll need to go scuba diving.' He said it like they'd won a million dollars. ‘Tonight.'

‘Does it have to be at night?' Max wasn't happy about diving, and she was even less crazy about doing it in the dark.

‘It has to be done at night to avoid suspicion,' Agent 31 explained. ‘Luca's guard, Alberto, will take you to the area I have marked on the maps in your palm computers. Luca will stay in the boat with Alberto to do any translation that's needed and to give you directions. The rest of you will use your infrared waterproof watches to record what you see. Plomb's bomb detectors will alert you to any explosive devices that may be nearby.' He took an excited breath. ‘This is going to be fun!'

‘You think so?' Max asked sarcastically.

‘Oh, I know so.' Agent 31 looked away. ‘Guard's coming.'

The heavy footsteps of the guard brought him looming up behind Max and Linden like a towering building.

‘This guy really knew how to use a brush. It's hard to take your eyes off it.' Max laughed. ‘We better get going, Linden.'

They moved away.

‘Do you think he heard?' Max asked.

‘No. I think he was too far away.'

When they'd grabbed their packs and were outside, Max took out her palm computer and looked up her map of Venice. She then spoke into her watch. ‘Toby, are you there?'

Within seconds Toby answered. ‘We're still in the gallery.'

‘Linden and I have met the contact. Meet us at the bell tower in the Piazza San Marco in twenty minutes.'

‘Roger that,' Toby replied.

But as Linden and Max walked away from the Accademia, the gallery guard stared after them suspiciously, watching their every step.