by Mari Carr
“I’m impressed with your Latin,” Rose remarked, obviously surprised.
Tristan crossed his arms. “What does that have to do with the library? How can I use that piece of information?”
“It’s a puzzle. It will give you something to work on for a couple of hours. See you at the library.” Rose gave him a brief finger wave and Weston decided to follow her lead. The quicker the exit, the better their chances of getting out before Tristan reconsidered. Marek stopped to say something more to Tristan but then followed them out.
Once they hit the street, Marek raised his hand, waving down a taxi. Weston asked that they be taken to Trinity Church and they were on their way.
“The church?” Rose asked. “You aren’t using the entrance at 500 Boylston?”
Weston shook his head. “You said Juliette was aware of that one. Besides, it’s probably still impassible since your foray into mayhem and murder.”
“I suspect they’re aware of all the entrances at this point. The woman, the one Christian married, is an architect and a descendent of the people who built the tunnels.” Rose spat out the name Christian.
“Then you and Marek will have to do a good job distracting Juliette.”
They pulled up alongside Copley Square and all climbed out. Marek, who’d had a stack of money inside his suitcase, paid the driver. Cold wind tunneled down the canyons made by the buildings, and beside him, Rose shivered.
They walked up the steps to the church. There was an evening service going on, so they mumbled something about attending it and slid inside without paying the entrance fee that tourists were charged.
Weston ignored the sense of deja vu and slipped along the wall behind the last pew, and then up the side aisle. The entrance was located under a floor tile in a small room in the front corner of the church. They slid inside. A few people glanced their way. Weston winced. Hopefully none of them would notice when only Marek and Rose exited.
Rose touched Marek’s arm, guiding him until they stood in the open doorway that gave access from the main sanctuary to this room. Weston crouched, found the correct tile, and hit the hidden mechanism to open it.
He turned and got his feet into position on the rungs of the ladder. “Rose, you said Caden hid the folder. Do you have any idea where?” If he couldn’t find the diaries, he’d have to look for that.
She turned slightly to face him and shook her head, and when her haunted look returned, he realized he’d inadvertently triggered another bad memory.
“Good luck,” Marek murmured without turning.
Weston started down the ladder, pulling the trap door closed on top of himself.
* * *
Rose tried to look casual. Behind her, she heard the tile clack back into place. It seemed horribly loud to her, but no one looked over. The scattering of attendees all looked peaceful and relaxed. The pastor’s voice was low and melodious.
She wished she could be as peaceful and relaxed as they looked. She was dreading walking into the library with Marek. It had been her idea, and it was a good idea, but she wished she’d never suggested it.
They’d actually gained time with the flight—landing ten minutes before they took off—due to the time zones. But her body was telling her it had been a really, really long day and she would have happily stayed in the hotel room.
Despite gaining hours, it was late in Boston. That meant there was a possibility that no one would be in the library. That was a hopeful thought.
She was gathering up her courage when the doors to the sanctuary opened and two men entered, walking quickly and quietly up the center aisle. Rose caught sight of their faces as they slipped into a pew.
She drew back, yanking Marek with her.
“What’s wrong?” he asked immediately.
“It’s Lee Hager, the Director of Operations at the library. He’s a member of the Trinity Masters. The other man is his husband, Barry. I’ve socialized with them at the society’s galas in the past.”
“So they’d recognize you?”
“Yes. I’ve been going to the library since I was a teenager. He’ll know me. And he probably knows they’re hunting me. He might even recognize you,” she whispered back.
Marek frowned. “Talking to them could provide a distraction.”
He had a point. They might be able to lure people out from under the library if they started a scene here in the church. But if walking up to Lee and Barry made them lock down their security, instead of drawing people out, Wes might be trapped.
He might be killed.
And then he’d disappear, the same way he had once before. The same way Caden had. Rose’s stomach churned.
“We could wait and sneak out when the service is over.” Marek’s voice was calm and reasonable.
“But Wes needs a distraction now.” Rose looked at the tile. She wasn’t thinking about being a distraction, that was just something to say. It was fear that made her move away from the entrance. Fear that she’d never see Wes again, that she’d found him only to lose him. “Come on.”
“Where are we going?”
“We’re going down there.” She dropped to her knees and closed her eyes, feeling along the edges of the tile, doing what Weston had done just minutes before her.
When it sprang open, Rose quickly slid her legs in. “Hurry, and you have to pull it shut as you come down.”
Rose stared down into the darkness. An instinctive fear of the dark warred with memories for a chance to strangle her thoughts.
Marek’s feet hit the ladder, making it vibrate a bit. Then he pulled the trap door closed, sealing them in the darkness.
Chapter Eighteen
Juliette sat in her office, staring at the wall in front of her without seeing it. Marek Lee had gone off the radar. They hadn’t heard a peep from him since he’d left the States in search of Rose. Which made Devon testy and her nervous.
