He could have guessed what he found inside. Aaron was sitting in a chair, Harold beside him, and Gilles had a gun cocked at both of them.
All of them turned to Wesley in shock, clearly not expecting him to break the door down.
Wesley did a quick mental analysis of the gun and saw that it Gilles could pull the trigger at any moment, the face off.
“Tannoy is dead,” Wesley said. “Your plot has been uncovered. There's no point in this. Put the gun down.”
Gilles sneered.
“Here is the scandalous Earl Rippon,” Gilles said. “You didn't bring your actress wife to witness the grand finale?”
“Lola is undoing all your hard work,” Wesley said. “Which she will do, I have no doubt. I killed Tannoy without a weapon by the way, and I have no issue doing it with you.”
Gilles turned the gun on him.
“Go ahead,” he said. “Go ahead and try. If it is true, what you say, then dying is fine with me. The end of the Bamber line, here and now, rather than living in scandal.”
“I'm head of the Bamber line,” Aaron finally spoke up, shakily standing up. “And I will determine whether we live or not, in scandal or not. And frankly, I like scandal.”
Before Gilles could react, Aaron shot him in the middle of the chest. He fell to the ground, sputtering. Harold looked at him in shock.
“Where did you even get that?”
“Peckard left it on his desk,” Aaron said, as if the matter was trivial. “All the chaos must have made him forget it. Is he dead?”
Harold looked to Wesley, who crouched down to check Gilles' pulse.
“Not yet,” Wesley said. “But he will be shortly, if you leave him like that.”
“Is that what you want?” Harold asked Aaron, carefully. Aaron looked to Wesley, unsure for the first time in their friendship.
“I want...” Aaron paused.
“You're not in the same situation I am,” Wesley said. “This is not the last of your kin, the last of your line. He has caused you nothing but pain and torment, and you owe him nothing. He tried to blow up the entire city.”
“And he still may,” Harold put in.
Aaron held his tongue, looking between them and then down at the ground. He closed his blue eyes, taking a heavy sigh.
“No,” he said. “I can't let him die. He may have information we need. But more than that....everyone deserves a second chance.”
“Aaron...” Harold said, but Aaron shook his head.
“I can't. I can't take a second chance away from someone, after what we've fought for. What can you do?”
“Put pressure on his wound,” Harold instructed Wesley, who did so without a word. “Don't move. Either of you. I know there's a surgeon somewhere in this building. I'll be right back.”
Aaron sank back into the chair, watching as Wesley pushed against the wound.
“Are you alright?” he asked at last, and Wesley glanced at him.
“I'm fine, why?”
“You killed Tannoy,” Aaron said. “And I don't know where Lola is, but I'm guessing it's somewhere dangerous.”
“Isn't it always,” Wesley said, softly. “She's with Morgan.”
“Does that worry you?” Aaron asked.
“I don't know,” Wesley said. “I don't know what to think anymore. Maybe she's happier that way. Maybe she's safer that way.”
“I doubt it,” Aaron said. “Lola has always found a way to put herself in the most exciting situations, regardless of who is around her. I've seen her fall in love, Wesley, and I've seen her fall out of love. But what she has with you...that I've never seen before. Don't be so quick to doubt your marriage; it's not easy for anyone.”
“I don't regret it,” Wesley said. “I just...I want the best for her.”
“That's what I want for my family,” Aaron said. “And I want all their hearts desire to be fulfilled. And part of doing that means having me by them, which isn't the safest choice, or the easiest...but it's what they need.”
“We're quite the disgrace to our titles, aren't we?” Wesley asked.
“I like to think we keep it interesting,” Aaron said. “Give the future historians something to learn about.”
They fell into silence for a few moments, and then Wesley managed a smile.
“Scandal always keeps people interested.”
“That it does,” Aaron agreed. “Gives you something to talk about at night, at the very least. And by tonight, I hope we are in the farm house, far away and quiet.”
