The Fall of Lucas Kendrick

by Kay Hooper

  “I’d forgotten about that.”

  He shook his head, then looked at Josh where the other man rested a hip on the low dresser. “How many guests were still downstairs when you left?”

  “Just a few. And from the look of things, Her Highness plans to keep Rome fully occupied once they get upstairs.”

  “Let’s hope she’s successful,” Raven murmured.

  Lucas nodded, then said, “We’ll split up into teams. Zach, you and Teddy take the ground floor. Josh and Raven can take the second floor, and Kyle and I will take this one.”

  “Just how legal is this?” Kyle wanted to know.

  “Not very,” Josh told her, amused. “If Zach and Teddy are found here, they could be charged with breaking and entering by Rome. The rest of us are here by invitation, but we were hardly invited to search the house. Caught, we’d look damned suspicious. Still, if we find the mask or the other stuff, it’ll be enough to get the police in here legally with a warrant. We’re okay with the guns, since we’re all licensed to carry—”

  “I’m not,” Kyle said, interrupting.

  “Yes, you are,” Zach told her. “I have the permit if anyone asks.”

  She stared at him. “You think of everything.”

  Solemnly Teddy said, “He’s well versed in the art of skullduggery.”

  “I resent that on Josh’s behalf,” Zach said mildly.

  “Leave me out of this,” Josh requested. “Everybody knows I’m a model citizen.”

  Kyle looked at him, rakish and rather dangerous in his dark clothing, and giggled suddenly.

  Raven grinned at her. “I know. I haven’t decided if they’re commandos at heart or ten-year-olds.”

  “Look who’s talking,” Josh said chidingly.

  It was as if none of them carried guns or waited to search a house in the dead of night, Kyle thought, as if no danger surrounded them. They were six friends talking casually.

  And she believed she knew then why Hagen had drafted these people and cannily made use of their talents.

  He would have been a fool not to.

  The house was silent when they slipped from the room and went their separate ways. There were occasional lamps to softly light their way, and each carried a small flashlight, courtesy of Zach’s well-equipped duffel bag.

  It was a big house. Moving silently and whispering when they needed to, Kyle and Lucas searched carefully. Of course, the bedrooms were off limits due to sleeping guests, but there were many other rooms. Salons, sitting rooms, innumerable closets and storage areas, alcoves and pantries. And it was a slow business because they had to check every possibility and be utterly silent all the while.

  With at least half their floor covered, Kyle became aware that there was something bothering her, an idea at the back of her mind, and gradually realized that a passage she had read in the Rome family book was nudging her.

  “I want to take another look at that book,” she whispered. “I think I missed something.”

  Lucas was examining a closet full of linens and spared a moment to glance worriedly at her. “Be careful, will you, love?”

  She stood on tiptoe to kiss his cheek. “I’ll just be in our room. Back in a flash.” She disappeared around a shadowy corner of the hallway.

  Lucas gazed after her for a moment, then glanced at his watch and went back to work. It would be dawn in another hour; they were running out of time.

  In their darkened bedroom, Kyle found the book and carried it to the window, making use of moonlight as she flipped through the pages. Something … What was it? She stood holding the book, her abstracted gaze focused out the window. Then she frowned and looked down at the book again. Slowly her finger traced the Rome family crest engraved on the first page. An ornate R surrounded by a series of double-lined boxes.

  With fingers that trembled in sudden excitement, she turned the page to the verse written by one of the Rome ancestors. This time she read it carefully.

  An artist’s eye can picture

  A lover’s heart can feel

  But few are those so certain

  That dreams can become real.

  You may find love in Paris

  Even share the wealth of Rome

  But you never truly hold it

  Till you touch the golden dome.

  Kyle raised her eyes slowly and stared through the window. She could see the dark shape of the maze and, at its center, bathed in moonlight, the dome of the gazebo. The golden lighting inside it, remaining on during the dark hours, made the shape of the little structure glow warmly.

  “The golden dome,” she whispered. That had to be it. The Rome crest was an initial within a maze, and that had to be where “the wealth of Rome” could be touched.

