1635 The Papal Stakes (40 page)

John O’Neill was nodding like he actually understood all of what Harry had explained. In reality, North conjectured, the earl understood that a bold plan had been conceived and that they were within days of executing it. And that seemed to excite him quite a bit.

Harry hunkered close to the map. “Okay, so here’s the mission plan. Most of our assault forces will begin hidden in this boarding house to the north of the
insula
Mattei and in these sheds. Two of the Hibernians—who will be the long-range support—will be secreted here, just inside the Ghetto walls.”

“The Ghetto walls?” Donald Ohde sounded dubious. “But the guards there—”

Juliet smiled. “You know, I never cease to be amazed how very bribable guards are when you suggest that you want them to wander away from the Ghetto Gate so you can sneak in and torment a few Jews.” Her smiled broadened. “So I don’t think we’ll have to worry about moving in and around the Ghetto. And if one of the guards has a twinge of conscience, well…we’ll have people there who can take of that, too.” She stared meaningfully at all the readied pistols and swords in the room.

“Okay,” resumed Harry, “once we’re in position, Juliet will start the party with a diversion. We’ll be creating an incident at the well in the next few days, an incident which will lead to some peaceful, but loud and large, rioting outside the doors of the main Palazzo Mattei.

“Once that diversion has drawn in the attention and spare troops of the palazzo, our team in the north will go into action. They’ll already be up on the roofs across from the smallest and northern-most of the three palaces, the Palazzo Paganica. They’ll push ladders across the gap, scoot over, and from there, will have the run of all the roofs of the
insula
Mattei.”

“And if they have a guard watching from the main palace’s roof-top belvedere?” asked Sean Connal.

“Well, then I’ll just have to use my scoped rifle to close his eyes. Permanently.”

“Ah,” the doctor responded. “You are another great long-range marksman, like your famous Julie Sims?”

“Doc, at these ranges I could shoot like Elmer Fudd and still bag all the pesky Spanish wabbits that I spy with my little eye.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“I’ll fill you in later, Doc. Back to the action. So the Wrecking Crew is the roof team. Gerd will make his way to the southeast corner of the main palazzo, find the driest beams under the roof-tiles there, and give them the gift of fire. Nothing that will burn the whole joint down, but enough to get a little attention pulled over that way.

“By that time, the rest of the Crew should have identified and staked out the sections of the roof next to where they’re holding Frank and Giovanna.”

Gerd smiled. “And then I blow it in.”

Harry smiled back. “Yeah. Gerd has been working on tamping and directional demolitions. You can’t control these micro-petards too much, but you can manage them enough for our purposes. Once the hole is in the roof, the Wrecking Crew goes in, led by Sherrilyn. They will secure the room next to Frank and Giovanna’s.”

“And that’s when we join the party, right?” John O’Neill’s eyes were bright, eager.

“Yep. By this time, the rioters will be making a storm of noise outside the gate leading into the courtyard of the main Palazzo Giove Mattei. Under the cover of that ruckus, you’ll emerge from the buildings we’ve rented around the fountain’s piazza, charge and take the gate into the Palazzo Giacomo’s courtyard, using those nice new revolvers of yours.”

John O’Neill’s face fell a bit at the mention of the revolvers, but not much.

“If you need to blow the lock, you’ll have a small charge with you for that purpose. Once you’re inside, your job is simple: kill everyone who tries to fight back. You are shock troops, and given your weapons and training, that kind of in-close combat should be just your cup of tea.

“As the Palazzo Giacomo’s courtyard is being secured by the earl, Sherrilyn’s roof team will take advantage of the fact that most of the prisoners’ guards will have rushed to the windows overlooking the entry; they’ll breach the room where Frank and Giovanna are being held and eliminate the guards. Then they’ll send the two love birds scampering down into the waiting wings of our Wild Geese. Then they all run like hell out of the courtyard.”

“And us?” Donald Ohde’s eyes had not left the rooftop section of the map.

“If Sherrilyn thinks it looks safe to follow Frank and Giovanna down the ladder, then that’s what you’ll do. That would have us all pulling out together, in the same direction. Easier for the withdrawal to the boats. We want to avoid having separated units trying to make rendezvous, at night; something will go wrong. Hell, it always does.

