“Tsarevna, is there a path down to the water? Other than the one we came up on from the dock?” Addison asked.
“I believe so, why?”
“I’ve never been to the Black Sea. I like to take pictures of my feet in different bodies of water. Proof that I’ve been there.”
He didn’t know if that was true or not, but it presented the perfect cover for asking.
A patronizing smile formed. “How quaint. Yes, there are several paths that lead down to the water. Any of the staff can direct you.”
Addison returned Tsarevna’s fake smile with one of her own. “Thank you.”
She took the fork from Devon’s hand. “Go eat. I don’t want to be stuck inside all afternoon.”
“Yes, Mistress,” he said in a low voice.
Chapter 17
Addison stopped halfway down the well-worn yet steep path and stared back up at the castle looming behind them. The wind gusted, whipping her hair around her face.
“Everything okay?” Devon asked.
She nodded. “Yeah, just getting my bearings.”
They continued down to the crescent-shaped beach. Checking her watch, she noted it had taken them about fifteen minutes to walk down from the castle, but they hadn’t been in a rush. Cliffs enclosed the beach, protecting it from the worst of the wind.
“I think the cave entrance is that way,” Connie said, pointing to the taller cliff at the north end of the beach.
“Why?” Addison asked.
“Because that’s where the butler said it would be.”
“He didn’t find it suspicious that you asked?” Devon asked.
“I didn’t ask. He said if I was interested in playing pirate, there was a cave in the north cliff that guests liked to use. Apparently Tsarevna held a themed party last year. Two guesses what the game for that party was.” She winked at Addison.
“Find the booty?” Graham asked.
“Followed by a rousing game of bury the treasure,” Connie said.
“At least she’s inventive,” Devon said.
They heard voices and glanced up the path. Two women made their way down, trailed by two men. The women waved when they saw them.
Addison and Connie waved back.
“Should we still check out the cave or should we wait?” Addison asked.
“Let’s get a little more cover,” Graham said. When the group reached the beach, he raised an arm. “Argh! Have ye come to follow me treasure trail?”
“What treasure trail?” the woman with brown hair asked.
“The one that goes down here.” His hands moved to the button of his pants, as if he was going to take them off.
Connie smacked him on the chest with the back of her hand. “Stop. Don’t mind him. We were told there was a cave in the cliff, and he won’t stop making innuendos about booty and treasure trails.”
“How exciting!” the other woman said. “I want to see it.” She turned to the man closest to her. “Hector, carry me. I don’t want to get sand in my shoes.”
“Yes, Mistress.” Hector picked her up and cradled her in his arms. With his dark hair and complexion and her platinum blonde hair, they looked like a couple on one of the bodice ripper romances Addison’s mom used to hide in her closet.
“Lead the way!” the woman said.
“Yo! Ho ho!” Graham raised his arm like he held a sword and started down the beach, his new entourage in tow.
“Is he always like this?” Addison asked Devon. She would not have expected this role from him based on their interactions back in South Carolina.
“Sometimes, yeah. Graham knows how to relax and have fun, but when it’s go time, it’s go time. He’s one of the few officers I’d willingly follow into combat.”
They trailed behind the group, and Addison stopped every now and then to pick up a shell.
“What are your plans after we get home?” Devon asked.
“I don’t know,” she said. “I haven’t given much thought beyond finding Braedon.”
“What do you want to do?” he asked.
She shrugged. “No idea. I always figured I’d retire from the Air Force and I’d have plenty of time to figure out what I wanted to do afterward. I guess I could go back to school and get my PhD.”
“You don’t sound too excited about that.” He bent down and scooped up a flat pale rock.
“Yeah.” She had no desire to go back to school, but if she wanted to use her degree in psychology, she’d have to.
“What are you passionate about? What excites you?”
You.
But she couldn’t say that. They weren’t there. Yeah, they’d had some seriously awesome sex, but sex didn’t mean feelings, and past experience had taught her not to equate orgasmic endorphins with feelings of the heart. Most guys cut and run at the first hint of a lasting attachment. Easier to stay detached. That way she could shrug and move on when he did.
Plus, she needed to take Braedon home. Her parents…God, how was she going to handle that? How were they?
“Addison?”
Right. Passion. Excitement. “Honestly? I don’t know anymore.”
Devon threw a rock, skipping over the gentle surf. “What if you—”
“Hey! We found it!”
They looked down the beach. Connie waved her arm for them to join them.
“What if I what?” she asked.
He shook his head. “Later. Let’s find out what’s in the cave.”
She thought about telling him no and forcing him to finish his question, but the rest of the group was waiting for them at a rocky outcropping at the base of the cave.
The entrance was about five feet up, and they had to climb up the rocks to reach it.
“Did anyone bring a flashlight?” the blonde woman asked.
Devon pulled his cell phone from his back pocket and turned on the light.
“Oh.” The woman stared at the phone a moment and then laughed. “I swear I’m not really this airheaded.”
“It’s okay,” Addison said. “It didn’t occur to me either.”
