by S. E. Rose
She’s quiet for a moment. “Yeah, I suppose they were, huh?” she says.
“We should probably go grocery shopping and whatnot,” I point out. I’m about to say something else when there’s a commotion at the door.
I run down the hall to find Auggie, Chris, and Mia all standing at the bottom of the stairs.
“Well, they’ll just let any old riffraff in, huh?” Anna’s voice mocks from behind me.
Auggie flicks her off, and Chris rolls his eyes.
“I take it you already claimed a room,” Chris says to us. I look over at Anna who smiles sweetly at him.
Chris shakes his head and starts up the stairs. He drops his bag when he reaches Anna and picks her up in a giant bear hug.
“I missed you, Suzy Q,” he says.
“Missed you too, Lion,” she replies.
“What about me?” Auggie quips as he tosses his bag inside a nearby bedroom.
Chris releases Anna, and she jumps into Auggie’s arms, nearly knocking him to the ground. He laughs, and they squeeze each other before he sets her back down.
“So, you came up with a plan, huh?” Chris asks, his eyebrows raised.
Anna shrugs.
“You could have alerted us through security protocols,” he grumbles.
“Chris, I didn’t want to ruin the plan. If it looked like we were communicating and planning it, well, then that would make it too obvious. So, we needed intel out there from our trusted security folks,” she explains.
“You are scary, you know that, right?” Auggie says.
Anna laughs. “Thanks,” she says, her voice laced with sarcasm.
“So…what’s the game plan?” Mia pipes up from where she is still standing on the top stair.
“If you can all get settled, then meet me in the parlor, I’ll explain,” a voice comes from the bottom of the staircase, and we all whip our heads around to find Jack Ross standing there like he owns the place. Well, he does own the place.
“How the hell did you get here?” Anna asks.
Jack smirks and then gives her a wink. “I have my methods,” he says as he turns and walks away.
Chris shakes his head. “We are living in the Twilight Zone,” he says as he walks down the hall and steps into the room across from Auggie. I follow Anna as she walks downstairs and into what I suspect is the parlor.
“You are an enigma, Jack,” Anna says to him.
“Drink?” he asks as he opens a giant globe which is actually a cocktail setup. It’s all very James Bond.
“How about a martini?” Anna says with a wink.
“Shaken or stirred?” he asks with a smirk. I roll my eyes at the two of them.
“Shaken, of course,” Anna replies with another wink before sitting down in a dark leather chair.
“It’s a nice house you have here,” I say to Jack.
“I haven’t been able to let it go,” he admits. “How about you?” he asks, catching me off guard. I look over and realize he’s asking for my drink order.
“Scotch,” I say, thinking of the first manly drink that comes to mind because I’m guessing he doesn’t have beer stocked here.
“Sure. There is a wine and beer fridge in the kitchen. Please help yourself to whatever,” he adds as though reading my damn mind. I want to curse at him for not bringing this up sooner, as though I’m staying at some five-star hotel.
He hands me my drink, and I sit down next to Anna. A few seconds later, Mia, Chris, and Auggie enter the room. From Chris’s protective arm around Mia, I’m left wondering when they will just fucking admit they are an item. At this point, I almost just want to call them out on it. But my brain is sent back to the present as Jack offers them drinks and then proceeds to make them before sitting down in a giant leather chair. He looks like James Bond, he’s wearing suit pants and a white buttoned-down shirt. I’m sure the matching suit jacket is around here somewhere. He has one leg crossed over the other, and he’s holding a martini in his hand. He looks cool and collected as though assassins and explosions are just part of his typical day.
He stirs the spear with olives around in his glass and takes a sip as everyone in the room stares at him, which now includes our security detail.
“The intel has been dropped on the internet, very secretly of course. This will look like a plan from your security. A plan to hide you all. I imagine it will take whoever this is a good twenty-four hours from now to devise a plan. We’ll be tracing the breadcrumbs, so we’ll know when someone bites. So, if we are cautious, I do think we can be out and about tomorrow. Hell, it may expediate our plan. We’ll keep tabs on the situation and let you know when a fish has been hooked. In the meantime, after tomorrow, I’d appreciate it if you all stuck closer to home. Once we lure our perp here, I’ll decide how to proceed. I’m going over careful plans with your security detail. There are a number of exit strategies that can be employed at any time. I want you all debriefed on those by immediately. The situation will be closely monitored, and we will have briefings twice daily as the things progress. With any luck, we will nail the SOB by next week,” he says casually as though we are talking about defeating a fellow sports team.
“Yes, I’d like to be debriefed of all exit strategies as soon as possible,” Chris interjects.
“I will go over them with you personally after this,” Jack says as he sips his martini. “Also, be aware that I have my own security team here on the property. They are split up into several different units. I will make sure that they meet each of you, so you know them. They are patrolling the grounds and also providing additional intel to us. The main headquarters of the operation is actually at a cottage on the edge of the property, so we’ll be nearby,” Jack adds.
