“Thank you,” Marisa said.
“You’re welcome. Don’t prove me wrong.”
***
Thirty minutes later, Auditor Febe Orsini, Christy in disguise, was on her way to the Monterran royal castle to find the important documents for a celebration. Christy wore three separate cameras, one on the back of her belt, one on her name tag on the front of her mint colored button-up blouse, and one in her glasses. Audio was only picked up by the glasses. Her black pencil skirt hit just above her knees and her bejeweled belt complimented the mint color of her blouse and pumps. Her hair was pulled into a tight bun with no ornament, and her ears were decorated with the simplest of pearls. Christy had done an amazing job of making herself look at least fifteen years older.
“We have no idea where Tara is,” Jeremy said. “But Ace was able to find three locations that Ottavio frequents while in the capital and two locations where Tara was supposedly seen in the last twelve hours. We will raid all five. Ace will continue to do his thing on the computer in the van while the three of us clear the locations.”
“I’m ready, sir.” She stood tall, straight.
He smiled and said, “I’m Jeremy, not sir. Okay?”
She nodded.
“Now, if you find yourself in a sticky situation and don’t know how to get out of it, or you don’t know what to do, simply say, ‘toast,’ and we’ll come help out.” He put her earpiece in. “The earpiece acts as a receiver and transmitter. You will hear us, and we will hear you.” He pressed something on his earpiece and spoke super soft. Marisa heard every word. Then he yelled, and she heard every word through the piece only it didn’t sound like he was yelling.
“Very cool. It automatically controls the volume.”
He nodded. “We have a direct link to Christy in the van and can watch her progress when we aren’t clearing locations. She will also give us updates as often as possible. The hardest thing an agent must do is to know when to be a hero and when to hold back. Go with your gut.”
She nodded. “I’ll do my best.”
“That’s all we can ask. And thank you for helping.”
Marisa watched what was happening to Christy from her seat in the van with the three guys. Marisa was mesmerized by what she saw on the screen. Christy became a completely different person the second she stepped out of the car. She walked with a formal air and held herself as if she was the most important person in the world. When perfect Italian slipped out of her mouth at the castle reception, Marisa was sucked into the action.
“Sì. Capitano Di Stefano.”
The captain of the guard appeared only moments later. “Così contenta tu sei qui.”
Christy nodded, and he did too. They walked swiftly, side by side to the records room. The room bustled with all types of clerks working at various desks. Two guards stood outside the large vault door and moved aside as the captain approached. He inserted his key, swiped the key card and then used his thumb on a little indent near the keyhole. The heavy door clicked open. He pulled it open and instructed the guards to keep their eyes open and not let anyone near the open vault as he left the room. So far, so good.
Marisa had to stop watching, as she and the guys had arrived at their first location, an apartment building near the mountains with the mines. Ottavio’s distant relatives supposedly lived there. It would be an ideal location for Tara to hide out.
Ace stayed behind in the van. The three of them walked up to the apartment building, Jeremy picked the lock on the door leading to the lobby. With Halluis in the lead, they headed up three flights of stairs and found apartment 224. Marisa stood with her back against the wall next to Jeremy, and Halluis stood on the other side.
Without a sound, Jeremy picked the lock. Halluis held up three fingers. Marisa’s heart rocked against her ribs as one finger dropped. She took a deep breath in as the second dropped and as the third dropped, she froze. Her mind went blank. She did nothing as the two men stormed into the room. Screaming voices brought her back to herself. “Get in there, Donati,” she said to herself. You don’t need to call out toast. She raced in, gun out, ready for anything, but feeling disconnected somehow.
By the time she entered the room, two people were gagged and secured in chairs, and Jeremy and Halluis were nowhere to be seen. Her heart raced and it seemed she could hear the tiniest of movements of the people, perhaps even their heartbeats. She knew immediately that Jeremy and Halluis were sweeping the rest of the apartment. She moved quickly, trying to be as silent as she’d seen Christy be. She walked past the two people, crossing through the living room and down the one hallway. Jeremy and Halluis emerged from different rooms at the end of the hallway, and Jeremy motioned with two fingers for Marisa to check behind the closed door on her right.
She took hold of the knob with one hand, the other brandishing her gun. Her breaths were quick, but silent. In one swift movement, she turned the knob and pushed on the door. It was a small bathroom. She didn’t immediately see anyone, but then she heard the slightest of movements in the tub. Her toes and fingers tingled, but she didn’t hesitate. She threw the curtain to the side, pointing her gun at the one hiding there.
It was a little girl, curled into a ball and rocking back and forth. Marisa sucked in a breath and lifted her gun. The girl had obviously been coached not to move even if she heard someone come for her until she knew it was her own parents. She just kept rocking and never looked at Marisa. Marisa wondered how many times the poor girl had had to hide and do this very thing. Marisa glanced around the room one more time, pulled the curtain back into place and left the room without saying a word. Jeremy smiled at her as she shut the door. “Good job,” he whispered. She assumed he was glad she hadn’t shot the little girl. Marisa was, too. She never would have been able to forgive herself.
Marisa continued to feel detached as they confronted the two tied-up people. What was she doing there? Who were these people really? She paced the floor.