With five lights shining, they could see fairly far into the cave.
“Where do you think it goes?” This question from the brunette.
“Let’s see.” Connie set off, shining the light from her phone ahead of her.
More of a tunnel than a cave, three of them were able to walk side-by-side without touching the sides. The women were able to walk without stooping, although Devon, Graham, and one of the other men had to dip their heads in a few spots to avoid hitting the ceiling.
“Do you think there are bats?” the woman closest to Addison whispered.
“Probably,” Devon said, directing his light overhead.
Nothing moved on the ceiling that they could see, but that didn’t stop the woman from grabbing onto Addison’s arm.
“They’re more afraid of you than you are of them,” Addison said.
“That’s what they always say,” the woman said. “Until they get attacked by a rabid vampire bat.”
“Pretty sure vampire bats aren’t found in Europe,” Addison said.
“How sure?”
“Ninety-nine point nine percent.”
“Okay. But I’m still going to walk next to you—you’re taller, so they’ll get caught in your hair first.”
Addison chuckled until she remembered the woman was there to try to buy her brother. Why did she have to be so normal?
They walked on in silence until they reached a brick wall.
“Huh,” Graham said. “I wonder if this went up to the castle at some point.”
Addison frowned. He already knew the answer—it was why they were there in the first place. She glanced at Devon, and he tilted his head at the woman next to him. Ah. Graham was asking for their benefit.
“Why on earth would they need a tunnel to go up to the castle?” the blonde asked.
“Smugglers, probably,” Graham said. “This would have been the perfect place to smuggle contraband
during the Cold War. And there really were pirates that roamed the Black Sea a few hundred years ago.”
“Well, this is anticlimactic,” the brunette said. “Let’s go back to the castle. I want a real climax.” She snapped her fingers, and the other man fell in behind her.
The blonde sighed. “Well, thanks for letting us tag along. Come on, Hector.”
The entrance wasn’t visible from the end of the tunnel since it had curved into the cliff face. They waited until the women’s voices were nothing more than a whisper.
“Shine your flashlights on the wall so I can get a couple of pictures,” Graham said. “Devon, what was your distance?”
Addison’s eyes widened. Were they supposed to have measured the distance?
“Two hundred meters. Maybe two-fifty. My steps were shorter, so it was hard to judge.”
“I got the same,” Graham said. “Addison, how tall are you?”
“Five-six. And a quarter.”
“Stand in front of the wall with your arms stretched out.”
She did as he asked, holding her arms as straight as possible until he nodded at her that he had what he needed.
“I can’t get a location on my phone,” Devon said.
“We’ll get a reading at the entrance. I’ll get one from inside the castle as well. That’ll give us an approximate distance from the cells.” Graham scratched at the mortar around one of the bricks. “It’s crumbling.”
He pulled a multi-tool from his belt and flipped it open. Scratching at the mortar around a brick, he scraped enough away that he was able to push the brick through to the other side. He shined his light into the small opening.
“It looks like it goes another twenty or thirty meters, then there’s another wall. It’s arched, from what I can tell.”
“That’s probably the portion we saw in the dungeon,” Addison said.
“Can we push this one down now?” Connie asked. “Save time later?”
“Better not,” Devon said. “Other groups may come in here to check it out. If we knock down the wall now, it would get back to Tsarevna.”
“What about the brick Graham knocked out?” Addison asked.
“I don’t think anyone will make a big deal over one brick, but it does make things easier for us. One less explosion.”
“Let’s head back out,” Graham said. “That other group might get suspicious if we stay in here too long.”
Addison’s feet felt rooted to the spot. She didn’t want to leave. Braedon was only yards away—they were so close.
Graham grabbed her shoulders. “Hey. Twelve hours from now, we’ll have him. We have what we need to make that happen, but we need to be smart about it.”
She swallowed hard and nodded. He was right, but that didn’t mean she had to like it.
“All right. Let’s go,” she said.
He led the way out of the tunnel. Just shy of the entrance, he stopped and dug something out of his pocket. It looked like a clear Lego with electronics inside.
“Firefly beacon?” she asked.
“Yes. Here.” He pulled out another beacon and nine-volt battery from his pocket. “We need to set these up on either side of the tunnel. High enough that someone won’t be able to see them unless they’re looking for them, but so that they’re still visible from the outside.”
Addison snapped the small infrared strobe to the battery. The rock jutted out in places, and they found sections large enough to set the strobes on so nothing blocked them. Even with something in front of it, the infrared strobe would be visible with night vision goggles, but invisible to the naked eye.
The two couples were still on the beach when they exited, but farther down. Addison sat on the rocks below the entrance and took off her shoes.
“What are you doing?” Devon asked.
“Taking a picture of my feet in the Black Sea.” She rolled her pants legs up to her knees and stepped into the water, gasping when the tiny waves lapped at her ankles.
“Cold?”
“Little bit.” She aimed her phone down and snapped the picture.
“Do you really do this or did you just come up with it today?”