“But if the Spanish still have too many troops in the courtyard of the Palazzo Giacomo, then Sherrilyn’s group will just retrace its steps: up to the roof and back over the ladders to the roof you came from. They’re not going to have anyone up there to stop you; there’s no real access to the roof except for from the belvedere. And if someone does go up there and starts giving you trouble—well, that’s when I get to play the role of your long-range guardian angel. Again. But I kinda doubt that’s going to happen. They seem to have almost no tactical awareness of their roof. George here has been watching it for weeks. The Spanish use the belvedere to sight-see and get some sun, not a security position.

“Just to keep Borja’s boys extra busy, we’ll let the
lefferti
have a little fun at the end: they’ll throw a few molotov cocktails. Made out of olive oil. Or cod oil, if they want to add gas warfare to the mix. Then they’ll scoot and fade, all going their separate ways.”

Owen was still looking at the map and frowning. “And how do we escape?”

“Always important, the get-away. So: we withdraw hugging the wall of the Ghetto until we can turn and head over the Ponte Fabricio, the eastern bridge leading to the Isola Tiberina. We cross that little island, go over its western bridge, the Ponte Cestio, into the Trastevere and head a few blocks south to the extraction boats. They’ll be waiting around this bend in the Tiber, just beyond where the Cloaca Maximus dumps the city’s sewage into the river. Not a popular area, which should lower the chances of random detection. And from there, we just go with the flow, down to the sea.”

“All the way to the sea, in light boats?”

“No. We’ll transfer to a single, larger boat before we get to open water. We’ll ultimately rendezvous with the same
barca-longa
that brought us here from Venice. But as to the name of the first boat and where along the Tiber we’re going to meet it—well, in case anyone here is captured, we’re gonna keep that information restricted to the folks who really need to know it.”

Sherrilyn looked at the maps. “The plan sounds okay. Well, pretty good, actually, if the assumptions about the number of Spanish troops are correct.”

Harry shrugged. “Sherrilyn, even if we’re off by twenty, thirty percent, it’s not going to matter. Look at the ways we’re getting in and out. No matter how many guys they have, they won’t see us on the way in. And if they try to swarm us, or chase us on the way out? We have multiple escape routes, and to follow us on any of them, they’ve got to go through bottlenecks. Bottlenecks that our own people are covering with a huge firepower advantage. With our own guns, and the Hibernians’ lever-actions, it will be a turkey shoot if they try coming after us. But I can’t see them getting their heads out of their asses that fast. So I really don’t think it’s going to become a turkey shoot; it’s just going to be a piece of cake.”

John O’Neill’s eyes darted across the maps. “Harry Lefferts, you have the very balls of the Devil himself, but a bold heart after my own liking. This—” he announced to his Wild Geese “—now
this
is a gambit worthy of heroes and bard-songs.” They all nodded, one or two with an enthusiasm that matched John’s. Several of the others, Owen and Sean among them, barely moved their heads; they kept looking at the maps and frowning. North noted which of the other Wild Geese, and his own Hibernians, evinced those reservations: these were persons with minds like his own, and probably key group leaders if the operation went pear-shaped, for some reason—

“So, Doubting Thomas,” drawled Harry, “I see that look. What’s bugging you about the plan?”

Careful now, Tom.
“Nothing specific, Harry. Taken separately, the assumptions and steps are all sensible, and emphasize our strengths.”

“So?”

“I’m simply mindful that, as dance-steps go, the ones you have us moving through are very interdependent, and come in quick sequence.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning that we’d better not stumble. Not once. And the Spanish had better not change the music in the middle of the dance.”

Harry nodded. “Yeah. We can definitely do without any surprises, but that’s why I’ve got two of your Hibernians in reserve, for a base of supporting fire that we can redirect like a fire brigade. The attack plan doesn’t depend on our full offensive superiority; I’ve held that card back as our ace in the hole. If the Spanish do try to change the music somehow, we’ll change it right back.”

If you can
, thought Thomas but said nothing.

