Private Rome

Chapter 56

Mo-bot had rented a metallic-red Renault Duster. The unremarkable mid-size SUV was equipped with basic comforts such as air conditioning, which fought the worst of Rome’s oven-dry heat, but what had interested her most about the vehicle was the large trunk, which she’d filled with newly acquired flight cases that contained the surveillance gear they’d brought with them from Los Angeles.

She was frustrated not to have access to the full equipment store of a local Private office, but Rome wasn’t properly open yet. She and Sci would have to make do with the gear they’d brought with them, which was enough to run a decent operation against a single target.

And that target was the Inferno Bar, nerve centre of the merciless Dark Fates.

Mo-bot could see the bar now, both from the observation vehicle, parked two blocks away on Via Filippo Turati, and on the remote-control screen she was holding, which enabled her to pilot a mini-drone that was currently nearing the building. As before, there was a crowd gathered in the street outside, seemingly unconcerned by the fact that it was barely lunchtime and their alcohol consumption was already veering out of control.

Mo-bot flew the device up higher and took it through an open window on the second floor, into an office furnished with a desk and a row of filing cabinets. She piloted the device, which was not much bigger than a butterfly, into one corner of the room and brought it down on a cabinet, next to an in-tray that would conceal it from all but the most determined observer. She checked the microphone and camera and was satisfied it would give us eyes on the office for at least four days before the batteries ran dry.

“We’re all good,” Mo-bot said to Sci, who was lying in the fully reclined passenger seat. “Eight micro-drones deployed around the building. You’re up.”

Sci had unclipped the straps on his boots, so he could recline in comfort. Now he fastened them. He looked every inch the renegade old biker. Sometimes Mo-bot had to remind herself this grizzled road warrior was in fact one of the world’s foremost forensics experts.

“Tell me what I’m doing again,” he said, using a lever to bring the seat up.

Mo-bot rolled her eyes.

“I’m just kidding,” he confessed with a smile.

They climbed out of the Renault and went to the trunk. Mo-bot opened it and took out a heavily worn satchel.

“You have twelve audio and eight audio-visual devices,” she said. “Your target is the main bar and public areas.”

Drones would have been noticed flying around the bar, so they needed a human asset to install the devices that would complete their surveillance of the Dark Fates.

“Sink a few drinks and catch up with my new biker buddies,” Sci suggested. “That sound about right?”

Mo-bot elbowed him. “When are you going to grow up?”

“When someone makes me,” he replied, setting off toward the bar.