“Do you think we will have better luck with Mathias than we did Anton?” Adam asked as he laid out his court clothes upon the inn’s bed.
“We don’t have to worry about Mathias. He is as useful as a three-legged chair and half as intelligent. The real power lies with Queen Ingrid.”
“Will she help us?”
“Her secret contributions to your father were substantially greater than Anton’s were, and she has never kept secret her dislike for The Guild. Whether her courage and hatred are enough to support us in such an overt manner, I cannot predict. We do have one powerful tool we can use that Remiel lacked.”
Adam looked up from brushing his doublet. “What’s that?”
Garran grinned and swiveled his hips.
“Your tool is covered in rust from years of misuse and likely too small for the job.”
“Hey!”
“Seriously, Garran, don’t get us thrown in prison again.”
“That was not entirely my fault. But just in case, I will prepare for such an eventuality as I always do while I’m setting up our appointment. Don’t wait up, and don’t leave the room.”
“Just do what you need to do and come back. Don’t get…distracted.”
Garran reached up and pinched Adam’s cheek. “Aw, you miss me when I’m gone. I knew you were sweet on me.”
Adam slapped Garran’s hand away and stepped back. “I just don’t like sitting in these rooms by myself when people are hunting me!”
“Whatever you have to tell yourself.” Garran blew a kiss at Adam and strode through the door.
“Ass,” Adam grumbled and locked the door behind him.
Adam retrieved his book of scriptures from his pack, lay on the bed, and began reading. His mind kept drifting to thoughts of Evelyn, causing him to lose track of the words and forcing him to reread entire passages. Every morning, he woke hoping to find that this had all been some kind of incredibly lucid nightmare, but each sunrise only brought another day of despondency.
Garran’s presence did little to make him feel better. While he had done a remarkable job thus far keeping him safe despite his vulgar behavior, he was the lesser of two evils only by a narrow margin. Garran was like a tourniquet. Although he was keeping him alive, it was only a matter of time before he ruined the limb and it necessitated amputation.
Adam’s stomach grumbled, castigating him once again for failing to arrange dinner. He thought of going downstairs to order a meal brought to his room, but Garran had told him to stay inside. It would only take a minute, but it would also only take one person to recognize him.
Cimmaron had been a narrow escape. While Garran had neutralized Victor and his hunters, he did not have him here to watch over him. Adam hated the fact that he needed Garran’s protection. It was like having a guard dog with rabies…and probably a host of sexually transmitted diseases.
With a resigned sigh, Adam retrieved some trail food from his bag and ate the unappealing, dry fare. His hunger grudgingly placated, he lay back down and began reading again until his eyelids grew heavy. He was just losing contact with the conscious world when there came a soft knocking at the door.
“Adam,” a woman’s voice whispered from the other side of the door.
Adam’s heart raced, and looked around the room for a weapon.
“Adam, it’s all right. Garran sent me. Open the door.”
Adam leaned in close to the door and listened for anyone else who might also be in the hallway. “Thank you, but I have quite had my fill of prostitutes either real or imagined.”
“Prostitute? I am not a prostitute. I am here to help you.”
“How do I know Garran sent you?”
“You don’t, and I don’t have a lot of time to convince you. Garran spotted several men following him through town on his way to the palace. He saw me near the Anatolian embassy and asked me to move you to a more secure place in case there was another team moving to capture you while he was out. He was right. I saw another group of men moving in on your position here just a moment ago. They will be here in minutes, so we need to go.”
Adam swallowed the nervous lump in his throat and fought to keep his breathing steady. “Who are you?”
“My name is Karla. I work at the embassy.”
“You’re an agent?”
“I’m just an analyst. I knew Garran in school. Please, Adam, we need to go.”
“How do I know I can trust you?”
“You don’t. You’re a grown man, Adam. What am I going to do, kick your ass and drag you away by force?”
Adam looked around the room, broke a clay pitcher, and set a thick shard on the floor a few inches from the door. He unlocked the door and opened it a crack, using the shard as a doorstop to prevent anyone from forcing it open. Peering through the narrow opening, he looked to see if Karla was alone.
“Smart,” Karla said, “but you should always have a small mirror handy so you can see around the doorframe.”
Karla produced a polished piece of steel from inside her cloak and held it up. She angled it so Adam could see that the hall was empty. Satisfied she was alone; Adam kicked the makeshift doorstop away and opened the door.
Karla was an attractive woman with long, black hair, blue eyes, and a ready smile on her full lips. Her cloak concealed most of her body, but Adam caught a glimpse of dark leathers that complimented her figure rather well.
She nodded at the open pack next to the bed. “Is that your stuff? Grab it and let’s go. I’ll take Garran’s gear.”
Adam followed her orders, shouldered, his bag, and followed her from the room. Karla paused at the top of the stairs leading toward the common room before descending.
“There are two watchers in the common room, so we’ll need to go through the kitchen.”
Karla led him through the kitchen and into the alley. Looking up and down the street at the end, she stayed close to the buildings, darting from shadow to shadow like a sneak thief. The pair wound their way through the city using the alleys to stay off the main thoroughfares as much as possible.
