I was on assignment in Rome, doing the usual gig for the Company. I’d been following Red Agent 53 for about three weeks and truth be told, I was running out of patience. As I tailed him on the street, my years of training and razor sharp senses told me that in his hands were the plans I had been sent to capture.

Nobody knew exactly what the plans were for. Most of the intelligence pointed towards some kind of doomsday device, but of what variety we could only guess. We just called it “The Device.” He was checking his phone as I came up behind him and made my move. “Fly’s open,” I mumbled to him as I passed him. As he inadvertently glanced down, I grabbed the briefcase from him and made a mad dash into Piazza Navona.

As he leapt after me, a roar of astonishment and anger burst out of him that frightened a passing signora. I raced into the piazza, Red Agent 53 only a few steps behind me, as surprised tourists gaped and a cloud of startled pigeons rose suddenly into the air.

A singular thought propelled me: “Failure is not an option.” The Device HAD to be stopped. I shoved an oblivious nun into a crowd of German tourists as I sprinted up the steps of Sant’Agnese in Agone where I knew a secret rear exit onto the road behind where my Alfa Romeo was waiting. I reached the door of the cathedral and raced inside.

What happened next, neither of us could have possibly expected….