‘Who exactly are you?’ Nico looked at Elliot Frizzle, who, along with Lottie Ziegler and the girls, were now crammed into Max and Carlos’s hotel room. Shards of light pierced the room through the edges of the drawn curtains and a cacophony of bells tolled across the waking city.

Kensy had perched herself on the end of Max’s bed while Autumn sat at the writing desk, and Misha had found herself a spot on the toilet seat, which faced straight into the bedroom from the bijou en suite. The teachers stood on either side of the door, looking a picture of bemusement.

‘I’m an Art teacher and Miss Ziegler’s a Maths teacher and, together with the students, we’re on a history tour of Rome,’ Elliot replied. ‘Although it doesn’t quite feel like it at the moment.’

‘No, I mean . . . who are you really?’ Nico repeated. ‘I do not understand why a group of English children would try to rescue me and how they would even know my mamma was being blackmailed.’

Elliot leaned against the doorjamb and folded his arms. ‘I’m afraid that’s rather by the by. All you need to know, Nico, is that you can trust us and we will do everything in our power to get you back home safely.’

‘Do you really think we can pull it off, sir?’ Max asked. His mind had been running over everything they’d learned about the Diavolo in the past twelve hours, twisting and turning the information like a Rubik’s cube. Catching them was going to be tricky but incredibly exhilarating at the same time.

‘I have every faith,’ Elliot said with a nod.

Nico had slept soundly for the first time since he’d run away on Christmas Eve. Carlos had given up his bed to the boy and had top and tailed with Max. The pair of them had been awake half the night, partly keeping an eye on their guest to make sure that he didn’t try to leave, and mostly thinking about the plan to bring down the Diavolo, which they had plotted out with their teachers overnight.

‘Alessandro Grimaldi will have agents stationed on every corner. You’ll be watched, but you’re going to have to keep one step ahead of them all the way,’ Lottie said. ‘If the men from the orphanage suspect foul play, it will jeopardise everything.’

Nico’s head snapped up. ‘Who is Alessandro Grimaldi?’ he asked. ‘I have heard that name before.’

‘Someone who can stop the people who have been blackmailing your mother,’ Elliot Frizzle said. ‘Now, let’s organise some breakfast while we wait for the others to leave for the day. Miss Ziegler is going to shadow you once you’re out on the street. Mrs Vanden Boom and I will accompany the rest of the children to the church this morning with Mr Reffell. He’s organised a tour. It’s going to be very interesting, actually. Apparently, the hearts and internal organs of over thirty popes are embalmed and stored in urns over there – absolutely fascinating stuff – and then we’re off to the Villa Borghese gardens.’

Kensy blanched. ‘What?! I intercepted the Prime Minister’s note in one of the urns in that church – gross! What if I was touching the heart of a pope?’

Autumn chuckled and Max grinned to himself.

‘I’d consider it an honour – perhaps even a blessing,’ Elliot said, a smile twitching at the corners of his mouth.

‘What are you going to tell the others?’ Carlos asked. He couldn’t imagine they would be able to disappear for the day without causing some discussion among the rest of the group.

Elliot Frizzle scratched his head. ‘You’ve all come down with a stomach bug and we’re keeping you in isolation – Miss Ziegler drew the short straw and has to look after you.’

That sounded feasible enough. Even the other agents-in-training wouldn’t question that and, when it came down to it, no one wanted a case of the vomits. But if they were needed at all, the adults had already decided that Elliot would look after the five students who weren’t part of Pharos – which the man really did consider as drawing the short straw; he would have loved to see some active duty himself.

Carlos gazed at the piazza. He spotted one of the men from the orphanage running and speaking into his sleeve. They must have been frantic, wondering where Nico was, but soon enough he would reappear and things would be turned completely upside down.

Mrs Vanden Boom had the children out the door at nine o’clock, heading for the Santi Vincenzo e Anastasio a Trevi church on the corner. They would only be there half an hour or so before they set off for the gardens, so it was decided that the others would stay put and keep watch on the orphanage until then. As to be expected, Lola was still blisteringly angry with Misha and thought it served the girl right to come down with gastro after she’d ditched her for Autumn and Kensington. Lola attached herself to Hattie, who was a sympathetic ear, given she was prone to the odd angry outburst herself and found it difficult to make friends.

‘Why can I not I go home?’ Nico asked. He’d been thinking about his mother and stepfather and how worried they would be. ‘Does my mamma know I have escaped?’

Lottie Ziegler shook her head. ‘No, we need her to believe you’re still being held so she’ll agree to sign the papers and make the exchange. We have to get our timing just right – and that’s why we need you to lead them on a wild goose chase until then. We have sent a message to your mother, which she will think is from the kidnappers, and we have sent the kidnappers a message from her about the exchange. Of course, each has been fed a different story. The Diavolo think they are going to meet her at the Piazza del Popolo at half past eleven, but we need you to lead them to Quirinal Palace at half past ten.’

‘All right, shall we go over things one more time?’ Max said, spreading out the map of the city on the bed. The others gathered around. ‘First, we need to make it known to the thugs at the orphanage that you are close by – and that all starts here.’ He jabbed a finger at the picture of the Trevi Fountain. ‘Then we will lead them on the chase of a lifetime.’

‘And don’t worry,’ Kensy said to Nico. ‘Max has a photographic memory. He won’t let us get lost and we’ve already outrun them once before.’

‘I am not worried about that. I have some skills of my own,’ Nico said with a grin.

The briefing continued for another twenty minutes until Miss Ziegler, who had stationed herself by the window, saw Mrs Vanden Boom leading the children across the piazza with Mr Frizzle and Mr Reffell bringing up the rear. Once she received the signal from Romilly, Lottie turned to the children. ‘It’s time.’