But the columns would offer them cover.
They passed the knee wall and Ava turned to head toward the side aisle.
“The center is faster.” Jason pulled her in that direction. “Running targets are difficult to hit,” he assured her.
Trusting him, Ava followed. They darted alongside the knee wall, headed for the wide shallow steps where the wedding party had stood throughout the ceremony. From there they could reach the aisle and make their way to the front of the sanctuary and out the front doors to safety.
“Stay low,” Jason whispered, his words nearly buried by the sound of a door slamming open behind them—the same door they’d entered through.
Jason pushed her down, out of sight next to the knee wall, and huddled over her as an all-too-familiar voice echoed through the sanctuary. He held his gun ready in his other hand. Ava could only assume he’d wait to shoot until he had a clear shot, rather than risk giving away their position.
“Where did they go?” It was Tiffany’s voice, sounding angry and slightly breathless.
“I don’t see them now, but they came through this door. They’re in here somewhere. Let’s split up.”
In spite of the pounding of her heart that made it difficult to hear, Ava was certain the man who responded was not her father. Good. Tiffany wasn’t working with her dad.
Unfortunately whoever she was working with seemed to know what he was doing.
“Check behind all the flower displays. They’ve got to be hiding. They didn’t have time to reach the back doors.”
He was right. They hadn’t had time to reach the doors—in fact, they were as far from any door as they could get, in all but the dead center of the enormous room.
Ava held her breath. Judging by the sound of Tiffany’s and her accomplice’s footsteps, every sound was amplified by the high-vaulted ceilings. Ava could hear the two of them making their way across the apse, checking behind each candelabra and floral display as they went, making their way closer, ever closer to the place where she and Jason crouched, hidden only by the low engraved wooden wall.
Once Tiffany and the other gunman got close enough, they’d be sure to see her and Jason crouching there. Based on the shots they’d fired into the hallway as they’d forced their way inside, Ava didn’t figure either of the pair would hesitate to shoot them on sight.
Jason squeezed her arm. She turned her head just slightly. Was he giving her a signal? They didn’t dare try to move. Their footsteps would echo through the room. Tiffany and her accomplice would pick them off before they got halfway down the aisle, moving target or not.
From far away, she could hear the hollow echoes in the distant narthex. Surely Jason’s men had returned. Were they struggling to open the doors they’d locked behind them when they’d exited the building to head for the palace? She wondered which of them had a key, if any. Praying silently, she willed them to find a way into the building, to step inside the sanctuary, to find Tiffany and her accomplice and capture them before it was too late.
But the distant booming died away to silence.
One set of shuffling footsteps moved closer through the floral displays. The other echoed from farther back in the apse, near the organ pipes, where the members of the orchestra had left their chairs and music stands.
Suddenly a loud clattering noise filled the chancel. Jason tugged her forward, running, ducked low, alongside the knee wall toward the other side of the chancel.
Music stands continued to fall behind them, and Tiffany berated her partner for his clumsiness. Ava thought quickly as they ran. There was another small door on the other side of the chancel, its wood the same color and style as the ancient wooden paneling that lined the front of the sanctuary. It led back to the hallway through which they’d entered the chancel.
It wouldn’t take them to the front doors, but it would get them out of the sanctuary and away from the gunmen, for a short while, at least.
Ava dived for the small door, throwing herself against it, stumbling through with Jason right behind her. She gasped a breath as the door swung shut behind her.
“That way!” Tiffany screamed, her voice filling the quiet sanctuary. “Through that door.”
“Where now?” Ava asked, at a loss. Her wedding-planning duties had required her to be familiar with the sanctuary and the main entrances and exits, but she didn’t know as much about these back hallways or the other secrets of the vast building.
Jason glanced down the hall. “We’ll never make it to an exterior door from here.” He tugged her by the hand down a narrow hallway that bent past the offices.
Ava wanted to ask where they were going, or if Jason even knew what they’d find at the end of the hallway, but she didn’t dare speak. They rounded a bend in the hallway just as the door behind them slammed open again, and Tiffany’s voice echoed down the corridor.
“They went this way!”
From the sound of the vengeful woman’s voice, Tiffany must have caught a glimpse of them before they disappeared around the bend in the hall, because the sound followed them and footsteps pounded after them.
“Stay back,” Jason whispered, pushing her against the stone wall behind him as he leaned just far enough around the corner to shoot. He got two shots off before the gunmen fired back.
“Aah!” Jason’s gun flew wide, shot from his hand. He glanced at the fallen weapon. He’d have to go out in the open to retrieve it, and the gunman would be upon them in a moment, and obviously the man was an excellent shot to have shot the gun free from Jason’s hand. It was too risky.
Jason pushed her farther down the hall. “This way.” He led her to a thick door. He didn’t hesitate but pushed them through it, whispering, “Stairs. Careful.”
