Chapter 45

Nate stood to the side in Pops’s trailer. It’d been a hard trip out here. Not because they’d raided the Prideaux House attic and found Balthasar’s safe house, along with a nice stack of the same C-4 used in the previous night’s explosion and no women. Or because Garza lied to get them across the barricades. It’d been hard because Nate felt responsible for this clusterfuck. Every action he’d taken had made everything worse, and he still had no way to save his men.

Rafe stood in front of a table in Pops’s trailer with tidal charts, a hand-drawn sketch of the Isle, and architectural drawings of the manor. Philip sat nearby; his face was drawn and pale, and his breathing sounded short and choppy. Garza and Pete stood with arms crossed, frowns affixed. Calum leaned against the door jamb leading to the kitchen, controlling his world through text.

“What’s the situation?” Jimmy Boudreaux came in with Pops, Grady, and Tommy.

Rafe got to the point. “Balthasar, a dangerous man, has kidnapped Juliet and another woman, Samantha. I believe he, with armed men, is holding them at Capel Manor.”

“Are you sure?” Jimmy asked.

“Mostly sure,” Rafe responded. “Balthasar’s safe house was empty, and it’s the only place he would’ve taken them that makes sense.”

“Why take her at all?” Tommy asked.

Rafe pressed his fists on the table. “Juliet’s lily is a poisonous flower brought over from Italy in 1645 and used by pirates to control the population. Technically, it’s a biological agent that could be weaponized. But only from the original source, which is why Gerald went crazy eradicating it. It’s also why Gerald, along with Eugene and Legare, were murdered. They were protecting the secret of the lily.”

Jimmy scoffed. “This is insane.”

“It’s true.” Grady glanced at Pops, who nodded. “I helped Gerald hunt that lily until his death. Now Pops helps me.”

“And now,” Rafe continued, “someone’s figured out that there are two vials containing a poison and an antidote made from the lily. This someone has one vial. And Balthasar, who’s now working for this someone, has taken Juliet to find the other.”

The men of the Isle murmured, scratching their heads, before Pops said, “What do you want us to do, Son?”

“Divide into four groups. One goes by johnboats down the Black River, toward Crab Creek, and hikes in from the south. The second will take Tommy’s boat and come in through the back meadow and cross Oyster Creek, using smaller estuaries to make it to the manor. The third group will canoe along Snake Creek and protect the east perimeter. I’ll head through the cemetery, hitting the back of the house.

“I want a soldier and guide on each team. Nate and Grady will lead the first. Pete and Pops will go with Tommy on his boat. Garza and Jimmy will take the third route.”

“I’m going too,” Philip said.

“No,” Pops said.

Philip started to get up, when Rafe put a hand on his shoulder. “Stay here with Calum to monitor the SAT phone. It’s the only comm we’ll have out there.”

Philip glanced at Calum, who was still texting, and then nodded.

Rafe went back to the hand-drawn map and used a chess piece to mark the manor. “Balthasar is probably holding the women here. Deke and Eddie Marigny are working for him, along with two armed guards. Our three teams will advance from the front and sides. I’ll get into the manor and set up in the upper bedroom, facing the front lawn. I’ve got my father-in-law’s sniper rifle with a thermal scope. I’ll lay down cover fire while your teams take out the guards and storm the house.”

Nate studied the property again. Swamp and forest cut apart by estuaries. “How will you be able to tell us from the bad guys?”

“Infrared glow tape,” Tommy said. “We use it on our shirts for night paintball.”

“Works for me,” Pete said. “Weapons?”

Jimmy said, “My brother and I have four handguns and two bolt action rifles with scopes. Pops has two shotguns, a .22, and two Remington bolt action rifles. Gerald left us three big game rifles and two double-barreled shotguns. Everyone gets a thermal scope.”

“And plenty of ammo,” Pops added.

Garza crossed his arms. “Who’s going with you, Rafe?”

“I’m going alone through the cemetery. I move faster on my own and can walk those woods blindfolded.”

Murmurs rose up until Rafe said, “Our Isle—and our women—are under siege. What happens tonight will affect our future, and we’ll be judged by those who come after us. We have to win. If we don’t, we deserve to die.”

* * *

Where am I?

Juliet lay in the dark on a hard surface. Her first deep breath burned her nose. It smelled like death in a bathroom. She moved until her bare feet hit a wall. Someone had removed her sandals? So she wouldn’t run away? Her head ached and she tasted blood. Then she remembered the car and…Deke.

