13
Panic filled her, blood rushing swift through her veins. No. This was not happening. She thought about sliding off the conveyance, but she was already five feet off the bed, and it would be no easy task to get out of the burrito of blankets she was in. She could see as she rose into the air, that no trace of her or what had removed her from the room would be apparent. She could call out, but then she would be putting the rescue team in danger, too, and she didn’t think that would be fair or right. They could be killed by the two guards at the foot of her bed, who were totally ready for a fight. She saw that under the thin mattress and blankets had been a neatly made up hospital bed. No. She was committed now. She was being forced to do her father’s bidding. By the time she’d given in to her fate, she was completely inside the ceiling. A woman grabbed her and rolled her off the conveyance, a dim light hanging from the rafters casting an eerie glow over the space. As she was rolled from the conveyance, a man took hold of it and the dangling bed covers and moved them to another part of the secret room or tunnel or whatever it was without so much as a sound. Then the woman, quick as a flash of lightning, slid the ceiling panel into place.
Marisa knew the castle was riddled with secret passageways, and she knew about most of them, but since she didn’t work in the medical wing of the castle, she was not aware of this one. She wondered if it could only be accessed through the ceiling, and if so, how many people knew about it. She wondered if even Christian did.
The woman helped her stand and whispered into her ear “We are from Division, sent to rescue you. Please do not speak until we are in the car away from the castle grounds, and move as carefully and quietly as possible.”
Marisa stared at the woman’s face and eyes, and she drew her head back slightly. Her rescuer appeared to be a teenager. The girl smiled at her and leaned in one more time. “Don’t worry, I’m much older than my age gives me credit for.” The girl helped unwrap Marisa from her burrito blanket and ripped off the hospital gown. She indicated that Marisa should put her hoodie on and zip it up. Marisa worried she wouldn’t be able to see, but somehow, through the fabric, she could, and she was happy to find she could breathe, too.
She and her two rescuers moved silently along the walkway and right up to a wall. She raised her eyebrows. They had led her to a dead end? Pretty terrible planning there, but the girl moved a few latches and the wall opened up—to the night sky. The girl disappeared through the opening, only to peek her head back inside and wave Marisa forward. She obeyed, taking hesitant steps, trying to orient herself. These people said they were Division. Who was Division, and how did her dad know about them? She wanted to trust this girl, but the last girl she had put her trust in had used her and in truth, ruined her.
The girl grabbed hold of her with surprising force, attaching a seat-like contraption around her legs and waist. The girl demonstrated how to climb down the castle exterior. They were only two stories up, but in the dark and with minimum strapping, it could have been ten. She had no choice. She had to trust this girl. She took a deep breath and used the self-restraining lever system to get to the ground. She was winded by the time she reached the ground. The man was already on the ground when she got there, but she didn’t miss the fact that the girl was descending the wall without any ropes. As soon as she landed, the girl slid next to the man and whispered, “Ace is going to be so pleased when he hears how well the extraction device worked.”
“I hope the suits work just as well,” he said as he unstrapped Marisa, letting the gear fall to the ground. He didn’t retrieve it.
Instead, he leaned in and said, “I’m Jeremy, this is Christy. We’re going to get you out of here. On my signal, I will need you to get on my back, and I will carry you to safety.” Marisa looked around, finding the eight guards who prowled this side of the castle without any problem. As if he had anticipated this, Jeremy said, “The eight guards here and the eight guards near the gate won’t even see us. With these suits, we’re virtually invisible.” She looked back to the girl he had called Christy, but she couldn’t see her. Where had she gone? Then the straps that had fallen to the ground rose in the air of their own accord. She heard the girl’s voice in her ear. “It’s me, don’t worry.” The items disappeared into mid air. Christy must have put them inside her suit.
“Time to go,” Jeremy said. “Hop on.”
“I’m a really fast runner.”
“Not today you’re not. You’ve been through a lot. We can’t risk you falling or getting weak. I need to keep you close.”
