Ava, too, readjusted her grip.
“Are you okay?” he dared to whisper in a voice no louder than a breath.
Her head bobbed silently just below his chin. She was nodding. A good sign.
The rope shuddered in his hands.
Ava froze.
It took Jason a moment to realize what must be happening, as the rope continued to vibrate oddly, shivering between his fingers until they swayed slightly as they dangled from the tower.
The gunman above must have realized where they’d gone—could probably even catch a glimpse of them if he leaned over the side of the tower far enough. He couldn’t shoot them because the thick stone corbels shielded them, and anyway, he didn’t have to shoot. It was just as expedient to cut through the rope and let them fall to their deaths.
Jason prayed the rope would hold as he began to climb down again, the rope burning in his hands as he let them drop long stretches in a sort of controlled fall that ended up not being quite as controlled as he’d hoped. They were still ten or more feet above the uneven ground when the rope went to tatters beneath his fingers, and they half slipped, half fell to the ground.
The base of the tower was a steep slope. With Ava still clinging tightly to him, Jason caught the earth with the soles of his boots and slammed backward, sliding on his rear end down the loose gravel until he was able to dig in his heels enough to skid to a stop.
“Are you okay?” he whispered as dislodged rocks rattled down all around them.
“Fine.” Ava jumped up before they’d completely stopped. She grabbed his hand and tugged him toward some trees. “This way. I know a place to hide.”
* * *
Ava led the captain through the overgrown foliage toward the ruins of the cathedral. She’d looked down from the tower long enough to get her bearings. The ancient chapel was off to their right. Its roof was many centuries gone, its ceiling the open sky, but at the rear of the transept, a small door led to a back room from which the deacons of old would have entered, which Kirk had pointed out as the way he intended to enter for the wedding.
The old wooden door had long since rotted away, but thick vines curled all around that end of the building, completely covering the doorway. And the room itself had a back door that led around the apse on the east end. They could hide in the room or escape out the back.
Assuming they reached the spot before the gunman saw them.
Jason pulled her back as they cleared the edge of the trees and entered the cathedral. “Where are you going?”
“There’s a room behind those vines. We can hide there.”
“Not if he sees us.” The captain looked behind them, peering up past the trees toward the tower.
Ava looked back, too. She could see the jutting parapets, now void of rope, but there was no sign of the gunman. “He must be on the stairs. Quick—now’s our chance.” She hoped to reach the hiding place before the gunman left the tower. If he’d spotted their flight through the trees, or even if he assumed they’d fallen to their deaths and went around to check, he’d be headed their way as soon as he reached the end of the trail.
Loosening his hold on her arm, Jason swept his hand down to hers and gripped her palm with a nod. “Lead the way.”
Ava sprinted to the spot, fearful the gunman might try to take a shot at them as they ran through the open nave. But no gunfire sounded. She found the edge of the vines where they curled around toward the altar. The heavy mass peeled back like a curtain, and Ava pulled Jason after her as she slipped behind, pressing her hand along the cold stone wall until she found the opening to the room and ducked inside.
Sunlight filtered in dimly from a missing bit of roof far above them, but mostly the room was all thick stones and heavy vines. Ava panted, breathing freely for the first time since she’d spotted the gunman leaping off his boat.
The captain still had tight hold of her hand, and she leaned against him, her heart screaming with pent-up terror and amazement that they’d survived their fall from the tower and their flight through the trees.
It took her a few moments to begin to catch her breath as she processed all that had happened and tried to decide what they should do next. Slowly, she became aware that she’d pressed her cheek to the captain’s shoulder—again. But rather than step away and draw attention to what she’d done, she pinched her eyes shut, listening for any sound of the gunman as she debated what to do next.
She didn’t feel she ought to lean on Jason, but then again, the room was quite tiny and it wasn’t as though she’d be able to put much space between them. Given the terror that surged through her, she felt grateful for the sense of security he provided. Quite simply, she didn’t want to let go of him. Besides, she had far more important things to worry about than her proximity to the captain.
How were they going to get back to their boat without crossing paths with the gunman? Granted, the island was overgrown with trees and vines, and there were plenty of ruins to hide among, but still, the gunman had to guess they’d need to reach their boat to escape. All the man had to do was lie in wait on the trail and jump them when they tried to slip past.
Jason scowled at his phone, then whispered, “If I could get a call or text to go through, I’d use my phone to call royal-guard headquarters and have them dispatch a helicopter to the island. I’m afraid we need to get to higher ground.”
“That’s an excellent idea.” Ava focused on the hope he offered her, refusing to be discouraged by their current lack of a phone signal. If a helicopter arrived in time, Jason’s guards could apprehend the gunman, and she wouldn’t have to fear for her life anymore. “I’ll try to peek out and see if the way is clear.” She reached toward the vines that shielded them from sight.
