The Venice Job Read Online Free PDF Page A

floodgates onto walls crowded with portraits, and floors of illuminated marble.
    The footsteps came to a stop in front of a set of double doors that rose almost to the full height of the gold-leafed ceiling. Hair was smoothed over, a jacket straightened and breath checked into a cupped palm in small huffed spurts.
    There was a knock, a small cry to enter, and the meeting began.
    A brief meeting that would take no more than mere seconds.
    â€˜They are in place.’
    â€˜All of them?’
    â€˜All of them.’
    â€˜Very good. Now, we wait.’
    The messenger was dismissed with a slow wave of a carefully manicured hand. He bowed, a silly thing to do he would think later, but somehow fitting as well.
    The door closed and stage one of the plan was complete.
    â€˜In a few short days I should have what I want.’ The voice hardened, like boiled syrup cooling into hardened toffee. ‘Or this city will pay dearly.’

A large sheet of corrugated iron was dragged across the yard sending a mini dust storm into the air along with a strange kind of twisted orchestra sound. Ben and Eleanor’s pig, Larry, tugged at the oversized piece of metal, before using his rounded nose to nudge it into place.
    But Max saw none of it.
    What she did see were the backsides of Linden and Ben as they leant out of the kitchen window and bit into oversized pieces of toast.
    â€˜I’ve had better views first thing in the morning,’ Max said to Eleanor.
    â€˜I find that hard to believe,’ Eleanor smiled.
    â€˜Ah,’ Ben said through crunching toast. ‘You’re just in time. Larry’s about to add the finishing touches.’
    Max and Eleanor squeezed alongside them and watched as Larry placed a clump of dried bush in front of the pile of tin.
    Ben, Eleanor and Linden believed they could predict the weather by Larry’s behaviour. Max wasn’t so sure.
    â€˜Done!’ Ben exclaimed with pride.
    Max looked at the broken-down pile of junk. ‘What’s done?’
    â€˜The castle,’ Linden added with equal pride.
    â€˜That’s a castle?’
    â€˜Yes!’ Eleanor smiled broadly. ‘I can see it.’
    Max watched as all three stared at Larry as if he’d just delivered his first speech to parliament.
    â€˜I can’t see it,’ Max declared over a growling stomach.
    â€˜Sure you can,’ said Ben as if Windsor Castle had just landed in their yard and she was staring straight at it. ‘There’s the turret, the moat and the manicured garden.’
    â€˜Why a castle?’
    â€˜I read him the story of Cinderella and he’s been obsessed with them ever since.’
    â€˜I think he’s really starting to nail it,’ Linden added.
    â€˜Right,’ said Max, still unable to get her imagination to stretch as far as the others. ‘Breakfast?’
    And that was the magic word to stop them talking about the pig. Ben and Linden sprang from the window and within minutes were seated in front of scrambled eggs, fresh juice, pancakes and giant slices of watermelon.
    â€˜So where’s this new mission going to be then?’ Ben asked Linden.
    â€˜Venice.’
    Max couldn’t help noticing that Linden said this with more enthusiasm than he’d had before.
    â€˜Venice! Doesn’t get much better than that. The Doge’s Palace, the Piazza San Marco, gondolas.’
    â€˜Yeah, I think this might be the most exciting mission yet.’ Linden shot a sideways glance at Max, who had stopped eating her scrambled eggs and was now pushing them listlessly across her plate.
    Ben gave Linden a secret encouraging nod. ‘Yep, you don’t get sent to much better places than Venice. Know who the bad guy is yet?’ He bit into a fork full of pancakes.
    â€˜Not yet, but they think they’re close. And the best part is …’
    â€˜I think I might go to my room and read.’ Max stood up from the table.
    â€˜Okay,’