Halluis held a gun to the man’s head as Jeremy asked questions. Marisa’s insides churned, and she felt like running. This was nothing like being a royal guard.
“Where’s Tara?” Jeremy said, his voice menacing.
“I’m telling you,” the man said. “She’s not here. She was here yesterday. She left. They didn’t tell us where they were taking her.”
So Tara had been here. They hadn’t tied up these people and forced that little girl to hide, most likely scared out of her wits, for nothing. Then again, they had no idea where Tara was. It surprised Marisa when Jeremy didn’t give up.
“They didn’t tell you, but you have a good idea, right? You know one or two places they may have taken her.”
Halluis slipped the safety off his gun, the tiny click sounding like a bomb had dropped.
“Okay. Yes. I may know a few places. Ottavio owns a home near the castle and a cabin in the mountains by the resorts. Maybe there. But I don’t know.”
One of the other two places the team had discovered and was on their list to visit was the cabin. She guessed they would be going there next now that this man had named it.
Halluis replaced the safety on his gun, and Jeremy said, “Thanks for your help.”
They left them there, tied up.
“Wait,” Marisa asked as they piled into the van. “How are they going to get untied?”
“The little girl will eventually find a way to free them. We need to buy some time so that they can’t alert Ottavio.”
Marisa nodded. “So, I’m assuming we’ll be heading to the cabin?”
“I think that’s the logical next step. Plus, he gave us another location to check. We can do that later if we need to.”
“I’m sorry I froze. It won’t happen again.”
“You did great,” Jeremy said. “The first time is always the hardest. Just think of it as a training simulation and you’ll be fine.”
She nodded. Why hadn’t she thought of that? She sat in her seat, eager to see what was going on at the castle.
They stole up to the back door. Marisa and Jeremy got on either side of the door. Halluis stood in front of it and pushed. The door swung open. It was immediately apparent that something bad had happened there. Only then did she notice the broken windowpane in the door and the glass shards littering the porch. It didn’t stop Halluis and Jeremy from entering as planned, and this time she didn’t freeze. Halluis charged in. Then Jeremy. She followed close behind as he had instructed her to do.
She paused once inside the large family room, the men passing through to do as they had planned. Furniture had been upended, glass sparkled on the floor and furniture. Bullet holes littered the walls. A big battle had taken place here. If Tara had been there when it all went down, Marisa wondered if there was any way she could still be alive. It took her only a heartbeat to realize the two men had left the room and were systematically clearing the cabin. The plan was for Marisa to go upstairs, Jeremy would clear the main floor, and Halluis would clear the basement.
Marisa climbed the stairs, imagining she was in a sim, that none of this was real. She found what she needed in the third bedroom. Hanging in the closet was the red dress Tara had worn at the club the night they’d met.
“Tara was here,” she whispered into the com. “Found her room. Upstairs. Last room on the right.” She searched the room for the objects missing from the vault. Jeremy joined her only minutes later. She picked up a box and a ring from the floor near the dresser and held them out to Jeremy. “I’ll bet you these two lovelies belong back in the vault.”
“You think?”
She nodded. “They look like cheap trinkets. Tara was not one for cheap trinkets. Believe me.”
“Ace has the list and some pictures we can check them against.”
They met Halluis on the main floor. “There was definitely a struggle. Do you think she got away?”
Marisa pulled out the small wooden box and the ring and showed it to Halluis. “I don’t think she would have left these behind had she left of her own accord. No, I think someone who didn’t know their value left them behind.”
“Ace,” Jeremy said as they left out the broken front door instead of the back.
“I’ve already got pictures of the items up on my screen,” Ace said through their coms.
“Excellent. On our way.”
Once in the van, they removed their earpieces and then compared the items they’d found and matched them up with two of the missing items from the vault. “Someone has our girl,” Halluis said.
Jeremy nodded. “But who?”
“Ottavio hasn’t left the castle today,” Ace said. “I just got verification of that. It wasn’t him.”
“One of his cronies then?”
“Why though?” Marisa asked. “She did what she had set out to do right? Why kidnap her?”
Jeremy, Halluis, and Ace spat out a long list of reasons one right after the other.
“She was going to tell someone.”
“They don’t want any loose ends.”
“She was trying to blackmail them.”
“They found out about her blunders.”
“Okay,” Marisa said. “I got it. There are a million and one reasons.”
“The real question is, why did they take her somewhere, and not just kill her if she’d become a liability?”
Halluis and Ace got onto their computers, Halluis’ lips pressed hard together.
Jeremy started muttering to himself. “No blood. Was alive when taken. Is she still? Whoever took her was not a professional and was in a hurry. They left a mess. A mess that will lead us to them.”
“Gotta love amateurs,” Halluis muttered. “They make our lives much easier.” Marisa noticed that Halluis was looking at the inside of the house they had just left on his computer screen.
Ace snapped Halluis with a rubber band.
“Ouch!” he said, rubbing his shoulder. “Just wait.”
