Chapter 24

24

Hank

The chopper landed in an airfield outside of San Francisco. Five minutes after the alerts I'd set for Venusstea news went off, Garrison called and asked me if I'd spoken to Thala.

I hadn't.

I'd called. I'd texted. She hadn't responded. Agitation and impatience simmered inside me, but I understood she might be up to her eyeballs taking care of her sister. After the initial news, a media blackout immediately ensued after the queen was taken from the ballroom while conspiracies and speculations exploded.

I was sure Kade and Garrison had more information from the PMCs they assigned to the queen's security.

I walked into the hangar with a duffel in each hand. One contained my tech stuff, the other a stock of military gear that served as my go-bag.

The pilot had already fired up the plane. G moved fast, which I was thankful for.

I wasn't surprised to see Ramsay.

He was pacing in circles, clearly agitated. If Thala had been the one injured, I didn't think I could lock my emotions down as well. The queen had reportedly been getting migraines, but apparently this last one incapacitated her.

"I shouldn't have left her." Ramsay was frothing at the mouth. "Goddammit." He was glaring at Garrison and Kade, who were standing close together.

"What's the news from your guys?" I asked Kade, dropping the duffels to the ground and checking my phone.

"Thala took the queen to the hospital," Kade said.

"Her neurologist said it was stress," Ramsay said. "That's why I left. I was one of the sources."

"She's taken her to a different hospital," Kade said. "According to Jed—he's my point man on the team guarding the queen, Thala is all over the queen. Not even my men can get too close to her."

I didn't quite catch what he said because I had an incoming call from Thala. "It's her." I swiped to answer and put the phone to my ear. "Princess."

"Hank, I need your help."

"Anything. We're coming to you."

"You mean here, here?"

I couldn't help the smile that curved my mouth with the way she said those words. I was feeling her vulnerability, and I knew she didn't need anyone to save her, but fuck that, I was riding to her rescue. "Yes."

Silence…and then, she said, "I think there's more to Amadea's headaches. She's getting an MRI right now."

"What do you mean there's more?"

"She complained about hearing a ringing sound. I heard it too, but it quickly cut off."

My body seized. There'd been a precedent for this. "Go on."

"Then, through the chaos, I recognized a man I saw in the theater."

"What?" I rasped, foreboding sending chills up my spine.

"I bumped into him on the way back from the ladies' room. His hair was darker then. He had on tinted John Lennon glasses. I thought it was odd, but figured it was because of the theater. I saw him at the ball last night in a server's white tuxedo and his hair was all white. What's similar is his pale skin. But I'd recognize the shape of that face anywhere. Hank, someone is still after my sister."

"Have you told anyone about this?"

"No. I don't trust anyone right now."

"Good girl. We'll get to you soon, all right? You can trust Kade's men."

Silence.

"Thala?"

"You're sure I can trust all of them?"

Kade came close to me. "She can trust Jed and communicate to us only through him. I'm sending her a picture now so there won't be any switched identities."

"Kade said you can trust Jed, and he's sending you his dossier directly."

"Okay."

Ramsay, who'd been glaring a hole through my head since I picked up the call, asked, "Amadea?"

"MRI. I'll fill you guys in," I told him, then addressed Thala, "Hang on, Princess. We'll get to you as soon as possible."

When I ended the call, I said, "Thala recognized a guy in the theater, could be our assassin."

"Son of a bitch," Ramsay snarled.

"It gets worse," I said. "The migraines the queen is having could be sabotage and not from stress or any health problems."

Garrison, who'd been looking on, straightened his posture. "You think it's a microwave device?"

"Wait a sec." Kade split a look between us. "Are you talking about the Havana syndrome?"

"Yeah," Garrison confirmed. "Even the U.S. developed such technology decades ago. I can confirm that the technology has become more sophisticated, so it can do micro-targeting."

"Fuck," several of us muttered.

The pilot of the plane peeked through the cabin doors. "Our flight plan has been approved."

"How many hours before we land?" I asked.

"With this baby?" Kade asked. "Eleven. We're faster than a 747. It could go supersonic." He lowered his voice. "But it's illegal."

Once we were wheels up, we discussed every scenario that could cause Amadea's headaches.

"I admit the microwave device sounds farfetched," I said. "But that was the first thing that came to mind when Thala mentioned that ringing tone…which she also heard."

"If she hadn't confirmed she heard it, too, I would also suspect a virus," Garrison said.

"Amadea thought she might have developed a food sensitivity, but the timing of this debilitating migraine is suspect," Ramsay said. "And it was upon their entrance to the ballroom."

Kade stared at his phone. "Jed has one of our guys working a sketch." He glanced at me. "Check your messages."

Everyone's attention swung my way. Despite the dire situation, a grin tugged at the corner of my mouth when I saw Thala's message.

"Well, what is it?" Garrison asked impatiently.

"Thala handed me the keys to the kingdom," I replied. "Correction. The realm."

"What?" Ramsay's brows furrowed.

"She gave me her username and password to Venusstean Intelligence."

Ramsay shook his head. "She's such a security risk."

Everyone laughed despite how true Ramsay's statement was.

"Well she wouldn't give it to just anyone. " My tone was sharp, but little did they know I was smiling on the inside because Thala trusted me.

Thala

My phone buzzed.

Hank

I'm in.

Earlier, he asked me for an authentication code. I probably would get lost feeling my way through this new collection of databases, and I figured in order not to waste time, I'd let Hank do the digging. He informed me the first thing he wanted to look at was email trails and personnel files. To see if there was any classified information that wasn't part of the data he had access to when we were in the cabin.