Ava could see nothing in the utter darkness. A dank chill rose to meet them as they descended by feel. Ava leaned on Jason’s arm, depending on him to catch her if she missed a step in the darkness. She’d never been down this way before, but she’d heard rumors of the place and could guess where they were heading.
Cold air hit her as they reached the bottom, and she nearly stumbled over her own feet, half expecting another step down, but finding nothing in the darkness.
Jason pulled out his phone and hit a button to illuminate the screen, providing just enough dim glow for them to see the space before them. The crypt ran underneath the cathedral for what had to be the full length of the building, though the light from Jason’s phone didn’t allow them to see nearly that far.
They hurried forward while his phone provided them with light.
“There’s a way out on the other side—the stairs come up under the stairs to the balcony.”
Ava had seen the door before, and once even peeked inside, noted the spiral of steps descending into darkness and quickly closed it again. She hadn’t wanted anything to do with the spooky space then, but now that stairwell was her only hope. If they could reach it quickly, they might be able to escape the building before Tiffany and her accomplice caught up to them.
Jason’s phone went dark again, but not before Ava had caught a glimpse of the layout of the subterranean mausoleum. The central corridor traveled down the middle of the vast underground space, with large chambers of vaults on either side. These stone rooms were divided by massive walls—vaults that contained the bones of the leaders of Lydia long dead.
The chambers themselves hosted statues and marble plaques, the still, human forms nearly as large as Ava and Jason, their eyes staring blankly ahead. Ava shivered. Even in the darkness she could picture their frozen forms, their faces almost lifelike, their hands holding scepters or Bibles or reaching out with empty fingers as though to grab anyone who brushed by too closely as they went past.
Given the darkness, Ava and Jason crept forward with their arms outstretched ahead of them, moving as quickly as they dared without bumpin
g into anything. Behind them, Ava could hear the sounds of their pursuers descending the steps. They’d soon be in the crypt, and Ava knew she and the captain weren’t yet halfway through the lengthy underground corridor.
“Watch your step. That’s the bottom,” a male voice muttered far behind them.
Ava wished she could sprint forward to the stairs somewhere ahead, but if either Tiffany or her accomplice turned on any sort of light, they’d spot them in an instant and surely shoot them just as quickly. In fact, she felt a little surprised their pursuers hadn’t found a light source yet.
“In here,” Jason whispered close to her ear as the pair behind them muttered about needing light. The captain tugged her sideways, and they slid along a wall of burial chambers, ducking behind what felt like a large marble statue.
Faint light glowed from far down the corridor. Tiffany or her partner must have pulled out a phone. Ava realized that she and Jason were out of sight for now, ducking low as they were in one of the branching chambers. But the stone room had only one exit—the way they’d entered, through the central passage. As long as Tiffany remained in the corridor, Ava and Jason were trapped.
“What’s at the other end?” Tiffany asked as the light glowed stronger, moving down the central hallway.
“I don’t know.”
“Go look.”
Footsteps echoed, light grew stronger and then Ava watched as a man, cell phone clutched in one outstretched hand, hurried along the passageway toward the spiral stairs that opened up to the narthex above.
“There’s a door,” the man called back once he reached the end.
“Where’s it go?”
“I don’t know.” Thumping echoed through the crypt. “Nowhere. It’s locked.”
“Then they couldn’t have escaped that way,” Tiffany summarized. Her light faded and returned. “These are burial chambers. Do any of them have exits in them?”
“Doesn’t look like it.”
“How do you know? If any of these rooms have an exit, they could escape.”
Ava held her breath as the cell-phone lights dimmed and brightened while the pair ducked into side rooms looking for escape routes.
“We saw them come this way. If there’s no way out, they must still be in here,” the man mused softly.
“But if there’s a way out, we need to find it quickly.” Tiffany sounded almost frantic.
Suddenly Ava heard a musical note sounding from far too close. Jason clapped a hand against his phone, silencing it almost an instant after it began to ring.
With a sinking heart, Ava realized his men must have tried to call him—from what she’d been told, his earpiece wouldn’t work deep in the cathedral because of the thick stones. He’d alerted the guards to gunmen in the cathedral. Of course they’d tried to contact him, little knowing that by doing so, they’d given away their presence to the gunmen.
“Was that your phone?” Tiffany asked.
“Nope. Yours?”
“No—it had to have been theirs. They must be in here!”
The man chuckled gleefully. “We’ll find them.”
“Search each room carefully, one by one. You start at that end. I’ll work from this end. They could be hiding anywhere. Check all the dark corners. If you see them, don’t wait for me. Just shoot.” Tiffany made a grumbling sound, then muttered, “She’s even harder to kill than her mother was.”
Fear and sorrow clawed at Ava’s heart. So Tiffany had indeed killed her mother. Dan’s story had been true, his theory correct. And just as surely, Tiffany would find her. There was no way out of the mausoleum now, not with Tiffany and her partner blocking escape from either end.
The most Ava could hope for was that Jason’s guards would capture Tiffany as she tried to escape the cathedral afterward—otherwise they might never realize precisely who’d killed her, and Tiffany would get away with murder.
