“Come on, slowpoke, let’s go,” Jess chided her mother as she swung forward on the crutches.
They walked back across the piazza, crowded again with tourists and street vendors, and past the street they’d waited at the night before. Everything looked so different in the light of day. Alive. Gray skies hung low over the piazza, the air humid and still threatening rain. They hurried past a line of stalls vending Papal calendars, artists selling sketches of the Vatican and posters of the Colosseum.
“It’s here.” Jess stopped under an “Internet” sign. A couple sat with a map of Rome spread out on a table outside, with another table empty beside them. Jess held the crutches in one hand while she hopped up the stairs. Inside, she nodded at the man behind the cash register as she sat down at a computer station.
She logged in, then started up her webmail. An email from her father popped up right away.
“Look,” Jess exclaimed as her mother sat down beside her, “it’s Dad.”
In the email, her father apologized profusely, said they rushed him out of the hotel, that they needed to use him for media to calm people down. He added that they took his laptop and cell phone temporarily, as a security precaution, but that he had them now. Jess nodded. That made sense. She was just happy that they finally got in touch with him.
“He said to stay at the apartment.” Jess turned to Celeste. “An Italian military attaché was supposed to pick us up, to take us on a private flight to Darmstadt to meet him.”
“I guess we weren’t there to meet them.” Celeste offered a plastic cup of water to Jess. “Come on, drink this.”
Jess took it and gulped the water down. Military attaché. The Humvee parked on the corner. That had to be for them. She typed a quick email back to her father, saying that they got locked out of the apartment, but they were fine.
“Should we go back to the apartment?” Celeste asked. “Or up to the Embassy? We’ll need our passports, won’t we?”
“Not to travel to Germany.”
Jess’s email pinged. A return answer from her father. Get back to the apartment, he said, there’s a military transport, a Humvee, you can’t miss it. He added that the driver was instructed not to leave for any reason, not until he collected Jess and Celeste. Ben attached his Italian phone number, an emergency number for Darmstadt, and the contact information for the driver picking them up. Jess and Celeste read it together.
“I guess we go back to the apartment?” Jess looked at her mother, then winced. Pain shot between her eyes, the pounding headache getting worse.
“Sure, but let me chat with your Dad.” Celeste nodded at a Western Union money wiring sign over the counter. “I’m going to get him to send us some money, just to be safe. I asked the owner, he said it takes only a few minutes to wire cash from a credit card.”
“Maybe we should call him?” Jess saw someone talking on an Internet phone next to the man at the register.
“I’ll call him.” Celeste rubbed Jess’s shoulder. “Why don’t you sit down outside? I think the sun is coming out. Drink some more water, relax. I’ll take care of this.”
Jess took a deep breath. “Okay. Perfect.” She stood, placed her crutches under her arms and swung forward to the entrance.
Her clothes were just about dry, still slightly damp, and she could smell herself. Never a good sign. What she would give for a hot shower.
“Cafe, madame?” asked the man behind the cash register.
“Yes, please. And some water.” Jess held the crutches in her left hand, gripping the stair’s railing. “And do you have anything to eat?”
“Croissant?”
Jess smiled. “Perfect.”
She hopped down the stairs and squinted in the brightening light outside. The couple was still there, staring at their map, and she sat at the table next to them. The sun poked momentarily through the heavy clouds overhead. Closing her eyes, Jess took a deep breath and relaxed into her chair. She’d almost forgotten about Nomad, but that was a problem for later, for when they met her father. And he would know better than anyone.
Everything was going to be fine.
She opened her eyes and looked at the couple beside her again. Holding hands. Leaning into each other. She thought of Giovanni, of her tour around the castle. She wondered what he was doing.
A bright light flashed, a searing white that reflected off the windows and lit the sky. Jess blinked. Did someone just take a picture of her, pop a flash an inch from her face? The ground rumbled, glasses rattling on the table next to her, then a whomping concussion blew Jess backward, slamming her head against the concrete, a roar rising to overload her senses. A super-heated blast of air tore through the street, shattering windows, burning into Jess’s flesh.
18
DARMSTADT, GERMANY