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There was a new attendant waiting for lanced behindon the table, then asked in Italian if everything was okay

"Sì," I told hio back the e’d coestured in the opposite direction

"This way," he said

"But…" I pointed to where the main lobby lay

"The exit is this way," he said, so I followed

I don’t know if it was sout, but the coe man

Way too alone

The corridor slanted upward, and as alked, I knee had to be nearing the surface, and yet there was nothing but static in , I knew it And then the apped, and that’s when I saw the gun beneath his arun ready to draw

A priht even hit round, knocking his head against the stone wall and starting to run

"I’m in an alley southwest of the bank," I said, but no one answered Even the static was gone I heard nothing but the revving of engines as twofast

I turned and bolted in the other direction There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that the bank had been comproetting closer

Soon they’d overtake me My only hope was the street

I had to make it to the street

And then…

"Cammie!" a voice yelled Ambassador Winters was parked in theopen the door of a car "Get in!"

Chapter Twenty-eight

It didn’t feel like a rescue, and it wasn’t an extraction I studied Preston’s father--the way he gripped the steering wheel too tightly and drove too fast down incredibly narrow cobblestone streets

"Ambassador Winters, thank you so much I was lost and--"

"Now’s not the ti frantically at the street behind us He hunched over the wheel in a totally inappropriate posture for high-speed driving as he examined the rearview mirror "How many are there?"

"Excuse me?" I asked, dumbfounded

"I knohy you were at that bank, Cammie!" he snapped "It’s the same reason I helped you access it last summer No ent," I said I could tell by the sweat beading at his brow, the death grip he kept on the wheel He looked an than Joe Solomon And yet the words were real: the Circle "How do you know about--"

"I thought we covered this last summer, Cammie Now, tell me how many--"

"One in the bank Two on the street Probablythe perimeter"

He breathed deeply and spun the wheel, sending the black car skidding onto a narrow street that I doubt any tourist ever saw

"How do you know about the Circle, Ah "I was almost President of the United States, Cas that, at certain levels, you have to know Not to ht the Circle of Cavan was after lanced at ot that"

"I’ve been forgetting a lot lately"

I turned to theas I said it We were passing a bridge, and artists stood along the roadside with their canvases and paint The skies were clear and blue It was beautiful there

But that was before the windshield shattered

My head snapped, and the car spun

I was faintly aware of the sensation of being weightless and then rolling, over and over The crunching lass pierced h barbed wire And yet all I could do was hope that I wouldn’t be sick, knowing I would never recover fro all over Preston’s father

When the car finally caone and the ere shattered There was nothing at all betweenfro towardbeneath his feet

I shook lass fall from my hair Either it was luck or adrenaline, but I felt no pain or fear So over, and I was grabbing the a

"Ambassador, we have to move Do you hear me? We can’t stay here"

The shrill sound of sirens echoed in the distance A croas gathering People called out in Italian that help was on the way But fro from the van that had struck us Athrough the crowd

"Aroggy and disoriented--confused--so I gripped tighter

"We have to run Now"

A hundred yards away, I saw the entrance to the market we’d visited on our first day, with its stalls andas hard as I could, looking back over h the crowd I tried to ignore the stares of the tourists, the blood running down the side of my face

"A as much about his mind as his body "Do you have a panic button?"