Marisa’s eyes fell onto the screen with Christy. She hoped she would catch a glimpse of Christian. It was killing her not knowing what was going on with him. If someone had discovered he’d smuggled in a fake auditor, he would be thrown in the dungeons. She glanced at Ace’s screen which had the fingerprints in the fingerprint database shuffling past.
“What’s going on with Christy?” Jeremy asked.
Her eyes focused on the screen. Christy was with Christian. Marisa exhaled.
Christian shut the vault, several documents in his hands. “I’m so glad you found these. You were right. I should trust you. You are very good at your job.”
He handed them to a clerk who sat at the tallest desk. The head clerk. His Italian rolled beautifully off his tongue. “Per favore. Put these directly into your safe. They are the documents for the celebration tonight.”
“Come vuoi,” the head clerk said. “Glad they were located.” He took the rolled up documents and, after putting the combination into the vault, he slipped them inside and shut the door, locking it. “I will retrieve them when needed. No one touches them but me and you.”
“Eccellente.”
The captain and Christy, as Signorina Orsini, left the room side by side. They went into the dining hall, which bustled with all sorts of dignitaries that had been invited for the celebration. They walked to the front of the room to the table where the queen and her daughters were seated. “Captain. We welcome you to our table.”
“Mia regina, may I introduce Signorina Febe Orsini, our special auditor.”
The queen held out her hand, and Christy bowed her head to the queen, took her hand and pretended to kiss it. “Have we been successful in locating the needed document then?”
“Indeed, just now.”
“Eccellente. It seems a wise decision to have a third auditor on hand after all. Oh, and look who is also joining us.” A look of sour grapes crossed her face and then vanished.
They turned to see Ottavio, in the full military regalia of Aligard, walking swiftly toward them. He moved directly to the queen, the captain and Christy sliding gracefully to the side.
“Regina Aria. It has been too long.”
“Three years at least.”
He nodded. “Indeed too long. But what a happy occasion to bring us together again.”
“Yes. It will be quite the event. We are planning on three thousand in the courtyard alone.”
“Eccellente. If only all of Monterra’s citizens could understand the importance of tonight, I’m sure our numbers would at least triple.”
Something flared in Marisa. She’d never liked Princeps Ottavio, and now she had even more reason to dislike him. There was something about him that rubbed her the wrong way. She’d always thought it was his groveling, but now she realized that what she mistook, for abasement was actually desperation mingled with a healthy dose of pride. She wished she could hear Christy’s thoughts about him.
Queen Aria directed them where to sit. Much to Marisa’s chagrin, Christy was placed right across from Ottavio, forcing her to see him on the screen. He raised his glass of wine and said, “To one hundred years of peace and prosperity and one hundred more.”
“Here. Here,” the queen said, lifting her glass to meet with Ottavio’s.
“To think that a mere piece of paper, a document signed by our progenitors, could shape the future of Monterra in such a dramatic way.”
She gave him a pressed smile. “It’s hard to believe that the mines could have ever caused so much strife.”
“And that the stroke of a pen could quash it.” Something glinted in his eye. A phone buzzed for what seemed the fifth time.
“Ottavio,” the queen said, obviously hear
ing the vibration. “If you are needed, by all means—answer the phone.”
“Mi scusi. I didn’t want to seem rude.”
Christy moved her gaze as each person spoke, so that Marisa could see that person talk. The queen smiled tersely. “Please, go attend to whatever it is and then return. I’ll have the waiters hold your meal.”
He nodded and stood up, bowed to those at the table and then walked as if fire was chasing him out the French doors to the balcony. Christy had to squint to see it, but she thought she saw him pull a phone from his pocket and put it to his ear.
“Mi scusi,” said Christy, looking at the queen. “I shall return.”
The captain said, “Would you like an escort?”
“No. Grazie.”
Marisa touched the screen as Christian’s face filled it.
Christy said, “I won’t be gone long.”
Marisa watched Christy’s progress as she slipped out the main doors and then followed some back corridors to the balcony, only a few yards from Ottavio. Marisa couldn’t help but think that had it been her instead of Christy, she would have taken the same route. Marisa couldn’t hear what was being said and hoped Christy would move closer. As if she had heard Marisa, Christy did move closer, but she stayed hidden by large plants and tall space heaters. Marisa’s heart jumped a little thinking about catching Ottavio doing something he shouldn’t.
His Italian sounded severe through Christy’s phone. Angry. “No. I told you to get rid of her. This is a complication we do not need.”
He listened for a minute.
“Mother does not understand how delicate this matter is. One small thing could set it a kilter. She may have found this girl, but keeping her around is not the answer.”
After another moment of silence, he said. “Fine. Just get her out of this country, and she better stay quiet. I don’t care how valuable her skills are. She is a risk to this plan. If she were to talk in the next several hours, we would be done for.”
Another pause.
“Yes. Yes. Fly her out on our plane. Hide her in the luggage, disguise her, sneak her on. I don’t care how you do it, but get her out of this country now. I’ll face mother’s wrath.” Ottavio turned and looked directly at the spot where Christy was hiding. Marisa held her breath, but he turned back, putting his phone in his pocket and walking back inside. Christy did not go back inside. She pulled out her phone and called Jeremy. As she talked to Jeremy, Marisa listened in via the feed.
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