"So where are you?" I asked her, leaning back in the plane seat casually. I had in my wireless, virtually undetectable headphones in case we talked about the mission. The other branches would be suspicious about my random, unexplained trip to Venice. I would not be surprised if I had a bug from each branch on my seat. I had taken a public plane instead of my private jet to seem less dodgy... but I was regretting it. The service was horrid.

Amy groaned. "Dan broke his wrist," she said. I wanted to laugh at her attitude towards Dan's little injury. The Cahills were so close, yet so annoyed with each other at the same time. "He is getting a cast on right now. I'm in this adorable little cafe in the lobby of the hospital."

"What did he do?" I asked curiously.

"He threw himself off a trampoline to try to make a slam dunk into a basketball hoop," Amy said. "The worst thing is that Dan didn't even tell us he hurt it on the first day. He just took too much pain reliever!"

"How did Dan not realize he are overdosing?" I asked in amused awe. "Did the overdose effect him in any way?"

I found myself chuckling out loud as she described Dan's outburst at some restaurant.

"That kid really had a knack for finding his way into rare situations," I said. "It would be amusingly interesting to live with such a boy." I glanced at the clouds outside of the window to see that they had gotten darker. Sure enough, I could hear rhythmic splatters on the roof of the plane, and I had a feeling that it wasn't bird droppings. I sighed. Hopefully, the rain wouldn't hit Venice.

"Isn't the sound of rain pretty? Where are you r-right now?" Amy asked curiously. "It doesn't look like you are at home." She looked around at my private, plane villa. A silk, blue curtain was pulled around it on a rod and the windows was were much larger then a regular booth's to ensure a picturesque view. Many buttons were equipped on the roof to call for service. She didn't see me smile at her intrigued face.

"I am on an airplane to Venice currently," I answered. "Jonah and I will be executing our 'party' at one o'clock tonight. I should be landing in," I checked my Franck Muller, Aeternitas Mega 4 watch, "a half an hour or so."

Amy looked around her, checking to see who was watching. "What will you do to kill time before your 'party'?" she asked. Good. So she understood that I was avoiding any words that had to do to much with the mission.

I smiled. "I have an incredible amount of plans on my agenda. I want to visit as many places as possible during my afternoon in the city," I said. "In my time zone I will land at about ten AM. I want to fit in some tourism well I am there for the day. I want to try to hike on Torcello Island, take a grand canal tour, watch a glass-blowing demonstration on Murano Island, and tour the Doge's Palace. I will only be there until tomorrow morning because of business in London, so I want to make the most of this afternoon."

"That sounds heavenl-l-y!" exclaimed Amy. "You have to send me pictures of the sights! I have always wanted to visit Venice! Well... I did on the hunt, but I never got to actually tour it or anything."

I nodded understandingly, thinking back to Venice. Thinking back to how I had captured her and Dan, then had my guards throw then off our luxurious boat. Had I even given them a second look after they were immersed in the water? My stomach felt sick knowing only to well that I hadn't. It was the first time any of us had mentioned the hunt; it was a delicate topic. "Yeah," I said calmly, "I suppose we really did have our hands full."

"Jonah will need a... uh... 'costume,'" Amy said suddenly. She must have been talking about a disguise. "I just realized that he is extremely popular there. I remember seeing like fifty posters of him in a music shop window." She must have meant disguise.

"You have a great point!" I said. "The last thing we need is a paparazzi following us into the 'party room.'" I imagined what that would be like. "Did you see the poster in that one music store... uh... Disco Volante?" I asked. Who names a music store that anyway?

Amy looked surprised that I had known, but didn't show it too much. "Y-yes," she said, "that's the one. That is where me and Dan had followed Jonah into the 'party room' entrance. Is that where you guys are entering?"

"We thought about it," I said, "but we decided against it. That is where they would expect Jonah to try to get in so it would have the most... 'party poopers.'"

She nodded, immediately understanding, smiling at me using the term 'party poopers' to refer to security. "Where are you entering in then?" she asked.

"I am not one hundred percent sure," I admitted. "Jonah has an idea, but he couldn't 'invite' me before because the line wasn't secure. I have rummaged up an incredible amount of informational documents like 'invitations' and a 'guest list' you might say." I was enjoying this 'code party' speech. "I am going through them right now actually. They hold a lot of valuable information"

"I see," said Amy. She smiled to herself. "Don't forget to buy balloons!" she said just for the fun of it.

"Don't worry," I said grinning slyly, "I already bought those and the streamers! The food is all covered as well!" We both laughed quietly, then looked up at each other thoughtfully.

"We have made it through the rain clouds," a woman's voice interrupted from over the loud speaker. "Luckily, the rain is moving east, away from Venice, so this afternoon will not be wet... except for the canals of course." She paused as if expecting the passengers to laugh at her lame joke but nobody did. "Anyways," she continued, "we will be landing soon so please start preparing you luggage."

"Hm..." I said. "I suppose they will ask us to put away our electronics soon. I should probably go."

"All right," said Amy. "Tel-l-l me about how it goes as soon as possible!"

"Bye," I said, "I will!"

"And Ian..." Amy said quietly, "please be careful."