She’d convinced Franco she needed some time alone, so he’d agreed to work from home while she came to her office—the Grand Master’s office—deep under the Boston Public Library. Devon was at his office at work. No doubt he had needed the same time out. They’d talked of nothing but Rose for days. The longer they went without word from Marek, the more stressed out they all became.
Juliette ran her finger over the folio, tracing the word, “Admiralty.”
The Masters’ Admiralty.
Marek had mentioned it, dropped the bomb without realizing its impact.
Juliette hadn’t told Devon and Franco about the other society. She wasn’t sure what was holding her back. She usually told them everything. But this…
This wasn’t the first time since she’d become Grand Master that she’d felt completely out of her depth, but it was the first time she’d felt out of control.
Until she got a handle on what they were up against, she would remain quiet.
She bent her head and closed her eyes. She was so tired. So damn tired.
* * *
“What are you doing down here?” Weston had panicked when he heard footsteps, then calmed down when he’d heard Rose calling his name.
“A couple of members of the Trinity Masters showed up for the church service. They know me, so we decided it was better to come with you, to help you find your way in the dark. We can go up through one of the other entrances, still provide a distraction,” Rose said.
“Then let’s go.” Weston started forward.
He didn’t want to admit he was glad for that help. He’d been struggling to find his footing. With Marek’s hand on his elbow, he felt steadier. He could move quicker.
He stopped at the intersection of three tunnels and consulted his mental map. He hadn’t been down here in a long time, but the information was there, buried somewhere in his brain.
“Do you know where you’re going?” Rose asked.
“I’m sure he remembers.” Marek’s voice was confident and calm. The only light came from Marek’s cell phone flashlight. He held it up, casting a feeble cone of white light in f
ront of them.
The walls of the tunnels were stone and brick, as Weston remembered. In some places, the floor was stone, in others it was wood. They trod carefully on the wood. The tunnels weren’t all one level. There were layers of corridors, and wood floors probably meant there was a tunnel underneath them. If the wood gave way, they’d end up taking a straight drop. That kind of fall would most likely be deadly.
He headed down the right-hand tunnel, then stopped a few yards farther on. There was a small alcove in the wall. He stepped into the alcove and looked up. Hot damn, he’d remembered the way after all. Planting his back on one side of the alcove and his feet on the other he used a chimney climb maneuver to work his way up.
“Uh.” Marek cleared his throat. “Where are you going?”
“Hidden passage,” he grunted. This was harder than he remembered. He’d been a lot younger when he’d last tried this. “There’s no roof to this alcove. It’s like a vertical access tunnel.”
He kept climbing up, passing into a tight, vertical chimney. It was only a few minutes before he emerged into the hall above.
He stuck his head into the hole he’d just clambered out of. “I’m up. That was the dangerous part. Can you two find your way out?” Enough time had passed that they’d probably be safe enough to head back to the church. If they were going to provide a distraction, they needed to get a move on.
Marek and Rose exchanged quiet words, then Rose called up, “You must be kidding.”
Damn. “Okay, I’ll come back down.” He swung his legs into the hole.
“No, she means that we’re not going to let you have all the fun. We’re coming up.”
“I thought you two were going to be a distraction?” he asked.
“That was before I knew we were going to play Indiana Jones.” Rose’s voice was artificially cheerful.
Scared, he realized. She was scared.
Of course she was scared. He was asking her to walk into the fire just to be a distraction. Weston was sure Marek would have protected her, but there wouldn’t have been much he could have done if that fucker Devon pulled a gun and shot her on sight.
“Good. I don’t really need a distraction,” he called down. “Come on up, Rose. You have to climb about four feet.”
When her head and knees emerged, he helped her out, then did the same for Marek.
Rose dusted at the seat of her pants, then looked around. “I think I recognize where we are.”
“By doing this,” Weston motioned back to the opening to the secret passage, “we bypass two of the biggest, most easily accessible tunnels. Even if they’ve alarmed this place, it would be impossible to watch every single tunnel.”
Rose grinned. “You’re not just a pretty face, Wes.”
His face was anything but pretty, but the way she smiled made him forget, if only for a second, the scars that marred his face and body. Marek smiled too.
Weston kept his expression from changing, but he couldn’t stop the suspicion that rose when he looked at Marek.
* * *
A buzzer went off on the console next to Juliette. She glanced up, surprised to see the flashing light. Devon had installed an alarm system in the tunnels. It had been a massive amount of work and monitored every tunnel. It was set up so that if there was any movement, it would send a message here and…
Her cell rang and she answered it.
“Juliette, a sensor was triggered.”
Devon had set the alarm to send a message to his phone, hers, Franco’s and Sebastian’s.
“I know.”
There were two beeps, indicating she had two more calls coming in. Obviously, Franco and Sebastian were checking in as well.
“Get out of your office.”
Juliette glanced over her shoulder at the locked main door, and the gate they’d installed to block access from the tunnel entrance. “No one can get in here.”
“Dammit, Juliette. I’m on my way, but it will take me a few minutes to get there. I’d feel better if you were somewhere other than that damn office.”
