Defending the Duchess

by Rachelle Mccalla

  * * *

  Linus watched Julia’s face intently as he listened to the transmission, which carried through clearly. The phone rang twice before Scott answered.

  “Julia?”

  “Yes. Scott?”

  “Thank you for calling me back.”

  “What did you need?”

  “Remember when your office was broken into a few weeks ago?”

  “Yes.”

  “I think I know who did it. I mean, I don’t know their names, but I sort of helped them do it. I didn’t know. I thought I was helping.” Scott’s words ran together in a panic. “They told me not to tell anyone, not to say anything. They threatened me—my fingerprints were all over the papers. They said I’d go to jail. I’d be their scapegoat. I was stupid. I was scared. I didn’t think.”

  “Who? What happened?”

  “Two guys. They stopped by the office. I recognized them from when you worked on that Seattle Electronics case. They seemed legit. Listen, that’s not the important part. The important thing is that I did some looking into it, and I figured out what they’re after. Can I meet with you and show you what I found?”

  “Yes.” Julia sounded eager.

  “I’m in Lydia. Joan told me you were here. It’s important that we talk in person.”

  Julia didn’t look too surprised to hear that Scott was nearby or that Joan had told him of her plans. They were no big secret.

  “Yes. I’m here. I can meet with you.” From the sound of Julia’s breathless voice, Linus got a sense of the impatience she felt. If Scott had answers for them, if the thugs who’d killed Pendleton were after him, they needed to meet with him as soon as possible to learn what he knew—before Pendleton’s murderers caught up to him.

  Somehow the killers had known Pendleton had made plans to meet with Julia, whether by bugging his house or spying on him or listening in on his phone calls, they’d known. Either that or the time of his murder had been a great coincidence.

  Linus didn’t believe in coincidences. Especially not coincidences involving murder.

  “Do you know your way around Lydia?” Scott quizzed Julia. “I’ve never been here before.”

  Linus wasn’t sure he believed the man’s claim, but Julia didn’t press for specifics.

  “Where are you now?”

  Scott listed a downtown Sardis hotel and a room number.

  Julia wrote OK? on the window.

  Linus glanced at his fellow guards. They nodded. He nodded, too.

  “I can meet you at your hotel,” Julia agreed. “You don’t have to go anywhere. I’ll get there as soon as I can. Is that okay?”

  “Okay. Thank you, Julia. See you then.”

  Julia closed the call and placed the marker in the tray with a shaking hand.

  Linus met her in the hallway.

  “Is that okay?” Even her voice trembled. “Do you think we’ll be okay?”

  “I think we need to get to Scott as soon as we can.”

  “I think so, too. He sounded so much like Fletcher. If the same men are after him who were after Fletcher...”

  Linus nodded. “We need to find out what he knows.” He didn’t mention the possibility that it might be a trap. If Scott had been faking it, he’d fooled them all. But even if they were walking into something, they weren’t alone. They had the royal guard behind them this time—enough manpower to take on just about anyone.

  No, Julia’s instincts had been spot-on. They needed to catch up to Scott before anyone else did.

  They put their plan together as they moved down the hall toward the door closest to the garages. Simon had placed a call to the hotel the instant Scott had given the name. He’d confirmed they had a guest named Scott Gordon checked in and convinced them to forward him a diagram of the hotel floor plan.

  “The cell phone towers traced the call to the hotel, confirming his location.” Simon grabbed the hotel floor plans from the printer tray as they passed by his office and dispensed them as they trotted toward the cars.

  “Scott’s room is 216, second floor, interior balcony overlooking the pool,” Simon briefed them.

  “Elias!” Jason trotted over and stuck his head in the guard booth by the back gate. “I need you to fly the helicopter.”

  An older man shuffled out. “What’s the mission?”

  “Surveillance. Galen can fly with you. He’ll get you up to speed.”

  “We’ll keep a low profile,” Jason told the gathered guards. There were only six of them, plus Galen who’d gone with Elias back into the building to reach the helicopter parked on the roof. “Linus, you know the duchess best. I want you in the room with her. Got that? She doesn’t go in the room unless she’s with you.”

  Linus nodded sharply and cast a glance at Julia to be certain she understood.

  Everything on her face said she’d comply. She was too frightened at the moment to do otherwise.

  Jason used the map to outline positions for the rest of the men. He’d pulled every man who wasn’t on specific detail, leaving behind only those guards assigned to members of the royal family, and those with specific duties, such as guarding the gatehouse or overseeing the surveillance cameras. Even at that, he’d left only one man at each station.

  Linus wished they had more men, but at least he knew he could trust those few they had with them. Jason had insisted on that as a cornerstone of his hiring policy, given the breach that had nearly cost the former king his life earlier that summer.

  They weren’t many, but they would have to be enough.

  Moments later they were buckled into three cars headed downtown as quickly as the narrow roads would allow. Cold fingers slipped into his open palm.

  Linus looked down and realized the duchess had taken his hand. He gave her fingers a reassuring squeeze. “It’s going to be okay. We’re going to find out what’s been happening.” He glanced at the clock on the dashboard. “You’re supposed to eat with your sister in a little over an hour. I’m not expecting you to be late.”

