Read Gladiator: Vengeance for Free Online

everything at his business, in an office.That’s where we should look first. The trouble is the place is locked and kept under guard.’
    ‘What if he keeps them in his home?’ asked Marcus. ‘If the slave pens are kept under guard then it might be better to search his house first.’
    Festus considered the idea and nodded. ‘Assuming we can get inside.’ He turned to Lupus. ‘What is his house like? How many doors off the streets are there?’
    ‘Three,’ Lupus answered. ‘I checked. One at the front and a smaller one down a side alley, and then there’s a yard at the back, where the slaves can come and go.’
    ‘How many slaves did you count?’
    Lupus thought a moment. ‘Three in the yard.’
    Festus stroked his jaw. ‘It’s likely that’s where they will sleep. Pindarus and his family will be in the main house. If we wait until the middle of the night we might get over the wall and find his study, then see if any records are kept there. You and I will do the job, Marcus. Lupus will stay outside in the street to keep watch.’
    ‘What for?’ Lupus demanded. ‘Why can’t I come with you?’
    ‘Because two will make less noise than three,’ Festus said firmly. ‘No arguments. Now I suggest we all get some rest. We’ll need our wits about us later on.’
    A waxing moon hung in a clear, starlit sky and cast a pale light over the slumbering town of Stratos. Three barefoot figures hugged the shadow of a wall as they crept along the street towards the house of Pindarus. Lupus was leading the way and he paused to point across the road at an imposing door set in a high wall. On either side were the locked shutters of shops rented out by the auctioneer.
    ‘That’s the one,’ Lupus whispered. ‘The house has two alleys running down each side.’
    Marcus looked at the other houses and noted that the area was similar to the wealthier neighbourhoods of Rome where narrow passages divided many of the larger houses from each other. These would provide good cover for the three of them as they went about their mission.
    Festus looked each way along the street but nothing moved, except for the dark shape of a cat boldly making its way down the middle of the road as if it owned the town. He gestured for the two boys to follow and they padded across the street, then ducked into the alley at the side of the house of Pindarus. The walls rose up one on each flank, two storeys high, but ahead Marcus could see they dropped down where the garden began. Festus stopped when he came to the lowest point in the wall and turned to the boys.
    ‘I’ll need a leg-up. Both of you, make a step.’
    Marcus and Lupus intertwined their fingers and offered their hands up to Festus. He used Marcus first, trusting the tougher of the two to bear his weight most readily. Resting his hand on Marcus’s back, he pushed himself up and quickly found Lupus’s hand. Marcus grunted with the effort of bearing the man’s weight but held him up.
    ‘All right, lads,’ Festus whispered. ‘Lift me, nice and steady.’
    Straining his muscles, Marcus braced his back against the wall for support. Beside him he could hear Lupus groaning lightly with the effort. Festus was right about him, Marcus reflected briefly. Lupus needed toughening up.
    ‘I’m going to use your shoulders,’ said Festus. ‘Ready, Marcus?’
    ‘Ready.’
    He felt Festus’s foot lighten as the bodyguard drew himself up to the tiles on top of the wall. Festus scrabbled for Marcus’s shoulder and then thrust himself up. The sound of his heavy breathing and scuffling as he struggled astride the wall sounded deafening in the confined space of the alley and Marcus glanced anxiously in both directions, but there was no sign they had attracted any attention.
    ‘Your turn, Marcus.’
    He saw Festus reaching a hand down to him, and used Lupusto step up against the wall. His fingers groped in the air and then he felt the man’s powerful grip clamp round his wrist, and he clutched at