She hopped on his back even though she felt like an idiot. She heard a click, and Jeremy disappeared. She searched for her arm securely around his neck and couldn’t see it either. He must have turned on whatever it was that made them invisible. He walked normally, Christy right behind them. She listened hard, hearing nothing but his footfalls. Christy must have been stepping at the same time Jeremy was. The distance to the castle gate was far; she doubted the endurance of this guy. She was almost as tall as he was and solid muscle. She wouldn’t have been able to carry him that same distance or even someone just like her. But he kept going. Halfway. Three quarters.
And then she saw him—Christian, only feet from her and near the wall, talking on a cell phone. Jeremy stopped and moved his neck. She hadn’t realized she was squeezing his neck with her arms. Seeing Christian had made her tense. Jeremy must not have been able to breathe. She slid off his back, and she could hear him breathing again. Her head shot to the captain. He had hung up the phone and was looking right at her. She knew that if he discovered her, he would assume she had been in on what had happened at the castle and she was a willing traitor.
She looked down. Had she somehow disabled the invisibility feature of the suits? Then Christian disappeared, only to reappear as he fell to the ground. “Get back on,” Jeremy commanded once he was back at her side. She did and they sailed past Christian. She was levered up and over the twenty-foot wall. After she was unhooked, the gear went back over the wall, and the captain came over next. She watched as invisible hands, they must have been Christy’s, brought him to the ground next to her. He was still out.
Next thing Marisa knew, Christy told her to climb onto her back, and Christian was suspended in the air, moving away from the wall in what must have been Jeremy’s arms. They met up with a car about a mile away from the castle on a residential street. Christian had started to rouse, but then stopped. Marisa wasn’t sure why. Three invisible bodies and one unconscious one slipped into the car. Christy rode shot gun. It sped away, its driver already in place, his narrow face and pencil thin black mustache made him look like a caricature drawing. He said something in French and then sped off. With two clicks, those that were invisible became visible. Immediately, Jeremy restrained the captain with plastic cuffs on his feet and hands.
“You aren’t going to hurt him are you?” Marisa wrung her hands.
“We have no intention of hurting him,” Christy said from the front seat, her long brownish-blond hair sticking out in all different directions as she removed her hoodie. She didn’t even try to smooth it. “But it might turn out to be lucky that we have the captain of the guard.”
So, Christy knew who he was. The driver radioed in, “Package plus one on their way.”
“We’ve got twenty minutes to hash this out, Marisa,” Jeremy said, as he scrubbed his hands over his face after unzipping his hoodie and letting it fall behind him. Marisa followed suit, but she took pains to fix her long deep brown hair as best she could without a mirror, her fingers raking through it to remove tangles. Now that Christian was involved, she wanted more than ever to get both herself and Christian—none the wiser hopefully—back to the castle. He as captain of the guard and she in the dungeons, answering for her crime.
Christy looked so young, Marisa thought. Younger than her, but how would that be possible? She was only twenty-three. The team Christy was with was ultra sophisticated and professional. That type of team was extremely selective about who worked with them. Way more selective than the personal royal guard, she was sure.
“I want to thank you for following my dad’s orders and getting me out of the castle in such a cool way,” Marisa said, knowing she sounded fake and cheesy, but wanting to make sure they knew she thought they were pretty amazing. “However, I must decline any and all assistance he asked you to give me. I am guilty, and I need to face my punishment.” She even managed to smile.
“Your dad warned us about your martyr syndrome,” the driver said. “I had no idea how bad it actually was. I’m Halluis.” He grinned at her through the mirror, his thin mustache moving as he talked.
She crossed her arms and scowled.
“Please, Ms. Donati. Let’s talk this over.” Jeremy brushed his hands through his hair. He was quite handsome and young too, but closer to her own age, Marisa thought. Twenty-three or four.”
“We don’t have much time,” Christy said. “It’s time you stop trying to be a martyr and do your job.”
Marisa huffed, her arms still crossed over her chest. “What are you talking about, my job?”
“We need you to help us figure out what it was that Tara wanted in the castle and how we can get it back.”
“I want to do that—you don’t know how badly. But I can’t remember anything, and I don’t see how I can help. Just return me to the castle so I can answer for my crimes.”
Christy just rolled her eyes.
“Why did you take the captain? We don’t need to involve him in this. If you won’t take me back, at least return him. He’s needed at the castle. ”
“Actually,” Jeremy said. “He’s our insurance that you will comply.”
“What?” she stormed.