  “Thank you.” The car careened around a corner, and Julia leaned toward him, her eyes still fixed on his.

  For an instant, Linus felt the temptation to kiss her. It would be so easy. Her lips were so close to his already, he’d hardly have to tip his head and turn a little to the side—

  He shook off the thought as the car straightened out. He couldn’t kiss the duchess! Why was he even thinking such a thing, when they were so close to making a break in the case? He pinched his lips shut and stared out the window at the passing streets. He needed to get a better grip on his emotions. But that was a difficult task, what with Julia’s fingers entwined with his.

  They pulled to a stop under the hotel porte cochere, and Linus helped the duchess from the car while the other guards piled out behind him. The drivers zipped around the building to the parking lot, then ran back to join them.

  “Head on up. Take Sam. He’s in full armor,” Jason instructed him. “We’ll get into position.”

  Linus nodded. He could hear a helicopter rapidly approaching and knew that Galen would keep them informed of anything he saw from the sky. If they were walking into a trap, his fellow guards would spot the signs.

  Ducking inside the revolving glass doors, Linus took a few steps toward the desk as he got his bearings, quickly recognizing the layout from the floor plan Simon had shared.

  “Should we take the stairs?” Julia pointed to the graceful stairway that descended from the balcony above. “It might be faster than waiting for an elevator.”

  “Great idea.” Linus spotted the pool beyond wide windows that separated the formal hotel entry from the casual space beyond. Scott’s room overlooked the pool.

  They reached the top of the steps and hurried along the balcony to the glass door that completed the pool ar
ea enclosure. A whiff of chlorine greeted him when he opened the door, but he ignored it as he read off the room numbers.

  “Two-sixteen,” he whispered as they came to a stop in front of it. With a quick glance around, he saw Paul, one of his men, stationed at the far end of the balcony, and another guard, Oliver, by the main hotel entrance. The other two would be outside, one at the front of the building, one at the back.

  He studied the door for only a second before he decided he didn’t want Julia standing in front of it. If they were walking into a trap, someone on the other side could put a bullet through the door the moment she knocked.

  Pulling Julia down the hall, away from the room, Linus whispered to Sam to knock. In his full body armor, Sam would fare much better against a bullet. And if there was no threat, Julia could go in.

  Sam rapped lightly on the wood. He looked at them expectantly.

  Nothing.

  He knocked again, this time a little harder.

  Even as Sam’s knuckles made contact with the door, Linus’s earpiece buzzed with Galen’s voice transmitted from the helicopter he could hear hovering above the hotel. “I’ve got two figures headed out a second-floor window. It’s the eighth window from the west end—I believe that makes it room two-sixteen.” Galen paused. “One of those figures has a gun. Nick, are you seeing this?”

  “I’m on the ground.” Nick’s voice carried through in slightly hushed tones. “I see the men. There’s a bit of a decorative balcony there—they look like they’re going to jump. I’m holding back. I want them on the ground before they see me.”

  “I’m coming around the side of the building,” Jason informed them next. “Liam, leave your station and bring a car around back. The rest of you, stay at your posts.”

  As their conversation played into his earpiece, Linus realized Scott wasn’t alone. Whoever was with him had no intention of letting Scott share the information he learned. He motioned to Sam. “Kick the door in.”

  Linus tucked Julia tight against his chest and she pressed close, as though suspecting a violent explosion at any moment. They were down the hall from the door to 216, well out of the way of any shots that might come through the hotel room wall. He’d have kicked in the door himself, but he wasn’t armed. He was technically supposed to have gone off duty after he’d delivered Julia safely to the palace, but of course that hadn’t been possible.

  Sam was well armored and wore steel-toed boots. He dropped the door with one kick.

  “Freeze! Royal guard!” Sam shouted as the door went down.

  “They’re jumping,” Nick reported from the ground.

  “I’m after them,” Jason’s voice cut out.

  Sam leaped inside the room. Linus thought he caught a whiff of smoke, and eased close enough to peek around the doorway just in time to see Sam lift a bed pillow from a smoldering pile of papers.

  He looked up from the charred remains grimly. “They wouldn’t have set those on fire if they weren’t important.”

  The top several pages were blackened, and the edges of the all the papers had burned as well, but Linus held out hope that Sam’s quick thinking had saved something, at least.

  “Can I look?” Julia took a tentative step across the flattened door.

  But the sound of shooting echoed through the open hotel room window, and Linus pulled her back. “I don’t want you going in there. Sam, see if you can find any other evidence they might have left behind. We’ll have to be careful with those papers if we’re going to preserve any of the contents. I’ll take Julia to the car.”

  Julia looked up at him as though she might protest being led away.

  “You’re far more important than those papers,” he whispered as he led her toward the stairs.

  “But we need to find out—”

  “We will. We may be able to read the contents of the burned pages if they aren’t disturbed. It’s better this way.” He wished he could assure her of more, that Jason and his men would bring in Scott and whoever was with him, but he couldn’t make any promises. In fact, given the gunfire—which hadn’t sounded like any of the sidearms the royal guardsmen carried—he prayed fervently that Jason and all his men would make it back, empty-handed or not.