She stepped out of the water, back onto the rocks, and used the cuff of her light sweater to dry her feet.
“I really do this.”
Shoes back on, she leaped off the rock onto the sand, turning to look back at the cave one last time. They found it. She closed her eyes and sent out a silent plea. Please let this work and everyone get out of here safely.
Chapter 18
They followed Graham to his and Paige’s room. Not for the first time, Devon wondered how that worked since there was only one bed. Not that he wondered hard. He had no more interest in his bosses’ sex lives than they had in his.
Paige was curled up in one of the chairs, typing on her phone. “Hey. How was the beach?”
Graham sat in the chair perpendicular to hers. “It was a beach. It’s not the Keys, but then nothing is. We did find an old smugglers’ tunnel. That was interesting. Were you able to finish your work?”
“Yes, thankfully. I also talked one of the butlers into giving me a tour of the castle.” She touched her phone screen and handed it to Graham. “Now I can enjoy the rest of the weekend without interruption.”
“Wonderful. Stress isn’t good for your complexion. It makes you sallow, and my job of making you look fabulous that much more difficult. I can only work with what I’m given after all.”
Graham smirked when Paige flipped him off.
“Did you get the delivery I arranged?” Connie asked.
Paige nodded. “I did. How did you manage that, exactly?”
“I have someone in the castle,” she said.
“Wait,” Addison said. “You have someone here? Right now?”
“Yes.”
“Who? Are they going to help us tonight?”
Connie shook her head. “Better that you don’t know. If everything goes well, he’ll stay here to facilitate the raid after we leave.”
“Makes sense,” Graham said as he passed Paige’s phone to Devon.
“What gear?” Devon asked, taking the phone.
“Some protective gear and firepower,” Connie said. “You have the same items in your room.”
Devon nodded and focused on the screen in his palm. Angie’s app was open to the messages. She’d accessed the security system and would take everything down at zero three thirty. As a bonus, she’d completed the layout of the entire castle and figured out a way to take all the power out to make it look like a malfunction in the electrical system.
The weight of Addison’s breasts pressed against his arm, causing his dick to stir. Jesus. He’d never had a problem controlling his reaction around a woman, but he constantly had at least a semi, if not a full-on raging erection, whenever she was near.
“Does the information get updated in the app, or is it sent to one person specifically?” Devon asked.
“The app updates,” Paige said.
“So we all have the information?”
“Yes.”
Addison pressed her head against his upper arm, and her breath feathered against the skin below the edge of his shirt sleeve.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
She nodded. “A little tired. I think I’ll take a nap before dinner.”
“A nap does sound good right now,” Paige said.
“You haven’t done anything all day,” Graham said.
Paige shoved his leg with her bare toes. “My brain worked hard today.”
“Oh, well, in that case, I can understand why you’re so tired.”
“Whatever. We’ll meet around seven forty-five for dinner,” Paige said.
“See you then,” Addison said.
Devon handed the phone back to Graham. “Let us know if anything changes.”
Addison headed to the bathroom as soon as they got to their room while Devon went to the large duffle bag on the couch. Unzipping it, he found two backpack
s, his and Addison’s vests, communication devices, holsters, weapons, ammo, and two sets of night-vision goggles. Damn. Connie had really come through. One of these days, he’d figure out who she really was and how she was connected. Today, he was simply glad she was on their side.
He kicked off his shoes and stretched out on the bed, arms stacked behind his head. When Addison returned to the bedroom, she lay down next to him, not touching.
“Will you go back to Texas when we’re done?” he asked.
“I suppose. My parents will probably want Braedon to stay with them once the military’s finished reintegrating him. At least for a little while.”
“And you’ll want to be close to Braedon.” It made sense that she’d want to be near her family. “Will you stay in Texas?”
“No.” She rolled on her side, facing him, and tucked her head into the pillow. “Was that what you were going to ask me?”
“When?” he asked.
“On the beach. You started to ask me something but got interrupted,” she said.
Now was his chance. A small window of opportunity to ask her to come to Charleston after Braedon was rescued and settled. And he didn’t have the balls to do it. Not tonight. She was worried about the extraction. He didn’t blame her—he was nervous as well, but not any more than usual before an op. There were a lot of moving parts and unknowns, and so many things could go wrong.
Which is why she needed to be focused on the mission. Not his need to figure out what happened next.
He shook his head. “Something like that. I don’t remember exactly.”
Her blue eyes searched his for several moments. “Maybe you’ll remember later.”
“Maybe.”
Her eyelids lowered but didn’t close all the way.
“What’s going on in your head?” he asked.
“I’m scared,” she whispered. “If something goes wrong…”
“Hey. Come here.” He gathered her in his arms, tucking her close to his side so her head rested in the pocket of his shoulder. “I’m not going to promise everything’s going to go according to plan—no plan survives first contact with the enemy. But we know what we’re doing, and we will get Braedon and Michael free.”
He angled his head back to look at her. “Believe me?”
Truth In The Lie (The Leonidas Corporation Book 2) Page 11