“Even if everything is safe?” Wesley asked.
“Yes. I think we are all in need to get out of the city for awhile,” Aaron said. “There's going to be a lot of changes in life moving forward, and I don't want to have a discussion about them while we are surrounded by chaos.”
“I always thought you loved chaos, Captain Halloway,” Wesley teased him. Aaron shrugged.
“Perhaps,” he said. “I used to make fun of Harold for wanting to live in a country manor away from life. But now I understand.”
“Don't make fun of me,” Harold said, as he returned to the room with the surgeon. The surgeon looked confused, seeing Aaron's pale face, Wesley's blood spattered body, and Gilles' limp figure. “That one,” Harold pointed out, and Wesley stepped back, to let the surgeon do his work.
“Any word?”
“Nothing,” Harold said. “But they do appear to be looking in the right places. We've done our part, Aaron. And we know at least, the women are safe.”
“Most of them,” Wesley said, standing up shakily. “Now that I know you are safe, I need to go to Lola.”
“Wesley...” Harold said, but Aaron stopped him.
“Go,” he said. “Go to her.”
“Aaron, he's not in a state,” Harold said, but Aaron urged Wesley on.
“He needs to go,” Aaron said. “He needs to be with her, even if it...ends there.”
“Your mind is needed here,” Harold said, to Wesley, trying not to intimidate him.
“My heart is needed elsewhere,” Wesley said. “I’ll see you both soon.”
“Yes, you will,” Aaron promised. Wesley turned, stepping over Gilles' leg and headed out of the room. The hallway had once held so much hope for him, so much promise. Now, he couldn't wait to get as far away from it as possible.
All he wanted in life was Lola. Nothing else mattered.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
You don't actually expect for me to make use of this?” Lola said, as they walked carefully through the tunnels. “Matheson?”
“If you have to,” he said. “I know you, Miss Lola, you want to survive.”
“I do want to survive, but not by...” she sighed. “It's odd to think that this is your life. When I picture all of you on the high seas...I don't picture the part where you kill people. I know it's part of your job...maybe more so when you are a pirate...but I didn't think about it. You are braver than I.”
“Most of us couldn't go out on a large stage and speak in front of all of those people without so much as quivering,” Morgan said to her and she shrugged.
“Well, that's not difficult,” Lola said. She was about to argue that there were many things that were more difficult than getting up and performing when all of a sudden, they heard a noise. Morgan put his hand up and they all stopped, crouching down.
Lola cocked her ear, used to listening for sounds that were far away, mostly for her cues. She turned her head closer to the sound and then realized she recognized those voices.
“That's Annabelle,” she said, standing up. Morgan pulled her back down.
“Stop, listen,” he said. “You never rush into a situation you don't know, Lola. There could be a thousand things that take you out in half a moment.”
“But---” Lola didn't really care about any of those variables. All she wanted to do was go to Annabelle's side.
Another voice echoed in the darkness and she recognized it as Shauna.
“I thought they were off to safety,�
�� Matheson said. “I thought they had taken the children and gone.”
“They may have said that,” Lola hissed. “But Annabelle is Aaron's twin. If there was an adventure to have, she will have it.”
“I know but...” Matheson wanted to protest, but they suddenly heard a crash and a scream.
“Logic be damned,” Lola jumped up, and no one stopped her. They did follow her, trying to get ahead of her to protect her. Lola's misgivings about guns vanished at the thought her friends were in danger. She pointed the gun forward and tried to find a target in the darkness.
They nearly tripped over Shauna, who was trying to get to Annabelle.
“What- how, ow!” Shauna protested in shock and then realized who it was. “What are you doing here?”
“What are you doing here?” Lola asked. “You're supposed to be in the country, with the children. Where is Annabelle?”
“Up there, somewhere,” Shauna pointed ahead in the darkness. “Annabelle!”
There was no answer, but there was a sound of scuffling, which told Lola that Annabelle was in danger.