“I’ll wait for you here. Franco is on the other line.”
Before Devon could continue the fight, she disconnected. The calls with Franco and Sebastian had ended before she could answer them, so she fired off a quick text that Devon was on the way.
Franco replied quickly, assuring her he was too.
Sebastian was in New York for opening night of Christian’s new Broadway play. His reply text asked if she needed him to return, but she told him she was confident they could handle it. The alarm had been triggered twice before, both times by rats. Devon thought he’d fixed that problem, but it appeared he hadn’t perfected it yet.
That was probably what it was this time.
A second alarm, this one deeper in the tunnels, went off.
Juliette stared at the console screen. It could still be a rat.
Determining that required a trip into the tunnels, a place she’d come to hate.
The door lock clicked and she tensed. It swung open and the light in the corridor beyond silhouetted a tall man with strong shoulders. There was a bare second of tense fear before her brain registered that she knew that silhouette, knew those shoulders.
Devon had arrived in mere minutes. He hadn’t been at his office. If he had, it would have taken him closer to fifteen minutes.
“Juliette. Are you okay?” he asked.
She considered calling him out for the fact that he’d clearly been hovering somewhere nearby. That wouldn’t help the situation, so she held her tongue and nodded. “Probably just a rat.”
Devon lifted the lapel of his jacket and revealed the gun strapped there. “I’m not taking any chances.”
“Franco is on his way too.”
Devon didn’t seem content to wait for their third. Her secret agent husband might specialize in cultivating assets and gathering information, but he had no problem getting his hands dirty. And since she’d become Grand Master, he’d pulled away from his position at the agency. Being her counselor and chief fixer was a full-time job.
Sometime she wondered if he resented her for the things he’d had to do. The memory of the night Christian had shot Caden Anderson popped to the forefront of her mind.
He headed toward the previously secret door that allowed entrance to the tunnels.
Juliette placed her hand on his arm. “We need to wait.”
* * *
Rose sighed heavily. “What are we waiting for again?”
They were crouched together at the mouth of the narrow tunnel the chimney climb had dumped them into. Weston must have an incredible mental map of the place. She’d been holder of the map for years, but she hadn’t committee the thing to memory. Weston’s knowledge came from actual exploration, which was probably more memorable.
“Patrol pattern,” Marek replied.
“What patrol?” she asked. She tried not to sound exasperated, but she was. Highly. “We haven’t seen anyone. Maybe there’s a camera system or something.”
“We’d be able to see the cameras, or at least the wires. There’s no way they could get wireless cameras to work in here, and wired cameras don’t come so small that we wouldn’t be able to see them.”
Rose looked around the shadowy stone hall doubtfully. There were plenty of dark crevices where something could have been hidden. The hair on her forearms and the back of her neck was standing on end. If she were cynical, and she was, she’d say this was going too well. Way too easy.
At least she hadn’t had to go marching into the library with Marek to serve as a distraction. A stay of execution.
It was really all about life’s little pleasures.
Rose waited patiently for another thirty seconds, then accidentally gave Marek a small shove so he tumbled into the hall. “Oops.”
Marek looked at her, shocked.
Weston snickered. “Patience is a virtue.”
“I have no virtues. We need to hurry up. Speed might be better than caution at this
point.”
“She pushed me,” Marek sputtered.
“Aww, I’ll kiss it better.” She gave Marek’s ass a little pat and she stepped over him into the larger hall.
Marek was still standing there gawking at her when Weston, chuckling at the byplay, turned left and started walking.
* * *
Devon led the way, gun drawn as the three of them carefully made their way through the narrowest tunnel.
Juliette was starting to think she could travel through this godforsaken labyrinth with her eyes closed. It was a spider’s web, but at least with the alarm system, they knew what direction to head. In the past, the three of them, as well as other members of the Trinity Masters, had attempted to follow a convoluted map, feeling their way through the place. More than once, that willy-nilly exploration had left someone in danger. Irina had fallen through rotten flooring, while Sebastian’s brother had been involved in a cave-in.
Of course, that cave-in had been caused by Rose.
Devon’s steps slowed and Juliette ran into the back of him.
“What’s wro—”
“Shh,” Devon whispered. “I hear voices.”
* * *
“This is it. This is where they kept most of it.” Weston gestured to the middling-size chamber. It was just off one of the larger main halls, and one of the only “rooms” in the labyrinth.
Rose nodded, unable to speak. She stared at the exposed wooden support beams, her jaw aching and legs trembling at the memory. She turned away.
“Rose?” Marek asked.
“Memories,” she said quietly. She cleared her throat. “This is where Caden found it. He took it and ran…” She had to close her eyes and replay the memory. “He took it out, but I don’t know where.” Her voiced echoed against the stones of the empty chamber.
* * *
Juliette stilled, listening. It was hard to hear anything over the sudden thudding of her heart. She’d convinced herself it was the rats again.