  Rome’s hidden vault wasn’t in the house at all—it was secreted somewhere in, or beneath, the gazebo!

  On the point of rushing out to tell Lucas, Kyle hesitated. What if she was wrong? They’d waste time out there if both of them went. But if she searched hurriedly first … After all, who knew that gazebo better than herself?

  And Rome.

  Kyle bit her lip in an instant’s indecision, then set the book aside and hurried from the room. Raven glided from the shadows on the second-floor landing to look at her quizzically.

  “I want to check the gazebo,” Kyle whispered without pausing.

  Raven frowned after her for a moment, then turned back to find Josh.

  Kyle hadn’t forgotten the guards and dogs outside but trusted her ability to get across the terrace and into the maze without rousing them. She waited at the terrace doors for a few moments, watching the two guards pass each other outside. She allowed them a few more moments, than slipped outside silently.

  She reached the maze without being detected and moved swiftly along the familiar paths, undisturbed by the smotheringly tall, dark hedges, by the stark shadows of moonlight.

  The gazebo, softly lighted, welcomed her to the center of the maze, and she stepped up into it. Now … where? She studied the structure slowly, carefully. There was no ceiling; the rafters supporting the domed roof were exposed and painted white. The Doric columns were slender, each decorated with an ornate R; the floor apparently solid. The benches had thin padding and spindly legs.

  It had to be the floor.

  And there had to be a switch of some kind. Kyle turned in a slow circle, then began probing the columns and railing with delicate hands.

  Josh and Raven found Lucas on the third floor, coming out of Kyle’s room, a strained expression on his face. “Have you seen her?” he asked them in a whisper.

  “She said she was going to check the gazebo,” Raven answered softly. “I think she has a pretty good idea there may be a hiding place out there.”

  Lucas swore softly. “She shouldn’t be—”

  Zach and Teddy moved quietly down the hall toward them. “Somebody crossed the terrace a minute ago,” Zach told them. “A man.”

  The walkie-talkie hanging at his side whispered softly.

  From his vantage point on the hill, Kelsey watched the house constantly. He swore irritably when he realized that the setting moon was stealing his light, but he could still make out the house pretty clearly. He methodically studied each window on each floor, checked the whereabouts of the guards, and sent the lighted gazebo a glance.

  Then he stiffened. “Something’s going on down there,” he reported softly into the microphone.

  “What is it?” Hagen asked.

  “Don’t know. Somebody moving—damn this angle!” He adjusted the binoculars and leaned a bit sideways. “It’s Kyle. She’s searching the gazebo.”

  “What?”

  “Wait a minute. I can just barely see her. That’s what she’s doing, though.” He caught a glimpse of something else then, a small, darkly shining object in the hand of someone else in the center of the maze.

  Swearing, Kelsey reached for the walkie-talkie.

  “Looking for something, my dear?”

  Kyle turne
d slowly, holding her face expressionless with effort. The first thing she saw was a wicked black revolver held in a steady hand. Martin Rome’s hand. And when she looked at his face as he stepped up into the gazebo, she felt cold clear through to her bones.

  His face was still, calm. But there was a faint twitch at the corner of his right eye, and the eyes themselves were unnaturally brilliant. Mocking.

  “I—I dropped a ring,” she said finally.

  “I’ll buy you another,” he told her soothingly.

  Very conscious of the weight of her automatic at the small of her back, Kyle made no attempt to reach for it. It was her ace, all she had, and a last resort.

  “I don’t want a ring from you, Martin. I don’t want anything at all from you.” She was trying desperately to keep her voice even and calm.

  “Since we’re going to be married,” he told her in that same ominously soft tone, “I’ll show you my secret. As the mother of my son, it’ll be your right.”

  Kyle swallowed hard. “Martin, why do you have a gun? You’re frightening me.”

  “I’m sorry, my dear, but I really can’t allow your lover to steal my treasures. That is what he’s after, you know. He was searching in the house. You weren’t with him, of course. I knew you wouldn’t be. I knew you’d be here. This is where the newest of my treasures belongs. I’ll keep you here for a while, and then he’ll go away.”