“We intend to bring this mission to a successful conclusion with you being cleared and the items being returned to the castle,” Halluis said. “And we can’t have you trying to run back and surrender every chance you get. So, tuck yourself in and get ready for the ride of a lifetime.”
Jeremy chimed in, “Look. We are going to do this with or without you, but we figured you would want to be a part of the effort to ensure the royals remain safe after this breach. Whatever Tara did in the castle during those two hours could end up putting them in grave danger.”
She narrowed her eyes and looked down at an unconscious Christian. She hadn’t thought about it that way. By helping them, she would be helping the royals, the very people she’d sworn to protect. She would help them, and in the end, she would turn herself in. No matter how she helped the royals at this point, it wouldn’t erase her treachery. “Fine.”
“Thanks,” Christy said, her entire body twisted to face the backseat. “I’ve gone over the information sent us about the contents of the vault and everything there is to know about Tara and all her connections. Correct me if you hear something you don’t agree with.”
Marisa nodded.
“You met Tara at a club called Murazzi’s. She approached you on the patio, sympathized with you by making you believe she hung out at the club all the time and knew how the boys could be. She then gave you a picture of the captain’s daughter and encouraged you to use it as a way to blackmail the captain. After consideration, you decided you couldn’t do it because it would be breaking your vows as a royal guard. Honor wouldn’t allow you to blackmail him.” The clinical way Christy spoke about very personal things to Marisa made her feel cold and lost somehow. Christy continued, chronicling everything that had happened to Marisa the last three days with great accuracy. Marisa didn’t stop her once.
“How did you get that information? I haven’t told anyone all of that.”
“A word to the wise,” Halluis chirped in. “Someone is always watching and listening.”
“We took the information you told your dad and filled in the rest with research. What did we miss?”
“Nothing that I know of.” She felt raw and exposed. Marisa looked down at her hands in her lap. She didn’t like this feeling of vulnerability. She checked herself and sat up straight, her back only a few millimeters from resting on the seatback. She reminded herself who she was. If she had to, she would fight her way out of there. She did not want to be easy prey ever again. She eyed Christy, noticing how much shorter she was than herself. She could take her.
“It’s Tara we need more information on,” Christy said. “We don’t know her true identity yet. We’ve made a loose connection between her and several people at the castle, but nothing we can run with. We believe she’s been looking for a mark to get her into the castle for about a year now. Why would she steal those specific things from the vault? There were many things worth way more than those things.”
“What did she steal? I don’t even know.”
“Ten pieces of jewelry and a small ring box.”
“I have no idea.”
“We realize the things she took could easily be melted down and taken apart, making them indistinct. But in that case, the motive points to money, and I can’t believe that’s what it was all about.” Jeremy sighed. “There was too much time and effort put into this. She could have done a myriad of others things to get that same amount of money. By the way, your dad has men watching for any of the items to turn up with pawnbrokers, both large and small. We will leave that to him. We are tasked with finding Tara and uncovering her motives so that we can clear you.”
“Tell us everything she told you about herself,” Christy said.
“Honestly, not much. I did most of the talking.” Shame filled her once again as all eyes were on Marisa. She felt diminished. “Let me think.” She closed her eyes, going back to the day they met and relaying their conversations as best she could, glad Christian was out and couldn’t hear her sorry memories. They listened intently without asking for any elaboration, as if they already knew most of what she was telling them—until she talked about Tara wanting to work on a forgery case.
“She told you she was an expert in forgeries?” Christy asked, excited. She didn’t wait for a response. “That’s right, Dioli and Dioli are defending a guy accused of forging over one hundred documents that cheated people out of almost ten million dollars.”
“You mean she really worked for that firm?” Marisa asked. “She didn’t just make that up?”
“Nope. That was true,” Jeremy said. “What else? Continue from where you left off.”
She did, but they didn’t question her about anything else. Christy appeared to have a blank expression on her face a good portion of the time. What was that girl thinking? Perhaps she was simply zoning out.
“I may be on to something,” Christy said, her bright blue eyes zeroing in on Marisa. “Tell me about what has been happening around the castle for the past week. Everything you know.”
“I’m not sure I can tell you any of that.”
Christy scrunched up her nose, and Halluis sighed. “Of course you can. What you tell us stays here.”