“Stay here,” Morgan said to her. “Stay with Shauna.”
“Morgan!” she cried but Morgan shook his head.
“No,” he said. “Tannoy is dead. You and Wesley are the final hope for the Rippon line. He will kill me if anything happens to you. Let's go, boys.”
They charged ahead, and Shauna gripped on to Lola. Lola's grip on the gun was white knuckled, as she turned to the woman who should have had the title of Lady Bamber.
“What are you doing here?” she asked again. “You are supposed to be in the country.”
“If you and the rest of the men are entitled to fight for our family and our country, so are we,” she said. “Annabelle and I sent the children ahead and came back to help. She remembered about the tunnels as soon as we got out of the carriage.”
“Matheson said that he found the blueprints, so they came to the same conclusion,” she said. “And I'm glad we came to the same conclusion, or you'd be dead,” Lola said.
“Tannoy is dead?” Shauna asked.
“Yes,” Lola said. “Did you know about...” she took a deep breath. “Did Aaron ever say anything to you about... Wesley? I know this isn't the time to discuss this but...”
“What about him?” Shauna asked. “Of course, he talked about him, but...”
“About....the fact that he....took on pirate lifestyle in a different way?”
“Oh,” Shauna said. “Yes, he did mention that.”
“And no one told me?”
“Aaron said that was Wesley's story to tell,” Shauna said. “And when he was ready to reach out to you, he would.”
“I could have helped him!” Lola cried. “No wonder he went through such darkness, no wonder we fought so much. He needed help and none of you mentioned it to me.”
“To be honest...” Shauna said. “From what Aaron said, we weren't sure that even your influence could do anything. He was such a different person that we weren't sure he would return to what was...normal. He had changed...”
“I could change him back.”
“You can't change anyone,” Shauna said, quietly. “Not unless they want to. With Aaron, he won't come home and work in a desk job until his heart wants to. Even if he dies on the ship.”
“He won't die on the ship,” Lola said. “We will make sure of that.”
“Hi!” Annabelle's bright voice suddenly came around the corner. Morgan looked a bit worse for wear, blood on his cheek. Matheson and Corrigan looked tired, but alright.
“What happened?” Lola said, in disbelief.
“Lady Bamber got herself into a spot of trouble,” Matheson said, with a shrug. “We got her out of it, but I don't know if there are more. We'll have to follow the gunpowder line and find out.”
“You're alright, though?” Lola asked Annabelle, giving her a hug.
“I'm dandy,” Annabelle said, her hair slightly out of place. “Is it true? Have you killed half of this problem?”
“Wesley did,” Lola said, realizing how odd it was that it felt normal to say that. Accepting that her husband was a killer was not something she wanted to do on a regular basis. “Shall we try to save the rest of the city? How far is it to the palace? If the gunpowder line is laid down here, I am positive it will reach the palace. That's where one could do the most damage to the city, I think. The peasant deaths won't rock the kingdom as much as...”
“If we find the lines, we can charge Gilles for treason,” Matheson said. “Can't we, Morgan?”
“We could, or we could just shoot him in the head,” Morgan answered. “It would be less scandal than what he would have to go through.”
“After all the scandal we've gone through, I really don't think any more is going to hurt us,” Shauna said, dryly. “Shall we carry on?”
“Lead the way, Lady Bamber,” Morgan dipped his head and she smiled, taking Annabelle's hand.
They followed the gun powder line down twisty tunnels, knocking the barrels into the water and getting as much of the powder wet as possible. The sewers did not smell particularly attractive, but Lola told herself that it would soon be over. She concentrated on each step, one foot in front of the other.
It wasn't long until they came upon a concentration of barrels, and Lola looked up at a ladder against the wall, confused.
“Is this...” she tried to navigate in her head. “We couldn't be at the palace already! We still have half a mile to go, I imagine.”
“You're correct,” Annabelle said, looking around. “So why here? What is above us?”