  “No,” she said softly. “He won’t.”

  “Of course he will. Then you and I will be married, and you shall provide me with an heir. My nephew Phillip is no good, I’ve realized that; he doesn’t deserve to have my treasures. But our son will.”

  “Marry Zamara,” Kyle urged, stalling for time.

  “She’s barren,” Rome told her. His jaw tightened. “Pity. I would have married her otherwise. She is descended from my people in a sense. But I was able to obtain her medical history and so discovered the truth. She really should have told me herself. I can’t approve of deception.”

  Chilled, Kyle wondered how to reason with a madman.

  He looked at her seriously. “I will make you happy, my dear, I assure you.”

  “What of Zamara?” Kyle whispered.

  His jaw tightened again. “She will go.”

  Kyle didn’t dare push that; she could see the tug of war in his face, the awful conflict. Steadily she said, “I’m going to marry Luc, Martin.”

  “He won’t be able to find you,” Rome said reasonably. His free hand reached into the pocket of his jacket and produced a key. Stepping to one side, he reached out and inserted the key into the ornate R on one of the columns; Kyle had found that keyhole only a moment before he had first spoken.

  Pinned in place by the brilliant dark eyes that never left her, by the gun that never wavered, Kyle was helpless.

  Rome turned the key, and instantly there was a soft grinding noise. The entire gazebo moved, sliding smoothly to one side. “My grandfather had it constructed,” he told her pleasantly. “I’ve updated the wiring, of course, years ago. It’s a perfect place to store my treasures, isn’t it, my dear?”

  Kyle looked down at the step of the gazebo, which now led to more steps and a dark cavity in the ground. “I’m not going down there,” she said tightly.

  Rome smiled. “You will, you know. Or shall I go into the house and kill your lover?”

  “Rome!”

  Instinctively Kyle threw herself to one side, even as Rome whirled and fired his gun. The blast was hideously loud, followed instantly by the distant barking of the guard dogs and, seconds later, by another shot.

  Rome, teetering on the brink of the steps, clasped his wounded hand with a cry as his gun clattered to the floor of the gazebo. Losing his balance, he pitched forward, down the steps and into the darkness.

  Lucas, his face white, vaulted over the low railing of the gazebo and gathered Kyle into his arms. “Are you all right?” he asked in a rasping voice.

  Kyle was aware of other voices, of running feet and the shouting of the guards, but her entire attention was only for him. “I’m fine,” she whispered. Then, lifting her face from his throat, she stared at him fiercely. “What took you so long?”

  Equally fierce, he said, “Next time, dammit, tell me what you’re planning to do!”

  A sudden gurgle of laughter escaped her, and Kyle threw her arms around his neck. “Next time,” she promised serenely.

  The sun was well up. Kept from the maze by federal marshals, Martin Rome’s guests milled around in the house, confused and curious. Inside the maze, more marshals made trips into and out of the vault, carrying priceless gems, paintings, and other artwork out so that they could be inventoried.

  A rotund little man supervised the activity, pausing for only a moment to tell Zach and Teddy, “You aren’t here.”

  “Of course not,” Zach said calmly.

  Hagen nodded, then looked somewhat sternly at the other four, who were relaxing in the gazebo. “We’re going to have to discuss the statements you give,” he said.

  Lazily Josh asked, “What’s to discuss? We’re just guests here. Rome, maddened by jealousy, decided to kidnap Kyle at gunpoint. Luc missed his fiancée, came looking, and was just in time to stop Rome. He’s licensed to carry a concealed weapon. Mind you, we have no earthly idea why Rome kept all these paintings and things under his gazebo. But it’s a good thing Luc got here before Rome could lock Kyle in with them.”

  Hagen looked at him narrowly for a moment, then nodded. “And you’ll so testify?”

  “Luc will, of course. And Kyle. The rest of us have nothing to say. We were just drawn out here by the commotion.”