I really, really want to know what shit Jack has been through in his life that he can sit here so calmly discussing exit strategies as though discussing bank drafts and tax codes. I also don’t really want to know what horror this man has seen that a possible high-level assassination attempt doesn’t even get his adrenaline pumping even a little bit.
The one thing I do know, Anna is completely enamored by him. I’m not sure if it’s his high-level espionage career, the fact that he is pseudo-royalty, or the combination of the two that intrigues her the most. But what I do know, is she is sitting next to me hanging on to every word he says as though he’s a revered god.
“Jack, can I be blunt?” I ask him.
He laughs. “I prefer you are,” he says.
“Why is Interpol so worried about this?” I ask him.
Something about my question unsettles him because he sets his drink down on a marble coaster on an inlaid wood mahogany table and leans forward with his elbows on his knees.
“Let’s just say that my particular unit is very concerned with matters of international instability. Potentially taking down not just one but two royal families of economically prosperous countries, albeit small, within the European community, would have far-reaching political impacts. So, Interpol is very much concerned with such matters. Additionally, when criminals are committing crimes across borders and threatening world leaders, we tend to take note,” he says, looking at me with very serious green eyes.
I nod because my speech fails me after his explanation is laid bare.
“Now, whoever wants to follow me, I will go through the security exit plans,” he says as he stands and walks to the kitchen.
Chapter Sixteen
Whoever questioned Jack’s readiness for a disaster, would be grossly mistaken. And whoever would think this is just some old house, also would be mistaken. Jack has shown us every security update to his home, yet I suspect there are others that we don’t know about.
There is a tunnel leading to a small garden shed about a hundred yards away. There’s not just one but two safe rooms. There are motion sensors literally all over the house. It’s impossible for a person to move about the house without Jack knowing. There are cameras covering most of the house, except the bedrooms and bathrooms. There’s
a faux external security system that emits a signal when lines are cut, and there is a hidden internal security system within the walls. There are fancy heat sensors and weight sensors and electronic wave sensors. I would never have believed the house was fitted with this insane amount of security, but I would be very, very wrong.
And so, here we are, standing around the massive kitchen island in Jack’s kitchen. The kitchen itself, along with some of the bathrooms, are the only things that look truly out of place in the house. It is a magazine-worthy modern kitchen that looks straight off one of those home improvement shows.
Jack hands us each a bracelet. They look like basic fitness bracelets, but they apparently have tracking mechanisms in them. He also fits each of our cell phones with some crazy modern apps that can track us as well, similar to what he did with Anna’s phone back in Pittsburgh. He promises to remove the software after the threat is over, whenever that may be.
He shows us several concealed buttons in the house that are panic buttons that will send alerts to his team if something is amiss. This, of course, is on top of the regular alarm system features that we’ve all been instructed on.
And so, we are now standing around the kitchen as Jack puts several beers on the counter for us.
“I’ll be up at the main house,” he says.
I eye him suspiciously. “Won’t that be…suspicious?” I ask.
He chuckles. “No, I was actually going to stay with my brother, but his house is being renovated and he’s at his in-laws’ while the repairs are finished. So, staying at the main house seems perfectly normal for me. I do this a few times a year,” he notes.
“Aren’t you worried about your family?” Anna asks.
He shrugs. “All our family’s homes have very good security systems. I’m not concerned,” he says. But I see a look in his eye, and I wonder if that’s completely true.
“We should go shopping,” Anna announces. Everyone stops and stares at her.
“For food,” she elaborates.
“Oh, uh, yeah,” Auggie says. “Food would be good.”
“I’m in,” Chris says.
“I could use a little fresh air,” Mia says meekly.
And with that Pete piles us in a giant SUV, even by U.S. standards, and we head down to a small coastal town. Jack has given Pete directions on where to go shopping, and we all head into a store. It only takes us thirty minutes to get all the food, and then we head back up to the house, but not before I talk them into walking down by the water for a few minutes.
Auggie spots a pub, and we all grab a pint of beer before piling into the car for the ride back to Jack’s house.
It’s when we arrive that I learn that Anna and her brothers are skilled in the culinary arts. They start making steaks, appetizers, some sort of potato side dish that looks like it’s an obscene amount of calories but worth every bite, and a dessert that makes my mouth water. Mia and I sit at the island and watch them as though they are our own private cooking show.
“Well, if this isn’t amazing, I’m going to be very disappointed,” I say as I sip another beer. It’s odd sitting here with my new friends and Anna. I feel like we are on vacation, yet I know we are not.
We eat at the dining room table. Jack joins us and regales us with stories of growing up on the property. He’s shown us a few secret passages in this house but assures us that there are many more up at the main house which we can walk up to after dinner.
“You guys do know that you’ll be cooking every night, right?” I say to Anna and her brothers as I finish my dinner.
Anna laughs. “We all actually love cooking. We just don’t get to do it very often, so you don’t have to ask twice. Tessa and Helga trained us well in the art of cooking,” she says as she sips a glass of wine.
“Anna?” Jack says as he sets his glass down. “I’m guessing I can’t keep you from perusing the web, but can I ask that you use the secured Wi-Fi at the cottage,” he says. “I just don’t want to skew the breadcrumbs we’ve left.”