“Only one way to find out,” Morgan said, rolling up his sleeves. “Anyone want to come up with me?”
“We'll watch,” Matheson said, with a grin. “You brave soul, you.”
“I hate you,” Morgan said, but put his foot on the first rung of the ladder. Lola leaned against the wall, her eyes closed.
“We're in the middle of the street,” she said to Annabelle. “This doesn't make any sense.”
“Unless there plan was to cause mass chaos all along,” Annabelle responded. “But that doesn't seem like a military plan.”
“Not an honorable one,” Matheson said. “Any honorable man would attach a nation's military not the citizens.”
“So...” Lola looked up, as Morgan reached the top and tried to pear through the sewer grates.
It was then that she realized there were wires very delicately around the ladder. Morgan would be blown to pieces, if the fuse was lit.
“It's the headquarters,” Morgan called down.
“Of course,” Corrigan said. “That means...”
“Sparks!” Lola looked into the darkness as the corridor just down the way from them lit up. Someone had lit the fuses.
“Bugger, I thought he was dead,” Matheson said, as he raised his gun. It was almost too dark to see, and Matheson quickly came to the conclusion that shooting at random was a bad idea. There was nothing to shoot at, and a missed shot could only help to spark the fuses faster.
“We're going to have to stomp it out,” Shauna said, without any hope. Lola sucked in a breath, when she suddenly heard a voice from the other end of the tunnel.
“Lola!”
“Wesley!” she had never been so relieved to hear any one's voice in her life. She turned to her husband, who was rushing in from the other side. “Wesley, thank God.”
“This way!” Wesley called to them. “This way, there's a way out around a corner. It should shield you from the blast. Come, now!”
He reached them, breathlessly. Everyone took off without a second word. Morgan jumped several feet from the ladder, on their tails and Lola heard a crack and a thump.
“Morgan!” she cried, going to his side.
Morgan put his hand to his leg, and Lola could feel pain practically radiating off of him.
“Here, man, here,” Wesley wrapped an arm around his waist, pulling him up. “Lola, here, support him here. Now go, both of yo
u.”
“What about you?” Lola asked in disbelief.
“Someone has to put out the charge,” Wesley said, and her jaw dropped.
“What?” she cried. “No, I'm not leaving without you! Not again.”
“Lola, listen to me,” he said. “Listen, we don't have much time. Someone has to stop that fuse, or everyone above us is going to die, including Aaron. Everything we will have done and fought for will be for nothing.”
“But if you stop it and it goes wrong... I can't let you do that. I can't live without you.”
“It will atone for my sins,” he answered. “And I have oh so many. Let me end this in the right way.”
“I don't want you to end it!” she cried. “I want you to be beside me, I want...”
“I killed so many people, my love,” he said. “Let me try to even the scoreboard. Go now, with Morgan and save yourself. And if it comes to your worst fear...you will live through it. You will be strong.”
“Wesley...”
“I have to do this,” he said, with tears in his eyes. “I have to do this if we are going to have any kind of chance at all.”
She knew that he was right. She knew that he would walk away from her now, and it would possibly be for the last time.
However, she wasn't going to let him go without a kiss.
Lola stood up on her tiptoes and leaned him, meeting his lips. It was light, delicate, much like their first kiss was.
“I will always love you,” she whispered. “Always. There has never been anyone else but you. And I'm sorry if...I made you think that. I was trying to decide what was best for all of us.”
“We are all trying to do that every day,” Wesley assured her. “And sometimes the best thing is the hardest choice. I will see you again, Lola, in this life...or another.”
“I love you,” she said.
“I love you too,” he whispered. “Now, go, before it's too late.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Lola had never run so hard in her life, and never wanted to at the same time. She knew that they had to get around the corner and as far from the corridor possible. None of them spoke, focusing on their steps, on the path in front of them, on their breath. Morgan was dragging his leg and she was practically dragging him along the hard ground, with Matheson's help.
How To Love A Fake Prince Page 36