“Be careful.” Jason’s hand brushed her fingers, reminding her once again of how very close they were to each other in the tiny room and how very close they’d been. In case Ava hadn’t already been convinced of the captain’s strength, his climb down the rope with her clinging to him had demonstrated his capabilities quite persuasively.
She pushed those thoughts from her mind and focused on peeling back the leaves without rustling anything. For all they knew, the gunman could be just on the other side. She half expected to see the barrel of his gun pointing through the vines toward them, but as a glimmer of light filtered in through the thick foliage, she saw only the yellow limestone walls of the chapel.
Pinching one eye shut, she peered through the peephole she’d made.
“Is it clear?” Jason asked softly.
Ava startled when she spotted the gunman. She grabbed Jason’s arm as he spoke, wishing he’d fall silent but not daring to make a sound to shush him. He’s there, she mouthed, glancing at Jason for only a second before returning her attention to the gunman who’d entered the far end of the chapel.
“Try to get a good look at him,” Jason told her in a faint whisper, his lips brushing her ear. “See if you recognize him.”
Ava tried to ignore the shiver that ran through her at the captain’s accidental contact. She did her best to get a good look, but the leaves obscured so much of her view the man was little more than a moving shadow across the grassy floor of the cathedral ruins. She tried to guess what she could of his build, but other than her assumption he was of fairly average height and weight, there was little she could discern, certainly no distinct, identifying features.
As she watched, the man did a quick sweep of the cathedral, checking behind each ancient pillar before darting back out the way he’d come. She saw the design on his ball cap and felt her blood turn cold.
The man wore a Seattle Mariners baseball cap. She’d seen a million of the caps back home, but none since she’d been in Lydia.
The man turned away, headed in the other direction, and Ava focused on the most urgent issue.
“He’s leaving,
” she whispered excitedly.
But Jason didn’t look quite so pleased. “Is there any other way he can reach this room?”
Ava’s hope fell. “If he comes around the back way.” Considering what she knew of the path from the tower to the cathedral, the gunman had surely scoped out the other side of the cathedral and would loop around the back side. From there, he could go any number of directions, including through the back entrance to their tiny room.
“Show me.” Jason squeezed her hand. “Is it safe?”
“We’ll have to stay back. The vines aren’t nearly so thick on that side.” Ava led him down the narrow hallway, slowing her steps and listening as they neared the doorway on the other end. She leaned forward to look past the vines.
“Let me.” Jason placed one hand on her shoulder, stopping her, as he stepped past her and leaned forward to peer through the leaves. He blinked twice before glancing back her way, holding one finger to his lips in a gesture of silence and looking back again. She studied him as he stood there, his attention on the gunman. There was no denying the captain was handsome. Surely the odd shivers of attraction she felt toward him were superficial, nothing real or deep or lasting. She and the captain fought far too much for there to be any sort of affection between them. And she wasn’t nearly ready for any more heartache in her life, not now or anytime soon.
Finally, after what felt like a much longer time than it probably was, the captain stepped back toward her.
“He’s gone down the path that leads to the automated lighthouse on the north end of the island. This may be our best opportunity to make a break for it. Let’s go—but be quiet. We don’t know if he came to the island alone.”
Ava held tight to Jason’s hand as she ran after him back through the chapel and up the trail toward the royal-guard speedboat they’d left tied in the cove. Given Jason’s warning about other possible gunmen loose among them, she wasn’t surprised that he didn’t attempt to use his phone until they reached the foot of the trail from the tower, where the trees gave way to open grass and the rocky trail turned to sand.
There he held back, ducking behind the last tree and looking at his phone. “Finally, I’ve got a decent signal. In case there’s another gunman waiting near the boat, I’m going to call the royal guard now. We’ll wait for them to arrive before we go any farther—unless we have no choice but to run for the boat. You watch back that way.” He nodded his head toward the trail as he pulled out his phone and placed the call.
Ava nodded, staring back the way they’d come, alert and watchful for any sign of movement anywhere. As she listened, Jason instructed his men to bring two helicopters to the island immediately. No sooner had he given the orders and begun to explain the reason he needed them than a movement at the top of the trail caught Ava’s eye.
“Ball cap,” she identified, squeezing Jason’s hand. “He’s back.”
“We’ve got to go.” Jason snapped his phone shut.
Ava wasn’t sure whether his words were meant for her or the royal-guard dispatcher, but even as he spoke them, Jason ducked low and ran toward the boat.
“Stay close behind me,” he ordered, but since he didn’t let go of her hand, it wasn’t as though she could have fallen far behind.
She imitated his crouching run, assuming it was some sort of tactic for staying small and providing a minimal target in case the gunman spotted him. To her amazement, they reached the boat without anyone jumping from the other craft.
Jason plucked her up by the waist and fairly threw her on board, instructing her in a quiet voice, “Stay down.”
