“Did you hear that, traitor?” Enzo’s head rolled backward, so he could yell at Noah, who was beginning to stir. “You see what happens when you betray us?”
Scarlett had been right. Noahwasa pawn, just like the rest of us.
“I saw him meet with you.” Enzo met Rav’s gaze and swung his right shoulder, as though attempting to make his obviouslybroken arm work. “He always had a soft spot for the one with the tits.”
Rav slammed his forehead into Enzo’s. “Don’t talk about her that way.”
“You couldn’t stop us, Noah!” Enzo laughed weakly, squeezing his eyes shut. His good arm rose, as he’d done at the microphone earlier, and he spoke as though incanting a ritual. “When the world has failed, and the land is covered in disease, a hero will appear. He will be worthy of the gift of the gods. The egg will crack open, and from it, the ancient phoenix will rise again, and the world will know forever!”
Hero? Who was their hero supposed to be? Martinelli? Enzo?
“Oh shit, you’ve got three inbound,” said Brie over the earpiece. “Rav? Brooke? Get out of there!”
“The phoenix rises from its ashes, asshole,” growled Rav. “Not from an?—”
“Egg!” I shouted, the pieces finally clicking into place. “Holy shit, I know where it is!”
Rav spun to face me, causing Enzo’s broken arm to swing, and the man cried out.
I grabbed Rav’s shoulder, looking around to find the men Brie had spotted. There was too much white mist. I couldn’t see them. “We need to go. Now.”
Rav’s nostrils flared once, and he freed one of his hands long enough to send it crashing against Enzo’s nose. Rav dropped the man onto the stage, where he crumpled in a heap.
“Where?” He breathed deeply, standing over the man who’d fooled us all week, as though waiting for him to dare move.
“Whichever driver’s closer,” I said, tugging Rav’s arm. “Rav and I need exfil at the?—”
A rough hand hauled me backward by my hair, while two men grabbed Rav. I retrieved my baton and swung wildly behind me, making contact with something solid. The man who’dgrabbed me fell to the ground, and I smashed one of his ankles, hopefully grounding him.
Rav moved with violent grace. He tossed one man easily off the stage, striking the other in the throat. When another fool came at him, Rav ducked his first blow, caught him with a shoulder, and tossed him easily.
Screams erupted from the crowd.
“We need exfil. Zac? Emmett?” I said.
“I’m closest,” said Zac. “Two passengers?”
“Yes,” said Scarlett. “The rest of us will follow once we’re sure the police have secured the Fenix personnel.”
Rav looked at me, placing a gentle hand on my cheek. “What did you figure out?”
“Martinelli donated to a restoration project at the Castel dell’Ovo. It means the Egg Castle. That’s where they are!” I’d been there once, during a break while I was attending a conference. “Legend had it that a magical egg was buried under the castle, and that if the egg were ever broken, Naples would fall.”
“It fits Enzo’s rambling.” How he switched from such violence to such tenderness amazed me. “Are you all right?”
I put my hand over his, and my other on his chest. “We need to?—”
A boom overhead made me flinch. Fireworks exploded from the amphitheater’s rim, showering gold and crimson sparks across the night sky. My chest seized. If they’d mixed Greek Fire powder into those charges?—
No. The test kit results had all been negative. They were just ordinary pyrotechnics. My skin wasn’t burning, and Enzo had confirmed he’d been screwing with us.
I grabbed Rav’s arm and pointed up to the grassed-over steps, the way we’d come in. “We need to hurry.”
More explosions painted the sky purple and green as we ran. The crowd’s panic seemed to shift, as though the fireworks told them it was all a planned performance. Then another cheer went up.
“Castel dell’Ovo is the perfect spot,” I said. “It’s right on the harbor. The whole waterfront will be packed with people.”
But even as I said it, doubt crept in. What if it was another misdirection?