She nods. “Is the cottage far?” she asks.
He shakes his head. “Nope, less than a mile walk, or a two-minute drive,” he says. “I can show you in the morning if you like.”
She nods. “Yes, please, that’d be great,” she says. After dinner and cleanup, which apparently is a novelty to the royals as they don’t have to do this at home, we head up to the manor. It’s a pleasant walk down the tree-lined drive.
I’m taken aback by the size of the manor house when the trees clear. It’s at least two or three hundred years old and made of stone. And it is immense. It strikes me as I look up at it that Jack’s upbringing probably wasn’t that different than Anna’s. Her fascination with him now makes more sense in my mind. She already knows this about him. She sees herself in him.
Jack unlocks the door, and we are greeted by a woman. Jack says a few whispered words to her, and she nods and bids us good evening before making herself scarce. He shows us around the main rooms of the manor.
“It’s a beautiful home,” Anna says as we look at the library.
“Thank you,” Jack replies. “We’re still trying to figure out what to do with the manor after we put the majority of the land in a preservation trust.”
Chris starts brainstorming immediately. I grin. He’s a businessman through and through. “You could make it a bed-and-breakfast?” he suggests. “Or, you could rent it out for parties and weddings. There’s a number of options.”
“Yes, Oliver, my brother, and I have considered those things. I suppose it’ll come to us, eventually,” he says.
As we walk toward the door, he knocks on a smaller door and opens it. It leads to an office area. There are about five men in the room, and they all jump to attention. I can tell they are former military immediately.
“These are five of the security officers on the property,” he says and introduces us to each one. “I’ll have Pete bring you by the cottage in the morning to meet the others.”
We finish our greetings to the men and start back toward the entryway of the manor. It dawns on me that I may never feel at home around such…opulence.
“So, you all want to go to Edinburgh in the morning?” Jack asks.
Everyone nods.
“I’ll have your security arrange a trip. Please note, if we have any intel that concerns me, then the trip will not happen,” he says as we begin walking back down the drive to the gatehouse. Cain is at the door when we arrive back. Pete and Nico have been introduced to the five men, but now Pete relieves Cain and Jack motions for him to head up to the manor to meet the security team as well. “It’s important everyone knows everyone by tomorrow morning.”
I’m not sure why he says this, but I have a feeling that everything Jack does is carefully planned and strategized in advance. Anna and I bid goodnight to everyone and retire to our room once we’re back inside.
She immediately walks over to the box I brought from my grandparents’ home.
“What are you doing?” I ask.
“I just want to go through this stuff again,” she says.
“Why?” I ask. “I mean, we can go through it later. Aren’t you tired?”
She shrugs as she opens the box, and I know I’m not going to sleep. I sit down on the floor next to her. The old floorboard creaks as I settle myself. She lays out the contents, including the “lover’s eye” and starts going through the photographs and journals.
I settle myself back against a wooden chest at the foot of the bed and begin to read the articles again. This time I start with the ones my mother wrote. They are in order from the time she first arrived in Europe until shortly before I was born. They trace a series of wealthy men, anti-monarchists, and politicians. I stop as I realize that I’ve categorized them. I slowly go through them again, setting them into piles on the floor.
“What are you doing?” Anna asks.
“I…I’m not sure,” I admit as I begin to go back through in their categories. It’s then that I realize
there’s a pattern to them. My mother’s journal had indicated that she was first here to cover the anti-monarchist movement in Montelandia. So, it makes sense that her earliest articles were about the individuals involved in that movement. But then she somewhat abruptly stopped covering them and began to cover politicians. Now, it’s not a crazy move. The anti-monarchists clearly had gotten the attention of some politicians who backed their cause. However, it’s the next move that leaves me pondering where my mother was going with her investigation. After investigating three different politicians, she began to write articles on businessmen. She did write two more on politicians after that, but then the remaining were about several businessmen. She didn’t come out and say they were bankrolling the anti-monarchist movement, but her investigation implies that this may have been the case.
I look at the journal where she made notes during that time period. Her journals were always dated in the front. I can feel Anna’s gaze on me, but I’m deep into my search. Something about the last businessman jogs a memory.
“Anna, do you know who Sebastian Bach is?” I ask her. Her eyes widen slightly, letting me know she does know him.
“Yes…” she says slowly. “He was in a photo we found in the box. Why?”
“How do you know him?” I ask.
“He owns and operates the largest commercial transport company in our area of Europe. He was friendly with my parents,” she says and frowns.
“What?” I ask.
“He was in charge of the charity event, the gala, my mother was attending the night she died,” Anna says.
“Do you know if he’s an anti-monarchist?” I ask her.
Her eyes widen further. “Oh no. Of course not, he’s always been very supportive of our family,” she says.
“Are you sure?” I ask her.
She sighs. “I…I’m not sure. I have never heard that he has ties to that movement,” she admits.
I place a hand on hers. “I’m not saying that he’s behind this, but we need to look at every angle, right?” I ask her.
“Yes, you’re very right,” she says, her tone tells me she’s admitting this begrudgingly.