Ava did as she was told, flattening herself against the boat railing on the side nearest the island, so that anyone coming from that side wouldn’t be able to see her. She hoped the boat was made of something bulletproof.
In another second Jason shoved the boat away from the shoreline with a mighty heave, sending it wide of the other vessel. He leaped aboard with the rope slung over his arm. Ava couldn’t see much and didn’t dare raise her head, but she assumed they must have gotten clear of the other boat, because a moment later their engine roared to life.
The boat seemed to crawl painfully through the shallow waters at first, and Ava feared they’d gotten stuck in the sand. But after a few terrified breaths, they picked up speed, clearing the narrow cove entrance and heading out to sea.
Ava panted, not so much from the run, but from her terror and amazement they’d made it free of the island without being shot. She lifted her head to say as much to Jason, but he shouted back at her, “Stay down. He’s following us.”
Fear lodged in her throat as the boat lurched across the waves at high speed. She imagined Jason must be engaging in some sort of evasive maneuvers as they swerved this way and that. Before long she heard Jason shouting into his phone, trying to give orders to his men over the roar of the boat and the wind and the slamming waves.
And not long after that, she heard the chop of helicopters in the air above them.
Finally. The gunman would be caught. She could go on with her wedding plans already in progress.
But she heard the captain’s voice carrying over even the noise from the rotors above them.
“I don’t know! I went around an island to get away from him. It’s a rental boat, like the Blue Lantern rents out. Yes, I know they have dozens, but they can’t all be on this stretch of sea at the same time.” He paused. “I don’t care if they are. Find the man. Search them all. He had a gun. He was wearing a Seattle Mariners baseball cap. Average height and build. Just find him.”
Ava heard Jason identify the team on the gunman’s cap and realized he must know what she knew—that the gunman probably wasn’t a local.
By the time Jason finished giving orders, Ava’s hope had subsided to nearly nothing.
Had they lost sight of the boat only to have it mingle among many others? How were Jason’s men supposed to search the watercraft from the sky? If they had to wait for more boats to reach the area, what were the chances they’d catch the man who’d tried to kill her?
Slim, she supposed. Slim to none.
Rather than give up completely, Ava hoped perhaps she could help identify the boat. After all, she’d seen it, however briefly. “Can I get up now?”
“Yes. Come sit up here.”
When she reached the seat next to him, Jason leveled a look at her.
Already fighting unwanted feelings of attraction, she told him bluntly, “You should have fought him on the island. Then we wouldn’t be in this mess.”
“It was too risky.”
“This is better?”
“Given how far we were from medical help, yes. If you’d been shot—if either of us had been shot—” Jason stopped trying to explain and glowered at the sea.
She’d upset him with her words. That was good. She could handle his anger far better than his embrace.
He broke the silence gruffly. “I’m going to have to hide you.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, when I went around an island back there to get you out of range of the gunman, I lost sight of him. He didn’t come around after me.”
Ava frowned. She couldn’t fault the captain for his attempt at keeping her from being shot—he’d achieved that objective, at least, and she was grateful for that. But at the same time, she’d hoped his men would catch her would-be killer. If the man was still at large, she wasn’t safe.
Jason continued, “If the gunman headed for the marina, he could dock ahead of us and be waiting in a vehicle to see which way we go. We can’t risk that.”
“So you’re going to have to sneak me back to the palace.”
“No. I can’t take you back to the palace, not if there’s any chance of being followed.”
“But you said the palace was the safest place in Sardis.”
The royal family. Of course. Ava swallowed as his words hit home. He didn’t care nearly as much about protecting her as he cared about protecting the royal family. Somehow, as he’d held her tight on the rope and ducked into hiding with her on the island, she’d gotten it into her head that he was protecting her.
But that wasn’t his job—not really. His job was to protect the royal family. She was the one endangering them. Guilt smothered her fear. What if someone got hurt because of her? She thought of the members of the royal house of Lydia she’d worked with so closely over the course of the weddings and events she’d planned. She couldn’t let anything happen to them. “So you need to get rid of me?”
“I need to hide you, but you’re going to have to cooperate and do as I say.”
Ava nodded solemnly. This wasn’t about getting her way—it was about keeping innocent people safe. “Just tell me what I need to do.”
SEVEN
Jason fully expected the wedding planner to throw a fit when he docked far from the Sardis Marina, along the rocky shore north of the city, and ordered her to scramble up a muddy embankment. But to his surprise she didn’t protest, not even when he offered his hand to help her out of the boat.
Granted, the woman looked shaken. In spite of the glare of the sinking sun reflecting off the water, Ava looked pale, green even, either from the jarring boat ride, her fear of the situation or a mixture of both. But instead of throwing a fit about the mud, she climbed the slippery embankment with agility, though her white pants were streaked with sludge by the time they reached the top.
Royal Wedding Threat Page 6