“You have nothing to worry about, Ms. Donati,” Jeremy said in his calming tone. “We need to know everything in order to help you.”
She gave a narrative of everything, starting seven days previous. They listened without speaking. Until she told them what happened at the club the day she met Tara for the first time.
“What night?” Jeremy prodded.
“The night before I didn’t get the royal personal guard detail.” Her eyes rested on the unconscious captain.
“You had tried out for the job?” Halluis asked.
“Yes, and I was sure I would get it. I’ve been the top of the training charts the whole time I’ve been a royal castle guard. But it became clear to me that day that I would never get my deepest desire because I was a woman.”
All three furrowed their brows and looked like they wanted to say something, but Christy spoke first, as if she was reading it out of a history book. “Marisa Donati is the first woman to ever be considered for and accepted into the royal guard in any capacity.” Christy peered at Marisa as if through new eyes. “You’re a pioneer for women’s rights.”
She put up her hands. “No. No. I’m not. The press wants that to be true. Women’s rights activists want that to be true, but it’s not. I was thinking of no one but myself when I trained for this job. Well, the job of personal royal guard.”
Marisa’s heart thundered as Christy began telling the story about Marisa’s brother and her interaction with the personal royal guard for the first time. Marisa leaned forward. “Wait a minute. Where are you getting your information? The only people who know that story are my family and the selection committee at the castle.” Including the captain of the guard. Her face burned.
Christy cocked one eyebrow.
“You’ve read my file? That’s supposed to be sealed. Classified. Untouchable.” Marisa’s jaw was slack, and she felt like she had just found out her childhood pet had been killed.
“For normal people, yes,” Jeremy said. “But not for us.”
“Who are you anyway?”
“Like we told you earlier, we work for Division, a highly secretive independent black ops consortium.”
“That tells me nothing.” She leaned hard back into her seat.
“It’s all we have to tell.”
Marisa scowled, but she had no idea how to force them to tell her more. She would try again later. She circled back to working hard to become a royal guard. “Seriously, though. I wanted to be in the guard and didn’t let anything stop me.” She glanced back at the captain.
“But you weren’t bargaining on Captain Christian Di Stefano,” Christy said. “Tell me more about Tara. I can’t lock on to her motivation for choosing you.”
“I have no idea. She approached me after I’d made a total fool of myself in front of the captain.”
“She must have witnessed what happened and made the connection that Marisa was part of the royal guard,” Jeremy said.
“It was never a secret.”
“No, but your dissatisfaction was,” Christy said. “The newspapers make it seem like you were happy as a lark there, showing the way for all women to become anything they wanted to.”
“What did you tell Tara after you were so unjustly passed over?” Halluis said.
“I told her about not making it and that I hated the captain and that … And that’s when she suggested I seduce him.” She huffed. “That’s it. She knew he couldn’t be seduced. Tara had tried and failed. She set me up to fail too, so that I’d be angry and hurt.”
“So, you’d be willing to do anything to get back at him,” Christy said.
“What’s that they say about a scorned woman?” Halluis said.
“That they’ve been out with Halluis?” A voice said over the speaker in the car, then a chuckle.
Marisa thought about the captain trying to seduce her, and hurt and anger filled her. “Yes, but I had decided not to go. I couldn’t.” She stopped. Why had she said that? Was it even true? “I mean, I only remember thinking it might be fun to make Christian look the idiot. That’s when we downed the rest of our drinks and headed for the car. After that, I have no idea what happened. I was so stupid. I fell right into her hands.”
“We’ve all been duped at least once in our lives,” Halluis said. “It won’t be the last time.”
“Speak for yourself,” the voice said over the speaker in a mocking tone. “Some of us are simply smarter than others.”
“Is that supposed to be insulting? Because the only thing I find insulting is the sound of your voice.”
The voice on the speaker started to sing some classic rock song.
Christy said, “Aren’t they adorable? It’s like having two little brothers with you at all times. The disembodied one is Ace. You’ll meet him at the house.”
“Ace is our tech guy,” Jeremy explained. “He’s the one who created that suit you wore.”
“Seriously? That was unbelievable. I thought only Harry Potter had fabric that would make things invisible.”