“And I’ve given a lot of thought to quick extraction, as well,” continued Harry. “We’ll want a small force watching the boats. That same force could also work as a kind of free safety to smack down any other Spanish units that might try to block our escape route. But Sherrilyn has made a pretty good survey of the area: Borja doesn’t have any garrisons nearby. He’s keeping most of his forces concentrated near the Holy City, and the rest billeted in a couple of dispersed, satellite locations. The nearest of those is ten minutes away, assuming they are moving at a flat-out run the whole time. Meaning we should have twenty minutes before anyone else could reasonably hear the noise, get a team together, and come join the party. And if this operation takes more than seven minutes from the first shots, then we are all under-performing in a big way. The fact of the matter is the Crew has often tackled bigger jobs with fewer resources, so I’m thinking we have a nice safety margin in place for this op.”

North nodded. “Very well, then. Who’s in charge of the boat and extraction overwatch team?”

“You are, Thomas.”

Oh, now wait a minute—
“I see. And what led you to that decision, Harry?” North tried very hard to keep any tone of challenge out of his voice.

“Okay, now, Tom; simmer down. Yeah, I’d feel that way too. But someone has to be watching our backs and keeping the exit open. You’re careful and you’ve got a nose for when things are going wrong or getting tight, and that’s exactly the kind of instincts we’ll need in a free safety.”

“And which you need even more on the line, so that you’ll get the earliest possible whiff of trouble.”

Lefferts smiled. “Right you are. Which is why Owen is going to be up front with us.” He nodded at the colonel of the Wild Geese. “He’s the oldest and wisest among us. And he’s also one hell of a toe-to-toe fighter, as I’d heard and have now seen.”

Owen smiled at the compliment. Thomas bit his lip. Owen was not particularly cautious, just more so than John. Which wasn’t hard to achieve. But as a
sassenach,
there was no way for North to win an appeal to swap roles with Owen, or even broach the topic without arousing suspicions of bigotry. Or accusations of petty displeasure over being excluded from the attack force. Besides, Harry’s plan was actually thorough and clever—but still, Thomas had misgivings, the nagging sense that they were missing something. Or maybe that was just his own sour grapes at being consigned to the rearguard. North’s throat felt like sandpaper as he made himself ask, “How many and which people are on my extraction team?”

“Five, other than yourself. Two of your own Hibernians for security. Doc Connal in case we’re coming back with casualties, one
lefferti
for interacting with any locals, and one of Juliet’s little fellas to run messages and sneak around, keeping an eye out.”

It was said that Caesar had conquered Gaul with less. “Fine,” Thomas replied.

“Any other concerns?” Harry leaned forward to pour himself a little wine.

The voice that answered was a surprise to all. “Well, I’ve a personal concern, Harry.” It was John O’Neill.

“Really? Wassamatter, John?”

“Oh, nothing with the plan. More a concern with one of the skills I’ll be needing. I’m not a reliable hand with these pepperbox revolvers, yet. Haven’t had the benefit of any truly competent training in it, I’m afraid.”

Beside North, Sean Connal reddened briefly, then eased back in his seat with a small sigh and a rapid return of his normal color. A few of the Wild Geese looked at the doctor: if they had expected to see him finally, finally, lose his patience and make some cutting (if oblique) rejoinder to John’s outrageous implication, they were surprised by the young man’s continued calm.

If Harry caught any of that suppressed inter-Irish friction, he gave no sign of it. “Aw, no worries, John. Give me five minutes of your time and you’ll be an old hand with the clunky bastard.” He extended his palm; John O’Neill put his pepperbox upon it. “Now, John, let’s get to the heart of the problem, which I’m guessing is reloading.”

John smiled and watched, but not comfortably, North noticed. He hoped the earl would take the time to practice what he was learning. Practice it until he could wield the pepperbox as easily as his sword, could load, unload, reload in his sleep.

But North rather doubted that would happen.

As Harry repaired to a larger table where he could provide a detailed explanation of the rules of poker to the Wild Geese, John made to follow him. Owen slipped close to his much younger cousin.

“John, do you really think Harry’s plan is in trim with our own orders?”

“What do you mean?”

“John, Fernando and Isabella made it clear that they were none too pleased with us acting in concert with the Wrecking Crew and the USE at all. But they understood the necessity, both of the moment and in the larger scope of the Low Countries’ future relations with the up-timers. It’s not the time for any of us to look like ingrates. But Isabella particularly stressed that we stay mostly in positions to support the attack, not be at the forefront of it ourselves. And that’s just where we’ve been put: leading the charge into the Palazzo Giacomo’s courtyard.”