He pitched his voice so the other person in the barca-longa’s stern could hear him above the wind and spray. “You ready, Harry?”“For what?” The up-timer sounded distracted, as if being roused from immersion in a book.“For making contact with Aurelio, captain of the Piombinese scialuppa we left here.”“Yeah, sure. I’m ready. We just need to find Piero first. Then we’ll be set.”North stared at Harry. “Not a lot of fun, this return.”Harry pushed away from the rail. “Nope, not a bit. But there’s no time or use for a pity party, Thomas. The way I figure it, I could get down on myself—but if I did, then I’d be wasting time and energy I should be dedicating to our mission. To making all the sacrifices in Rome worthwhile, in the end.”North nodded. “Well said, Harry. It’s good to have you here.”Harry shrugged, offering a lopsided smile that was a close cousin to a grimace. “Good to be here, boss. Now let’s find Piero so we can start rescuing Frank and Gia.” Piero, with a patch on his right eye and his leg stiff out in front of him, was doing a fair job of imitating a piracy-cashiered sailor, loitering about the waterfront.