Amadea and I were back in the castle. The doctor said she was showing symptoms of concussions, but it didn't appear on the MRI. However, he suggested I stay with her and wake her up every hour. I checked my watch. It was an hour.

I got up from the couch and walked toward her.

"I'm awake," she whispered and sat up.

"What are you doing?" I grumbled.

"I don't want to sleep."

"Is your head hurting?" I asked and sat on the side of the bed.

"It's just a dull ache now."

I could make out some of her features from the moonlight streaming through the windows. I wasn't turning on the bedside lamps. She could probably benefit from complete darkness.

"What are the headlines saying?" she asked.

"Don't worry about that right now."

It was ugly.

House of Targen under siege.

Queen is unfit to rule.

Should we abolish the monarchy?

The PragueCog Conspiracy.

These were only a few of the headlines coming out from different news channels and tabloids. The latter was probably the most accurate.

"Where's Petros," she murmured. "I hope he's calming the country."

"He gave a statement to the press." I didn't want to tell Amadea that it wasn't a reassuring one, and it seemed he was already assuming control of the country. The way the law was written, the prime minister was in charge of her decisions if the queen was incapacitated, but hadn't yet relinquished the crown to the next in line.

Me.

While I did not want the crown, I wanted to throttle my brother for not giving more reassurances about the queen's health.

He and I had an argument earlier after Amadea's brain scans came back fine. I told him to release another statement, but he said he didn't want to give false hope. The public's trust was riding on a razor's edge, and they deserved honesty.

At that time, he convinced me.

But after Hank confirmed that foul play was possible, the arrow of my suspicion seemed to point at my brother.

The truth would kill me.

Amadea reached a hand toward me. "I'm sorry, Thala."

I linked our fingers and scooted closer so she could relax against the headboard. "What are you sorry about? It isn't your fault that you're having migraines."

I hadn't filled her in on my suspicion that outside forces caused her headaches. As long as I could keep my sister in solitary while Hank and his team figured this out, I was confident my sister would make a full recovery.

Her bloodwork came back flawless.

"That you had to take care of me," she said. "You're too single-minded with it. That's why I never wanted you to be my security and devote your life to me."

"Well, you don't have to worry about that. Ramsay is on his way."

She stilled. "What?"

"You think you could keep him away after what happened? The poor man is beating himself up for leaving you."

Tears filled her eyes. And my sister inhaled and exhaled a suppressed sob. "I was doing it for us. So the three of us would present a united front."

I grinned wryly. "How is that working so far?"

"It would have been fine if I didn't have an episode."

I couldn't keep her in the dark any longer. "It wasn't an episode, Amadea. It's our suspicion that foul play is behind your migraines."

"What do you mean?"

"I saw someone who looked familiar—someone I'd seen at the theater. Jed sent over the sketch to the guys."

"The guys?"

"An entire team of tier-one operatives is on their way. You've got Kade Spear, John Garrison, Ramsay, and Hank."

Amadea's head bowed, but a hint of a smile played on her lips. "Your man, Hank."

"He's not my man."

"Don't lie to me. You're as miserable as I am."

I reared back. "You. Miserable? You've been so cool and polished."

She gave me a bored look. "I was trained to mask my feelings more than you."

"Oh, Amadea."

Her fingers tightened in my hand. "I want you to follow your heart."

I gave a brief scornful laugh. "I'm not sure what you mean. My heart should be in Venusstea."

"But it's not," she said. "You think I don't see how you sit in parliament and feel like that's the last place you want to be? And during all your free time, you're riding Prince. These lavish balls and dinners were supposed to show our monarchy is as strong as ever. I wanted to leverage you and Petros to pass the renewable energy initiative, but I fear that my breakdown tonight… Last night just set us back to square one. If what you say is true, then I've underestimated our enemies. I won't be surprised if the public will call for the abolishment of the monarchy."

"Maybe that would be good. Then you and Ramsay will be free."

"Just as you and Hank will be free."

"Don't be silly."

She squeezed my hand. "I want you to follow your dream."

Tears formed in my eyes. "And what is my dream, Amadea?"

"Hank."

"We live for no man."

She laughed briefly for that was our motto. "Not everyone is born into the life they were meant to live."

"Don't, Amadea." A tear rolled down my cheek because that was the clawing feeling that had been burrowing deep into my heart and soul. "This is my life."

"Maybe. I don't see a way out of this unless we get rid of the Argent law. We should ease the public into the change."

"Do you love Ramsay?"

Without hesitation, she said, "I do, but I also love our country, and I don't think I want to leave it to our brother."

"And not me?"

She grinned, "Especially not you."

"Ouch."

"You love our country, but you're not in the right position to serve it. You're not meant to sit on the throne and talk to dignitaries and make deals with foreign investors. You're a protector. Just look at what you're doing now. Maybe you can open your own spy division."

I laughed. "We have such lofty goals."

"I'm serious, Thala," my sister said. "There's been assassination attempts on us and this last one, if what you say is true, was meant to take me out of power. This white hydrogen windfall is bringing out the wolves."

"Hela's hell," I whispered.

"What?"

I had a feeling that Hank was right. That Petros might be more involved than simply by association to Sokolov. His early appearance to see me in the stables made little sense. That he waited on me to be ready before seeing Amadea didn't make sense either if they had matters to discuss that had nothing to do with me.

He wanted to make sure he was never alone with the queen and had made me his alibi.

That son of a bitch.