She rolled over and threw up. After a minute or an hour, she struggled to her feet. She ran her hands over herself. Her body felt liked she’d been thrown in a dryer with rocks, and she had a lump on her forehead. But other than not having shoes nothing seemed…wrong. Thank God.

She heard male voices and inched in their direction. When she found a door, it opened into a foyer lit by flashlights held by two men—Deke and Eddie Marigny—facing two other men. One sat on the stairs with only his legs visible, the other on a folding stool with a briefcase on his lap. This second man wore a black suit and shirt, leather shoes, and thin tie.

It was dark, and rain puddled on the floor. She was in her manor, and the men stood between her and the only usable exit.

“Sir?” A man in black combat pants stood in the front doorway, a rifle in his arms.

“What’s the ETA on the helo?” the man on the stairs asked.

“An hour. Possibly less.” The soldier left.

She turned her daddy’s gold ring on her thumb. There was no point in running. She’d no weapons or shoes. Armed men patrolled her property. She had to go on the offensive. “What are you doing in my home?”

Deke, Eddie, and the undertaker shifted their lights to her. She lifted her arm until they dropped the beams.

Deke smiled. “I was just suggesting one of us should kiss you awake.”

She fisted her hands and raised her chin. “Try it, and you won’t eat for a week.”

Eddie laughed. “Just like her daddy. Mean. As. Shit. But I’ll hold her down for you. Always wanted to tame that bitch.”

The undertaker coughed. “It’s time to proceed.”

Deke and Eddie shone their beams on the man who came off the stairs. When he faced her, he hit his chest with a fist and bowed. “I am Balthasar.”

Except he wasn’t. The hair on her arms raised, and words stuck in her throat. He’d replaced his Italian suit with black combat pants, T-shirt, and boots. Delacroix was Balthasar.

How was that possible? How had she not suspected?

Because, she thought ruefully, she’d needed the money and had been determined to save her business on her own.

“I apologize, my lady. ’Tis an awful thing to lie to a beautiful woman.”

She pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes. She’d made such a mess of things. “What do you want from me?”

“What I’ve always wanted. To destroy Romeo.”

She opened her eyes and reached for a baluster. “Rafe has returned to the Fianna. You’ve nothing to fear from him.”

“I’ve never feared Romeo. I just want to see him destroyed.”

“By killing me?”

“I’m not going to kill you.” Balthasar’s smile reeked of condescension. “Show her,” he said to the undertaker.

The undertaker took a box out of his briefcase and handed it to her. It was made of polished oak, and yew tree carvings decorated the top. She lifted the brass clasp and opened the box. A crystal vial lay nestled within the velvet interior, which had been designed to hold two vials.

Balthasar took the box, snapped it shut, and gave it back to the undertaker. “It was in the statue of Gabriel. Hidden in your shop the entire time.”

“Are you sure whatever’s in that vial is still viable?” She wiped her hands on her dress. “It’s three hundred years old.”

“I am.”

“Get to the good part, B.” Eddie’s light wobbled. “The good part.”

“I already know,” she said. “You’re selling the vial. So why do you need me?”

“You know what’s in that vial?”

“Some kind of poison or biological agent that’s probably evaporated by now.”

“The poison derived from Anne’s Lament, the real name of your lily, is suspended in oil from the yew tree. I’m confident the contents are intact.”

“Yew tree oil is poisonous and volatile.”

“It’s stable enough,” the undertaker said. “Ancient Celts used it to coat the ends of their arrows. If the arrow didn’t kill quickly, the poison would kill slowly.”

They were all crazy. “What do I have to do with this?”

“I need the land where your lily grows.”

“It’s not cultivated,” the undertaker said. “It’s important to say it’s not cultivated.”

“My lily hasn’t been seen on my land since I was a child.”

Balthasar waved his arm. “It grows wild in the back meadow and the cemetery.”

The undertaker opened his briefcase again and pulled out the King’s Grants and signed copies of her deeds. He laid them on top of the case and took a pen out of his jacket. “Your grants have three stipulations that must have been maintained to remain valid. First, the lily known as Anne’s Lament may never be cultivated on the properties.” He lowered his glasses and stared at Balthasar. “While there’s anecdotal evidence of wild lilies, there’s been no cultivation.”

She frowned at him. “The second stipulation?”