Adam was sweating and breathing heavy when they finally came to a halt. Karla stopped next to a sturdy, enclosed wagon and tossed Garran’s pack through the open door.
“Get in,” she ordered.
Adam looked warily at the stout door with bars set in the top center. “What is this?”
“It’s a prisoner transport wagon. I’m taking you to a safe house on the other side of the city, and this is the best way to do it without drawing attention.”
“It’s a prison cell on wheels.”
“Sorry, Highness, it’s the best I could do on short notice. Now, if you will please get your royal ass inside, we can get going.”
Adam looked at the wagon then at Karla who was getting visibly impatient. He mentally noted her form-fitting outfit again.
“Do you normally wear leathers?”
“Even analysts have to do some legwork once in a while. Look, I’m putting off some rather important duties to help you and Garran out, so if you would kindly take a seat in the wagon.”
Adam looked from her to the wagon again and shook his head. “No, something is not right here.”
Karla sighed and shook her hands as if she had just washed them. “I had hoped you were going to make this easy on me, but if you want to choose the hard way, so be it.”
Adam took a step back. “What do you mean, the hard way?”
“Remember when I mentioned something about kicking your ass? Well, now that’s what is about to happen.”
Adam raised his hands defensively and looked around for an escape. “Look, I don’t want to have to hurt you.”
Karla smiled as she slipped a lead sapper into her hand. “Aw, that’s sweet. I’m going to almost feel bad for what I’m about to do.”
The woman moved startlingly fast, launching a flurry of jabs at Adam’s face. Adam used his priestly training to block the strikes until Karla made a sweeping motion with her left hand, forced
both of his arms down, and struck him between the eyes with the heel of her right hand.
Adam stumbled back and caught himself against the side of the wagon. “That’s Ka-Rugh! It is supposed to be a meditation exercise!”
Karla smiled and shrugged. “A girl has to know how to protect herself, and when something works so well for purposes other than what it was intended, it would be a sin not to use it.”
“It is blasphemy to use it for selfish gain!” Adam focused on his power and sent Karla a powerful command. “Stop!”
Karla froze as every joint in her body locked. She scowled, focused her mind, and forced her body to move. She moved as if a rope had been holding her back and suddenly snapped. She leapt and kicked Adam in the chest, driving him against the wagon.
Adam pushed off the carriage and attacked with a series of swift jabs and swings. Karla blocked them with practiced ease, slipped under a hard right cross, and delivered three blows to his stomach. Adam felt himself deflate and fought to catch his breath. Karla grabbed his left wrist in her hand, slipped behind him, leapt onto the wagon wheel, and jumped onto his shoulders. She locked her legs around his neck and rode him to the ground.
“Good night, sweet prince,” Karla crooned just before striking Adam atop his head with the sapper.
Adam outweighed the agent by a good fifty pounds, but she was no weakling. She pulled his arm over her shoulder, hoisted his bulk onto her back, and tossed him into the back of the prisoner wagon like a sack of grain.
Karla climbed onto the driver’s bench, flicked the reins, and urged the two horses into a trot. She kept the animals moving at a steady clip until they were about five miles from Betham. She then allowed the fatigued horses to plod on at a walk for another three hours before guiding them far off the road and onto a logging path.
She closed her eyes and allowed herself an hour’s nap before her well-trained mind told her it was time to get moving again. Karla answered the call of nature and gathered up some wood to start a small fire. She suspended a coffee pot from a small tripod over the flames and approached the wagon.
“Hey, Prince Cupcake, you conscious back there?”
“I am, and I do not think it is necessary to be rude just because you engage in kidnapping.”
“It’s not kidnapping. It’s more like bounty hunting.”
“Whatever you wish to call it, it leaves a splitting headache.”
“That’s probably just your bruised pride.”
“Impossible. I am quite certain Garran killed that long before you and I met.”
Karla chuckled. “Yeah, he’s good at that. Do you need out to relieve yourself?”
“If you would spare me such indignation, I would be appreciative.”
“Stick your hands out of the window.”
Adam shoved his hands between the bars set in the door.
“Not between different slots, you dumbass.”
Adam pulled one hand back out and laid it atop the other so there was not a bar separating them. “Again with the name calling. Are all agents so emotionally abusive, or are you and Garran just of similar disposition?”
Karla tied a leather thong around Adam’s wrists before opening the carriage door. “Liken me to Garran Holt again and I’ll let you ride all the way back to Leva ankle deep in your own waste.”
Adam stepped out of the wagon and hopped onto the ground. “I suppose that was a cheap shot, even toward a kidnapper. Pardon me, a bounty hunter. Are the bindings necessary? After all, I’m just a grown man. What am I going to do, kick your ass?”
“I don’t care if you are a twelve-year-old girl. I don’t take chances with prisoners.”
Karla guided him to edge of the small clearing and took a step back.
Adam looked over his shoulder. “You’re just going to stand there and watch me?”
“I would hold it for you if I thought you were stupid enough to run and make me chase you.”