  Linus helped Julia into the car before driving them back toward the palace. His earpiece relayed his fellow guards’ activities as they unfolded. Scott was down—shot by the man who’d shoved him through the window. Jason was checking his vitals while Nick and Liam went after the gunman, who’d hopped in a car waiting at the end of the alley.

  Galen kept the men on the ground informed of the car’s escape route. Nick and Liam sped after it, but had to pause to let the ambulance through. By the time they caught up to the vehicle, the men had ditched it and slipped among the tourists crowding the market.

  “Which way did they go?” Nick demanded.

  “I can’t tell,” Galen reported glumly from the sky. “They went under the central canopy. It’s too crowded down there—they may have come back out again. Check the center stalls.”

  But from the transmissions Liam and Nick provided, they couldn’t identify anyone inside the market stalls.

  Jason didn’t have any better news. “Scott was shot twice through the abdomen. He’s still breathing. The ambulance arrived quickly. He may have a chance of pulling through.”

  Linus prayed with eyes wide open as he steered their car toward the palace. He didn’t want to tell Julia what he’d heard, but when he glanced her way he saw her looking up at him expectantly.

  “Did I hear an ambulance?”

  He met her eyes and wished he didn’t have to deliver the news.

  “The shots we heard—”

  “Scott was hit in the abdomen. He’s still alive.”

  Julia pinched her eyes shut. Regret filled her face. She looked up at him again as the car pulled through the palace gates. “Do you think we caused it?”

  Linus had already been pondering the same question. “No. Scott already said he was in over his head and scared. Those men may have tailed him all the way from Seattle. If they’d shot him elsewhere, we wouldn’t have been around to call an ambulance. And Sam saved some of the papers, at least. That should give us a clue of what Scott had been planning to tell you.”

  “I should have asked him for more details over the phone. I should have learned what I could while I had the chance, but he said he wanted to meet in person.”

  “Maybe we’ll learn more from those papers than Scott could have told you over the phone. We did what we thought was best. Don’t look back and wish you’d done things differently. All we can do now is try to make the best of what we have.”

  He parked the car in the garage and ran around to help Julia out.

  “I’m supposed to have supper with my sister in fifteen minutes. What should I tell her?”

  “You don’t have to tell her anything.” He paused, prepared to leave her by a back door of the palace. “Sam isn’t back yet, is he?”

  “No, the other two cars have yet to return.”

  “I can escort you to your room.” He opened the door for her.

  “But you’re supposed to be off duty.”

  He met her eyes as she stepped past him into the palace. “I’m not going anywhere until I’m sure you’re safe.”

  ELEVEN

  Julia felt as though Linus had wrapped a warm blanket around her with his words. From the moment she’d seen Scott’s name on her phone, she’d felt shaken. Even more so when she’d heard gunfire and learned that the one man who’d offered to tell her what was going on had been shot.

  But Linus had already proven himself stalwart and trustworthy. Just knowing he was with her gave her the strength to keep going.

  With Linus stationed outside the door to her suite, she changed into a fresh blouse and r
an a brush through her thick brown hair before stepping back out again to join him.

  He smiled at her. “You look great.”

  She followed as he led her quickly toward the dining room, the echo of his compliment seeping through her. His words weren’t fancy, but the glimmer of his eyes had told her they were sincere, and that knowledge warmed her more than anything.

  Concerned as she was about having to tell Monica what had happened that afternoon, she was pleased to discover her sister was preoccupied with news of her own, which she shared the moment Julia entered the room.

  “This is the announcement for your titling ceremony.” Monica held up an embossed card for her appraisal.

  “Sunday,” Julia read the words aloud. “This Sunday?”

  “We needed to move it up. If you don’t approve we could push it back, but it really would help if we could move it forward.”

  “It’s completely up to you,” Julia assured her. “I’m just the recipient. But are you sure you want to have it so soon, with all that’s been happening lately? Sunday is only four days away.” They were the only two in the room, besides Linus who still hovered near the doorway. Julia wouldn’t have mentioned the distressing events of late if her nephew had been present. She wasn’t particularly pleased about bringing them up to her sister, but she thought it ought to be addressed.

  Monica looked down at the invitation, and Julia couldn’t help noticing how thin and drawn she looked. When the queen looked back at her, apology shined in her eyes. “That’s actually part of the reason why we wanted to move forward. This way, there won’t be time for too much commotion.”

  Monica’s final word hung between them, implied meaning heaped upon it, full of unspoken threats.

  Julia understood. The sooner they sprang the titling ceremony, the less opportunity anyone would have to plot to use the public assembly to their advantage. Clearly, Monica didn’t think Julia was going to be free from the trouble that followed her anytime soon.

  “Sunday will be perfect,” Julia rushed to assure her. “Can Mom and Dad be here by then?”

  “They’re planning to arrive in Lydia tomorrow,” Monica said, beaming at her with appreciation. “If you’re okay with it, we’ll send out the announcements. You won’t have a large crowd on this short notice, but I think it will be best that way.”