  “Excellent.” Hagen went back to his supervising, looking like a gleeful cherub.

  “Josh—”

  “It’s time for you to go public, Luc. With the investigative staff you’ve built over the years, there really isn’t a need for you to stay behind the scenes.”

  Politely Lucas said, “And I suppose it never occurred to you that by testifying I’ll make headlines? Headlines that Kyle’s father will no doubt read?”

  Josh frowned. “No, that never occurred to me.”

  Lucas said something rude.

  Kyle chuckled. “I love it.” She looked at her future husband with a smile. “And that shot of yours was really something—hitting his gun hand!”

  “Nerves of steel,” Josh murmured.

  Lucas glared at him. “My nerves were shot to hell and gone, and you know it! It was a lucky shot, that’s all.” He listened to their laughter with a pained look, then beckoned Kelsey over.

  “You want something, hero?”

  “Kelsey, we’ve all had a long night. Don’t push it.”

  Grinning, Kelsey said, “Right. Did you want to tell me something else?”

  “The mask.”

  “It isn’t with this stuff.”

  “I know.” Finding himself the focus of startled eyes, Lucas added somewhat bitterly, “We’ve been staring at the damned thing ever since we got here.”

  “Where is it?” Kyle asked.

  “Come on and I’ll show you.” Lucas led the way from the maze, holding Kyle’s hand firmly. They were followed by Josh and Raven, Zach and Teddy, and Kelsey and Hagen.

  “I love a parade,” Kelsey murmured to himself.

  Once past the milling crowd of guests, Lucas went into the trophy room, halting before a wall with a display of numerous African tribal masks.

  Looking up at the wall, Kyle asked incredulously, “You mean he hung it on the wall right out in front of everybody?”

  “Why not? None of us caught it.”

  “You did,” she reminded him.

  “Yeah, but only at the last minute. After you left me last night, I started wondering about the mask. It was a symbol of power, so it stood to reason Rome would keep it nearby—and it was something he’d certainly want to look at. It wasn’t likely he would have put it with the stuff he meant to keep totally hidden. So it had to be here.”

&nbs
p; “Which is it?” Josh asked.

  Zach, the only one of them who had seen a picture of the mask, gestured. “Try the one in the middle.”

  Lucas lifted it down, and all of them saw. The mask had been covered with a dark adhesive material to closely match its fellows, but the back shone pure gold.

  NINE

  KYLE STOOD GAZING out at the Pacific Ocean, smiling to herself. She loved this place. The house perched on its Oregon cliff as if it belonged there, and it was a wonderful place to spend a honeymoon. She looked down at the golden band on her finger, and her smile became even happier.

  Strong arms slipped around her from behind, and Lucas rested his chin atop his wife’s head. “It’s still early,” he murmured. “I thought you would have gone back to sleep after I went to answer the phone.”

  “What did Josh have to say?” she asked.

  Lucas chuckled. “Nothing, really. He just said it wouldn’t be right if our honeymoon wasn’t interrupted by something. Rafferty and Sarah are the only ones who’ve managed so far to be left completely alone.”

  “That’s why he called?”

  “That’s why. Remember I told you we interrupted his honeymoon because of that problem on Kadeira? I really think he’s getting even for that.”

  Kyle laughed.

  He smiled at the sound. “Do you feel better now that Rome will be getting the treatment he needs?”

  “Much better. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for him, especially when Her Highness breezed past him while the paramedics were working on his hand.”

  “You mean her parting words?”

  “Well,” Kyle said fairly, “ ‘Ciao, baby’ seemed just a little coldhearted.”

  “I’ll say.” Luc reflected. “It’s a good thing the marshals weren’t won over by her tricks. She might not have been involved with the theft of that artwork, but she sure as hell encouraged Rome to get that mask.”

  “Thinking it would help bind him to her,” Kyle agreed. “It backfired on her, though. She had him so convinced he was descended from a great and ancient line of rulers that he decided to preserve his ‘treasures’ and family name no matter what the cost. And he’d become so paranoid about protecting those treasures that she was losing all control over him.”