Page 54 of One Last Stand
“I saw you ski down, went to follow you, and I don’t know what triggered the slide, but no, it wasn’t a coincidence.”
Although, even as he’d said it—how was ithimthat ended up on that mountain that day?
“That’s the part that sits like a burr inside me. Because if I hadn’t been there, you would have been at least apprehended. Maybe even killed.”
The thought turned him cold every time he thought about it.
As it was, they’d survived the avalanche, and three days later, Colt had dug them out, and during the rescue chaos, London had vanished.
“The rogue agent turned out to Alan Martin,” he said. “But I didn’t find that out until Colt tracked me down in Montana a couple years ago.”
London nodded, as if she might be putting the pieces together. “But that’s why Colt wanted you to keep an eye on me . . . to make sure I didn’t have a connection with Martin.”
And suddenly, just like that, it made sense. Yes. Because if Martin knew London had survived, then . . .
He’d find her and finish her.
The plane landed, and his gut tightened, and no, he didn’t like this little excursion, not at all.
They had stepped back in time in this storybook city of Luciella with red-roofed houses, cobblestone streets, and a massive central square cathedral with tall black Gothic spires. A river ran through the city, a drawbridge connecting the two halves. One side, the city center, held municipal buildings and a university, along with a political district with a row of embassies all at the foot of a castle on a hill.
“That’s the Palazzo Reale del Sole,” London said, seated beside him. York and Tomas rode in the SUV behind them. “It has Romanesque, Gothic, and Byzantine influences, with those tall turrets and towers. From the tallest tower, you can see the entire city.” She pointed to a tower jutting from the keep, the ten-story bulk of the castle.
“You’ve been up there?”
“There are a number of state events every year, and I was visiting my parents for one of them. Prince Luka showed me around.”
Prince Luka. He raised an eyebrow.
“Don’t worry. He’s only allowed to marry a royal. They have a hereditary, constitutional monarchy, and King Maximillian is the chief of state as well as the king, so there arerules.”
She pointed out a large cobblestone square with an expansive fountain in the middle, surrounded by a five-story building with flags listing in the breeze, balconies, and a black slate roof. “That’s the Montelenan gymnasium.”
“A gym? Wow, that’s a big place?—”
“No,” she laughed. “A gymnasium. It’s a secondary school. Like a college. And over there is the Ministers Building, for the minister of state. And that gate there leads to Old Town, this quaint area of shops and homes that date back to the tenth century. The central square has a massive Christmas market every year, starting in early November, with a giant tree that they cut from the mountains.”
“Lots to choose from,” Shep said, eyeing the alpine peaks that surrounded the city.
She laughed again, and maybe the darkness had lifted slightly from her eyes.
“The Cryptex complex is located on the far side of the palace, inside the mountain.”
“Inside?”
“Yes. There is a giant satellite dish built into the mountain—you can’t see it from here, but remember the giant satellite dish in the Bond movieGoldenEye?”
“I didn’t grow up with television.”
“It was the Pierce Brosnan era of Bond movies. Anyway, this dish is just a little smaller but still sits in a crater at the top of the mountain. It’s what provides the massive satellite coverage and networking for the Cryptex compound, as well as security. You can’t fly over it, either, so no one really knows about it—although you can see it from space.”
They had pulled up to the American Embassy now, the US flag waving from the gated entrances, two guards on either side. Their driver showed his pass, and the wrought-iron gates opened. Inside, a creamy-white building rose in a center compound, a black roof and a round window at the apex of the front of the building. Smaller buildings cordoned off the compound from the streets around it.
“Montelena is a mishmash of influences. It used to be part of Austria, then Switzerland tried to grab it, and then finally Italy, to the south. But they secured their independence after the First World War and have hung on to it since. Are you ready to meet my parents?”
She had stiffened a little next to him, and he glanced at her. She swallowed, and for the first time ever, the woman appeared as if she wanted to wriggle out of her skin.
“I met your parents years ago?—”