Again.
Ava clutched Jason’s arm as he held her tight against him behind the statue that hid them. He held her so close she could feel his heart beating hard, its pace almost as frantic as hers.
Regret sliced through her with cutting claws, each one a painful reminder. Jason was going to die because of her—and not just because she’d lured a heartless killer to Lydia but because he’d insisted on protecting Ava himself. He’d been too brave, too determined, too honorable. If he’d run and left her to face Tiffany alone, he would have at least escaped alive.
But of course, Jason would never do that. Her heart pinched inside her as she realized how deeply she truly cared for him. She’d realized days ago that he was a better man than her former fiancé. She’d once planned to marry Dan. Jason’s personality fit her so much better, and yet she’d never even told the captain how she felt.
Truly, she’d opened her heart to him so quickly it had frightened her, and she’d been unwilling to lower her last defenses and admit how she really felt, especially when it seemed certain she’d have to leave Lydia—and Jason—to keep everyone in the kingdom safe.
She’d failed to keep him safe. Worse yet, she’d failed to tell him how much he meant to her.
The lights grew brighter as their pursuers drew inexorably closer, their lights fading in turn as they checked each chamber thoroughly and then moved on to the next. Ava didn’t know how many chambers there were. A dozen, perhaps, on either side? Surely not many more than that. It wouldn’t be long now.
“You might as well show yourself,” Tiffany goaded, her voice impatient. “You’re not going to get away. You think you’re so smart. Taking all the best contracts, keeping me out of the limelight. Don’t you think I noticed? But you won’t get the last laugh. I’m the smartest. I’m going to win.”
While Tiffany prattled on, Jason took advantage of the noise the woman made and bent close to Ava’s ear, whispering softly, “When the lights dim, meaning they’re both in chambers, we’ll jump across the hallway, toward the right. The chambers are staggered.” He fell silent when Tiffany paused.
Ava could see the wisdom of Jason’s plan. True, they’d be exposing themselves to possible attack, creeping closer to Tiffany instead of farther away. But their only hope was to somehow make their way closer to the chambers she’d already checked.
They’d have to cross her path in the process. Even if she was deep inside one of the rooms, even if she continued to talk to herself, she’d surely hear their footsteps, or the other gunman would. They were only three or four chambers away in either direction.
She might see them and shoot, but she was bound to do that anyway. This way, at least, they had some hope of sneaking past her.
It was the only plan they had—a long shot, but still, better than no shot at all. And Ava trusted Jason. She felt the same comforting reassurance that had flooded her the evening before as she’d prayed to God in the cathedral above. That had been a leap of faith.
This, though more literal, would be little different. God had caught her last night.
Would God catch her again?
She didn’t have time to wonder. First Tiffany’s light, then the other gunman’s faded as the two stepped into chambers to search.
Jason squeezed her hand, maneuvered them both deftly around the statue to the doorway, and together they leaped toward the doorway across the dark corridor and a little to the left. The light from the searching gunmen provided just enough illumination for Ava to see the faint outline of the doorway to the chamber and duck inside, with Jason darting in on her heels.
As she’d feared, both Tiffany and her partner heard the sound.
“That’s them!” Tiffany cried.
“There they go!” her partner shouted at the same time.
The lights grew brighter as the pair spoke. Ava crouched low behind the solid stone wall while Jason shielded her from above as the sound of gunfire erup
ted in the hallway.
Shots echoed, ricocheting off the stone walls, the noise too fiercely loud in the enclosed space for Ava to even attempt to count how many shots had gone off. Four? Six? They had fired simultaneously.
And then silence.
Ava had no idea what was going on in the corridor just beyond them, but she knew she and Jason were likely going to die.
“I love you,” she whispered, praying those words wouldn’t give away their location, but knowing she’d gladly give her last breath to speak them while Jason was still alive to hear.
“What?” The captain looked down at her—the lights from their pursuers’ cell phones still glowed, unmoving, from the hallway, providing just enough light for Ava to make out Jason’s movement in the darkness.
“I love you,” she whispered again.
One cell phone light went out.
Then the other.
“I love you, too, Ava.” He leaned down and kissed her.
Ava kissed him back, unsure why Tiffany was waiting to strike, but glad for this last moment with Jason, at least.
“Have you checked down here?”
“I thought I heard gunfire.”
Men’s voices echoed from the stairs, followed by hard soles pounding down the stone stairs. “There’s a light switch somewhere. It’s very tricky to find. There.”
Bright light flooded the crypt. Ava buried her face against Jason’s shirt to shield her eyes from the sudden brightness.
The men who’d entered gasped.
“Bodies!”
“Who?”
She heard people running as she put together the clues.
Bodies?
The gunfire—Tiffany and her accomplice had both fired. They were the only other two in the crypt, weren’t they? So bodies must mean...
Royal Wedding Threat Page 17