“The property must never, at any time, have been out of the hands of the Capel family—male or female. According to my law firm’s research—”

“You’re a lawyer?” Why was she not surprised?

“I specialize in real estate and contract law.” The lawyer adjusted his glasses. “At no time has the land passed out of your family’s hands.”

“My father put Rafe’s name on the deeds.”

“Within a trust. And your ex-husband could never have sold without your signature. Therefore, it’s still within the legal framework of the stipulation.”

“And the third?”

“A Capel must live on the land at all times.”

She smiled at Balthasar. “I haven’t lived here since I got married, and my father’s been gone almost a year.”

Balthasar smiled back. “You make money from tours and Boudreaux’s restaurant. You pay taxes, receive rent, and reimburse Grady Mercer to maintain docks and roads.”

“I don’t pay much. Have you seen the docks and roads?”

The lawyer coughed. “The condition of the property is sufficient.”

She paced the room, avoiding the puddles, her bare feet feeling the give of the rotted wood beneath. “You sell the vial to the buyer, but how does he get the land?”

Balthasar nodded. “He understands the stipulations and is willing to lease the property.”

“From me?”

“From both of us.”

She stared at the lawyer. “What kind of contract law?”

“Marriage and family.”

She laughed. She couldn’t help it. “I’m supposed to marry Balthasar so he can lease the property to your client?”

The lawyer nodded.

She faced Balthasar directly. “Why not let the buyer reengineer the poison in a lab?”

“He needs the vial’s contents and a constant supply of live lilies. Unfortunately for you, your lily only grows on this Isle. Something about phosphates and a rare bird.”

“How do you know that?”

“My buyer’s been stealing wild lilies for years to propagate and replicate the poison, with little luck.”

Deke laughed. “Haven’t you been paying attention? People are dropping like flies on horse shit all over town. The heroin and street pills giving people seizures? It’s a trial run from lilies Escalus stole nine months ago.”

“Nine months ago?” She swallowed, and her throat burned. “That’s when Eugene Wilkins died in my back meadow.”

Eddie smiled. “Got in Escalus’s way. As did Legare and your daddy. Oh, and apparently your mother-in-law as well. Although that wasn’t a Fianna kill. You can thank Balthasar’s new boss for that one.”

The floor wobbled. Or maybe it was her legs. “You expect me to marry you and then let you sell that vial and my lily to a monster who’ll turn it into a weapon? The same monster who killed my mother-in-law?”

“Yes.” Balthasar nodded to Deke, who left the room. Now they were down to two flashlights. “And once we have a child, I’ll kill you.”

This was so insane. She paced the uneven floor, fisting and unfisting her hands. “There’s no way I could disappear without people noticing.”

“Your husband left you. The scandal when people learn you’ve been stripping because you’re broke will destroy your business. Calum and Philip will understand if you go to Europe.”

“I have friends.”

“Walker and White Horse? When their unit goes to trial, they won’t remember you.”

“People will notice if we’re living out here.” Grady, at least.

“We won’t. We’ll collect tourist dollars, pay taxes, and let Grady keep up the land. We’ll return to New Orleans, and the law firm will handle the rest.”

“I won’t go with you.”

Deke reappeared and laid something wrapped in a blanket on the floor. “This should keep the bitch in line for you.”

Samantha. Juliet knelt. Samantha’s eyes were closed, but her breathing was steady and her pulse strong. “What did you do to her?”

“What I was told.” Deke licked his lips. “I wanted to do more.”

“Touch her again, and I’ll beat you with a shovel until you cry like a baby.”

“Bring it, Jade.”

Balthasar placed a hand on her shoulder, and she shrugged him off. It was only then that she saw his misericord. “If you don’t agree to come with me tonight, I’ll kill her.”

“You’ll have no leverage. You can’t lease the land without me, and you can’t kill me.”

“After Samantha, I’ll kill Philip. Calum. Pops.”

“Once Rafe finds out, you’ll be sorry you ever spoke my name.”

“He’s returned to the Prince. You’ll never see him again.”

“Face it, Jade,” Deke sneered. “You’re alone. No one to help. No way out.”

“Then why bring me out here if we’re just leaving town?”

Balthasar pointed to the undertaker. “That box holds two vials, and one of the windows shows Anne holding two vials. That means one is missing. You’re going to help me find it.”

“Why would I do that?”

“Supposedly, one drop of the poison is enough to kill. There’s enough to spare if I give one drop to Samantha.”

Now Juliet understood. The other vial was the antidote.