Halluis laughed at that. Christy and Jeremy chuckled.
“Anyway,” Jeremy said, clearing his throat again and turning to Marisa. “It was right after you told her the captain had wronged you that Tara drugged you and forced you to take her into the castle. It fits. But what was she after in the castle? That remains the question of the day. We are going to assume it wasn’t the scanty jewels she stole. They simply don’t fit.”
“I have such a terrible headache. Why can’t I remember anything?” Marisa placed her elbows on her knees and cradled her chin in her hands.
“That’s not uncommon with that drug,” Ace said over the radio.
“I just wish I could remember something.”
The captain of the guard stirred.
“Should we allow him to wake or should I put him out again?” Jeremy asked.
All eyes turned to Marisa.
“I’m not sure we want him awake, but I don’t want you to put him back under either.” Something waved in her belly. They had done something to him.
“We’re almost there,” Halluis said. “We’ll wake him when we’re inside.”
He stirred again, but didn’t come to.
“We’re hoping to end this hunt by tomorrow,” Jeremy said. “What else is going on in the castle?”
“There’s a bunch of extra people running around getting ready for the centennial celebration.”
“One hundred years ago from tomorrow.” Christy spoke as if reading from a newspaper sitting in front of her. “Aligard settled a mining dispute with the Fiorelli family creating a peace that united the entire country of Monterra as one. To celebrate and renew their commitment to a peaceful co-existence, the castle is throwing a celebration to honor the people of Aligard for their commitment to peace and prosperity for all. Hmm,” Christy said. “So there’s renewed tension between the two, huh?”
“How did you know that from what you just said?”
“I read between the lines. Renewal of a binding agreement only happens when one party seeks to remind the other what it says.”
“I don’t know for sure, but I do know that the princeps from Aligard—”
“Ottavio Mondadori,” Christy interjected.
Marisa gave her a strange look—why did she know so much about Monterran politics? She continued, “Yes, Ottavio Mondadori had words with the captain and was asking a lot of security questions. I also know that no one at the castle seems to like him. The queen works the hardest at being civil. The rest of the family barely tolerate him and were not looking forward to his visit.”
“Interesting,” Christy said, turning to a computer and typing something.
“Could you read us the rest of the article?” Marisa asked. “That’s one I haven’t read.”
“Maybe later,” Christy said. “I need to look some other stuff up first.”
“But don’t you have the article right there? Just go back and I’ll read through it on my own.”
“I never had it up,” Christy said, biting her bottom lip and concentrating on something on the screen.
Halluis said with an air of importance, “She has a great memory.”
“Oh, I get it now.”
“What do you get?” Christy asked, not looking up.
“Why someone as young as you would be on an elite team like this.” She spoke matter-of-factly.
Christy swallowed hard, her nose flaring.
“And,” Halluis said, dragging the word out as he changed the subject. “You’re thinking, Christy, that the break-in might have something to do with the celebration?”
“Maybe. I’m not sure yet.”
“Why did Tara want me dead?” Marisa said. “How could I possibly hurt her?”
“The overdose could have been a mistake,” Christy suggested. “It’s not easy to figure out how much of a drug to give a person.”
“Not likely,” Jeremy said. “Most don’t die from that stuff, but Marisa had five times the normal levels in her blood. That’s pretty bad calculating, and this Tara girl had brains.”
They all nodded.
“Or,” Halluis said. “Marisa could have such a strong, independent will that Tara was forced to give her more to keep her compliant.”
Christy stared at Marisa. “That makes sense.”
Marisa quirked up a corner of her mouth. Had this girl just given her a compliment?
Jeremy’s phone rang. “Interesting. Thanks for doing that. Yes. I will fill everyone in.”
“You’re clear,” Ace interrupted over the radio, and they pulled into the attached garage of a large two-story house with charming Swiss chalet type architecture painted with pure whites, reds, and greens. Jeremy and Halluis helped Captain Di Stefano into the living room, and Christy led Marisa.
“Have a seat,” Christy said as they entered a living area with two couches, one of which was already taken by a prone Captain of the Guard and six chairs sprinkled about the room in a very formal attitude. Marisa sat in a tufted red chair with sturdy armrests and Christy took a seat on a firm couch with wooden accents.