Chapter 21
Brooke
The Reynolds controlcenter was on high alert when I arrived downstairs after Drew’s holler for the team to gather. He sat in front of his laptop, pivoting one of the monitors with one hand, while engaging speaker mode on his phone, which lay on the table.
“I’ve got Rav, Scarlett, and Zac on the line, as well as Brie and Will from home,” he said to the room. “And I’ve got Malcolm, Jayce, Emmett, and Brooke with me here.”
“Can you share the feed to Rav’s phone?” asked Scarlett over the line.
“In progress,” said Brie.
“Night vision mode enabled,” Will said, distinguishable by his faint British accent. “Switching to thermal overlay now.”
I pushed through the small cluster of bodies to get a better view of the screen. The grainy footage showed what looked like the large drainage chamber beneath Pompeii’s amphitheater that we’d explored yesterday—the one with the scaffolding. The cameras we’d installed were working perfectly, though the image was dim and shadowy.
“Got it,” Rav’s voice came through the speaker.
The screen transformed into shades of green, revealing the contours of the ancient drainage tunnels beneath the amphitheater. A distinct shape moved through the passageway—mechanical, quadrupedal, and purposeful.
“That’s another robot dog,” I said.
It navigated the narrow tunnel more slowly than Hermes had; Mario’s upgrades to his machine clearly gave it an advantage.
“Has anyone called Mario?” I asked. “We should verify whether the archaeological park has scheduled any robotic surveys today before jumping to conclusions.”
Jayce was already dialing. She put the phone on speaker as it rang.
“Pronto?” Mario answered, the sounds of birds and people in the background suggesting he was outdoors.
“Mario, it’s Jayce from the villa. We’re observing a large robot dog in the drainage tunnels under the amphitheater on our surveillance feed. Is there any authorized work happening down there today?”
“What kind of robot? Definitely not Hermes?”
“No,” I said, leaning toward the phone. “Significantly larger.”
“Un momento.” Muffled Italian voices carried through from his end as he spoke with someone nearby. After about thirty seconds, he returned. “The park has three units larger than Hermes, but none of them are scheduled for deployment today. All units should be in their storage facility.”
Shit.“So whatever we’re seeing shouldn’t be there.”
“What’s it doing?” Rav asked through the speaker. “I can’t see enough detail on the phone. Is it placing equipment or taking readings?”
The camera zoomed in slightly, and Will said, “I’m guessing it’s doing a survey. It’s walking a few feet, stopping. No visible payload or equipment installation that I can detect.”
“It could be general recon,” I said. “Or mapping. Perhaps checking whether anyone has discovered equipment they’ve already installed? It might be ensuring the planned routes are still viable.”
“Tabarnak,” muttered Rav. “We’re stuck in traffic on the highway. Accident ahead. ETA is uncertain.”
“I’m going to Pompeii.” The decision was easy. I’d been underground with Mario, knew the directions to the camera’s location, and if the robot was down there to plant or start anything, I was the best one to deal with it.
“Wait until I’m there,” said Rav.
“We need to find out what’s going on.” I pulled out my phone to call my Pendragon team, but before I could dial, it buzzed. Bobcat’s name flashed on the screen. Perfect timing. “Tell me you’re seeing this, Bobcat?”
“We’ve been monitoring the feed since Reynolds shared it,” he confirmed, talking over whatever Rav was saying from the phone on the table. “If that robot belongs to Fenix, someone had to take it into those sewers. Someone’s nearby, Brooke.”
“Agreed,” I said, already hurrying to the stairs. “I’m grabbing my equipment and heading to Pompeii immediately.”
“We’re about to do the same,” Bobcat replied. “ETA to Pompeii approximately thirty minutes, but we’ll have to shake our tail first. If you get there before us, remember our primary mission is to stop the Greek Fire deployment. Identifying the source is our secondary objective. This might lead us to their lab.”