“Maybe I am,” he said with a smile.
Karla shrugged and stepped toward him.
“No, I got it!” Adam exclaimed and turned away.
“Never try to bluff when you barely know how to play the game.”
She led him back to the campfire, sat him down on a rock, and poured them each a cup of coffee.
Adam sipped at the strong brew. “Thank you for the coffee—and the toilet break. The fractured skull I could have done without.”
“It’s nothing personal. Behave yourself and we’ll get along fine.”
“Does that include me as well? Then again, I rarely behave, so I guess it’s a moot question.”
Both pairs of eyes flashed toward the voice and locked onto Garran as he strode into the clearing, tin cup in hand. Thinking this had all been some elaborate ruse or lesson spiked Adam’s ire, but the fear Karla tried to hide behind her iron façade appeared quite genuine.
“Karla, I almost didn’t recognize you,” Garran said as he poured himself a cup of coffee.
“It has only been a few years. Have I changed that much?”
“Hardly at all. It’s just that I never spent much time looking at your face in school. It wasn’t until I watched you peeing a few minutes ago that recognition dawned.”
“I see you haven’t changed.”
“Not true at all. I’m pretty sure my prick is bigger.”
“It certainly couldn’t get any smaller.”
“Hey!”
“He probably meant that he is a bigger prick now,” Adam quipped.
“That is definitely not possible,” Karla responded.
“Hey!” Garran gave Adam a baleful look. “I give you one simple order, and you break it by opening the door to the first pair of breasts the come knocking—splendid though they might be.”
Karla pressed a hand to her chest and smiled coyly. “Why thank you! I knew you could be sweet if you only tried.”
“You told me to stay put,” Adam defended. “You never said not to open the door.”
“It was implied, you idiot, and you still left!”
Adam looked at the ground, embarrassed. “She was very convincing.”
Garran looked at Karla’s breasts once again. “Yes, I’m sure they were.”
Karla set her cup of coffee down, the forced humor gone from her tone and visage. “So what now? Are you going to kill me?”
“Do I need to?”
Karla actually paused to consider the question before sighing and shaking her head. “No. I spotted you two riding into the city, saw an opportunity for early retirement, and I took it. It didn’t pan out, and I’m not stupid enough to try for a second shot. How did you find us anyway?”
“Do you think I would leave Pickle Tits over there alone without someone watching him?”
Karla bobbed her head. “Those damn street rats.”
“Best eyes and ears money can buy.”
“I’m surprised you didn’t scare them all away by exposing yourself before you could employ them.”
“It was one time, and that was an accident!”
“It was three,” Karla retorted.
“Actually, it is up to four now,” Adam said.
“And those are just the ones we know about,” Karla chided. “God only knows what he’s managed to keep secret.”
“Hey, I am the hero here! I’m the one who saved the Prince from assassination, I rescued him from your greedy clutches, and I’m the one who is bravely challenging the entire kingdom and The Guild! How about a little respect?”
Karla looked up at the dawning sky. “God, he is right. This just goes to show how bizarre a world we live in and how it’s surely all going to hell.”
Adam asked Karla, “Do you know anything about my sister or what’s happening at the palace?”
“Not a lot of reports about the Leva come through our office. I know she’s alive, pregnant, and causing a bit of trouble for Gordon. There’s some rabblerousing loyalists plotting and scheming, but The Guild has done a good job of keeping them suppressed.�
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“I overheard you say something about a bounty,” Garran said. “How much is it?”
“A hundred thousand for the prince, another twenty for you.”
“I am impressed, yet I feel a bit insulted. I should think I’m worth at least fifty.”
Adam whistled. “A hundred thousand dinarins is a king’s ransom.”
“Apparently it’s a prince’s too these days. Inflation is really getting out of hand.”
“So what now?” Karla asked.
“I’m taking your horses, and Adam and I are going to complete our business.”
“Come on, Garran, leave me one. For old times’ sake?”
“I recall you quite rudely rebuffing me in old times.”
“I caught you spying on me while I was using the girls’ dormitory bathhouse!”
“Yeah, that was a good day,” Garran said, reminiscing. “My hand was so cramped the next day I couldn’t write my report on covert surveillance.”
“So gross.”
“Anyway, you might not try another snatching, but I won’t put it past you to snitch on us, so you’re hoofing it for a few days to buy us time.” Garran’s face grew unusually serious. “And, Karla, if I see you in Betham, I will kill you.”
“I understand. I hear Artemisia is beautiful this time of year. Maybe I’ll check out the Grand Galleon Parade.”
“You should probably avoid that too.”
“Where can I go?”
“Arnao is a safe bet.”
“Ugh, Arnao is a dump and boring as hell.”
“Not getting killed can be a dull affair at times.”
“Gotcha.”
Garran unhitched the two horses from the prisoner wagon and led them and Adam into the woods. It took several minutes for them to reach the horse Garran had left tethered to a tree.
“Can you ride without a saddle?” he asked Adam.
“No, I’m afraid not.”
The Agent Page 25