The screen shut off. That had been the first time she had said the last word. I stared at the blank screen which only a moment ago, had shone a pair of sparkling jade eyes. They were holding back, I could feel it. Why couldn't she just be on hundred percent comfortable around me? Who was I kidding... I knew why.

I checked my watch. It was 11:03. Jonah was three minutes late. I looked off the top of the Campanile at the golden, mosaic roofs of St. Mark's Basilica. I was a wonderful view from about one hundred feet up. I could get an up-close-and-personal look at the big bells that I had heard ringing out the time all afternoon from over the city. Nobody else was on the bell tower because the elevator and tickets had been closed at ten. However, we knew that there were other ways of getting onto the tower, so it was the perfect, private place for me and Jonah to meet.

I finally heard footsteps from the being me, and turned around to see Jonah in the moonlight, night wind blowing in our faces.

"Yo," he said casually, giving me a nod.

"Yo-yo," I said with a smile nodding to him as well.

He chuckled. "So what information have you gathered from the files?" he asked leaning against the railing.I didn't even have to ask him to cut the slang this time, he just did it.

"Well," I began, "I discovered the name of a painter that I am sure has to be a Janus. He studied here in Venice, so I think he might be a lead. Have you ever heard of Jacopo Tintoretto?

Jonah thought for a while. "Yes!" he said excitedly. "I came across him in my research as well! He performed his studies as a painter here in Venice. Tintoretto created his first masterpiece in 1548, The Miracle of St. Mark."

I smiled and motioned to the St. Mark Basilica, just below the balcony. "Sound familiar?" I asked. "You see, this very church refused the work judging it too strange. Do you think by any chance, that the painting has a Janus hint in it?"

Jonah smiled slyly. "This is just to cool I-dog," he said. Yes, he had a nickname for me, and I absolutely hated it. Jonah closed his eyes in thought. "Well, in the painting, I am pretty sure it portrays Saint Mark descending from heaven to save a slave from torture who had disobeyed his master in order to venerate the saint's relics," he said. I covered up my surprise at his well chosen, slang-free vocabulary. "The painting is extremely detailed. It would be fairly simple for him to slip a hint into the twisting brush strokes."

I nodded and took out a computer tablet, looking up the painting. We sat down an a ornate bench and for ten minutes we stared at the screen, zooming in and out of the details in the painting with a pinch of our fingers.

"I'm not getting the big picture," said Jonah, still starring at it intently. "Maybe this is a false lead."

I nodded agreeing, but then shook my head, realizing something. The big picture! That was it. Maybe the hint wasn't in the details! "Wait a second!" I told him as he started to stand up. "Look in the back round of the image!"

He looked. "It has a Venice landmark in the back round!," he breathed catching on. "But which one?"

Fingers flying, a ran a image identification and comparison search. "Let's see," I mumbled scrolling through possible matches the painting would be portraying. "Here! This has to be it!"

"Hm," Jonah said, "San Francesco della Vigna. Look at the description! According to tradition, toward the middle of the 13th century, it somebody donated a vineyard to the Friars and the church was built here by Jacopo Sansovino 300 years later. The builder has the same first name as the painter! Coincidence?"

"There are no such things as coincidences when it comes to Cahills," I said with a smirk. "It also says that the building, was later restored in 1548! That is the year that Tintoretto painted the masterpiece!" I smiled. "Do you think he might of... I don't know... influenced the builders to put in a stronghold entrance?" I said sarcastically.

We both grinned at each other, feeling related for the first time. "This is just to good to be true," said Jonah. "Together, finding things is so much easier. The Madrigals really know what they are getting at. All of the branches together, would be even more amazing. Everyone would have something to contribute.

I nodded thoughtfully and looked out over Venice. "Perhaps," I said, "we will all come together again someday, on the same side. But for now, we only have two and a half hours till we execute the full plan. Let's buy supplies first. Did you bring the key that you found in your mother's old room?"

"Absolutely I-dog," Jonah said, showing me the key. I smiled at the worn initials on it: JT. I knew they didn't stand for Justin Timberlake. Together, we jumped of the side of the bell tower. Don't worry, we weren't committing suicide... we had harnesses on.

Let's just say that I put an incredible amount of research into this. I updated soon didn't I? And it was long too! :D Please tell me: Would you guys mind if I stayed in Ian's point of view for the next chapter? I really need to know! I wanted to switch of every time, but it would be a lot easier to remain in Ian's view for the next chapter. PLEASE tell me your opinion.

The awesomeness? I discovered that all myself. I found out about the bell tower, found out about the painter, found out about the painting that literally just HAPPENED to have to do with the bell tower, then noticed that the painting had a building in the background that I had seen on a tourism website, looked that up, found out the builder and painter had HAPPENED to have the same first name, then discovered the did their work at the same time! It just fell together by it's self perfectly, and is all one hundred percent true! Look it up! I wonder if in real life, if the connection of the information could mean something. What do you think?

Today, I am going to test how smart or awesome you are. If the swat team or the police break down your door, do they have to replace it later? Are marbles made of marble? If not, then why the heck were they named marbles? I have always wanted to know!

Okay, so it was pretty big, updated soon, and awesome. What does that deserve my fellow friends? REVIEWS! :D

Where Adventures Begin...

Alex Almighty