She nodded. ‘We could send the pod away. To distract them.’

‘We could. I did consider it. How do you feel about that?’

‘I’m not sure. Once it’s gone . . . It’s our lifeline.’

‘It is, isn’t it?’

‘Do we have to decide now?’

‘No – thanks to events tomorrow, we have a few days’ grace to think about things.’

She sighed. ‘Yes. But we will still need to find ourselves a secondary base.’

‘Can you walk?’

‘Of course. And I can probably run, too.’

‘You may have to.’

‘Where exactly are we?’

‘I told you. Rome.’

‘It’s a big place. Whereabouts in Rome?’

He pulled out his scratchpad. ‘Trans Tiberim. Quite close to the Field of Mars. Which is where it’s all going to kick off tomorrow.’

‘We’ll be going in the opposite direction, surely.’

‘And miss all the fun? Don’t you want to see?’

‘Actually,’ said Jane, surprising herself as much as Luke, ‘I’d love to see, but surely common sense dictates we should be as far away as possible.’

‘Yes, it does,’ said Luke. ‘But if we were burdened with common sense then neither of us would be here in the first place, would we? It’s a bit late for common sense now, Jane. Don’t you want to catch a glimpse of the great man himself? No need to be squeamish. There won’t be anything to see. It all happens inside and you’re only a woman so they won’t let you in anyway. Or, you know, there’s the alternative, where we could sit around here all day, listening for approaching footsteps and imagining the worst.’

She glared at him in exasperation. ‘Has anyone ever said no to you?’

‘Oh God, all the time. That brunette in IT. The other brunette in IT. The tall one who works in Reception. The one in the library who wears her hair in that funny ponytail. The redhead in . . .’

‘Yes, all right,’ she said, realising they could be there all day. ‘But not the blonde in Logistics.’

‘Definitely not the blonde in Logistics,’ he said with a fond smile.

‘You’re disgusting.’

‘Yes,’ he said mournfully. ‘Yes, I am.’

‘I don’t even want to share a pod with you.’

‘If we go outside and explore, then you won’t have to.’

‘Do you always get your own way?’

‘Yes. You’ve admitted it, Jane, you want to see as well. And we’re safer in a crowd than we are here, trapped in a pod. Imagine if someone knocked on the door this very moment. What would you do?’

‘Give you up in exchange for a lighter sentence.’

He grinned the complacent Parrish grin. ‘No, you wouldn’t.’

‘If we go outside, will it stop you talking?’

‘Let’s see, shall we?’

26

26

Ten minutes later they were cautiously exploring their immediate surroundings.

‘This was someone’s garden once,’ said Jane. ‘Look, there’s an old fountain over there.’