Chapter 16

A picture was worth a thousand words and Ryder needed Langley to understand the situation. When she reached his side, he showed her the live feed from the security camera on the tunnel door in the wine cellar.

"The barricade bar is down."

"I know." He stowed the phone and moved quickly, gathering a few things they'd need.

"It can only be removed from the inside."

"I know." He slung a backpack over his shoulder and stopped in front of her. "From here on out, trust no one—only me."

Her gaze jerked up to his and he saw in her eyes that she understood exactly what he was telling her. "Who?"

"Don't know." Ryder took Langley's hand and tugged her to the bedroom door. He released her and listened carefully before cautiously inching it open. The escape tunnel system the ambassador had told him about was separate from the tunnels the assassination squad had used to gain access to the house and it was their ticket to safety. He hoped. "Stick close," he whispered, and after reaching for his pistol, stepped into the hallway.

He fucking hated that the corridor was open to the great room below, and Ryder gestured to Langley to hug the wall. If someone walked through and looked up, they were finished.

The nearest entry point to the escape tunnels was in the master bedroom and they were going to be exposed for about thirty to forty seconds until they reached the enclosed section of the hall. That was going to be a long half minute. From there, they'd have another thirty seconds or so until they made it to their destination. Fuck, he wished there was a closer entrance.

He didn't know who the hell the ambassador's friend was or what he did that necessitated a hidden escape route, but they were damn lucky it was there and twice as lucky that Canfield had made him promise not to share its existence with his team.

A floorboard creaked under Langley's foot and Ryder froze. Waited.

She was practically plastered to his side and he could feel her tension. Ryder wished he could smile and reassure her that everything was going to be fine, but he couldn't do that. Because an unknown member of his team was a traitor, and the two of them were on their own against a sniper of epic skill and probably a team of mercenaries. His hellcat might not be some normal civilian, but she wasn't Wonder Woman either.

After a few seconds, he resumed moving, confident that no one had been around to hear the sound. Reaching the enclosed hallway was a small relief. He eyed the door at the end of the corridor. Halfway there.

Langley breathed a soft sigh when they arrived at the master bedroom, but he knew better. Ryder exercised as much caution to enter the room as he'd done when they'd gone into the corridor. Silently, he closed the door behind them.

In milliseconds, he saw that bedroom was enormous with lofted ceilings and a view of the lake and mountains that was amazing. He headed straight for the closet.

He'd only been given a few minutes to study the schematics for the emergency tunnels and Ryder had focused on the entrances and how to open the hidden doorways. Finding their way around once they were inside would involve a lot of trial and error, but he'd worry about that when he needed to .

The closet was as big as some people's homes and filled with clothes. A wardrobe for each residence? At least the fabric could hide them if anyone came in here and only did a cursory search. Closing the door, Ryder went to the back right hand side. "Grab some jackets for us while I get the door to the tunnels open. It'll drop to the 40s or 50s overnight."

"You know about the escape tunnels?"

Ryder paused, turned to look at her. " You know about the them?"

"Sure. I played in them with Charlotte and Louisa when we were kids."

"Who the fuck are Charlotte and Louisa?" he demanded, voice soft.

She frowned at him, but didn't mention his language. "Uncle Bill and Aunt Kate's daughters. If we need jackets, does that mean we're camping out?"

Ryder shook his head. "Only if we have no other choice. My plan is to get one of the cars and drive away."

If the vehicles hadn't been disabled.

And since they'd left them parked outside in front of the garage, they no doubt had been tampered with, but he didn't share that with Langley. Moving clothes aside, he worked his way to the closet wall. She'd played in the damn tunnels as a kid. That didn't bode well for them being as secret as the ambassador had told him they were and that fucking damn well sucked.

The ornate gizmo he needed to press was hidden amid scores of other carvings. Every inch of the wood from knee-height to crown molding held something—a bird, a flower, a leaf—and it was repeated. Fourth row from the top, fifteenth flower in. Or was it fifth row?

Nothing.

He pressed the flower one row below as Langley came up beside him. "It's fourth row from the bottom," she told him softly. "The entire family needed to get out, if the need arose, and children can't reach that high."

She leaned past him and pressed a flower. Nothing happened for her either.

A sound reached his ears. It was barely a whisper, but his hand tightened around the pistol. They needed to hurry. He studied the wall near where Langley had pressed. There, in the row above her flower, was a lily that seemed out of alignment by a fraction. This time when he touched it, the wall slid silently open.

Grabbing Langley's hand, Ryder pulled her into the tunnel. The control to manipulate the door was obvious on this side and he hurriedly rearranged the hangers before using it. The panel seemed to shut painfully, slowly.

The sound of the closet door opening came as the entrance closed with a barely-audible thud. The darkness was absolute.

Langley leaned into his side as they listened to someone search the closet. He should put her away from him, but he couldn't make himself do it. What Ryder wanted to do was wrap his arm around her, to give her whatever comfort he could, but he remained ready, his attention focused on where they'd entered. He held the pistol in his right hand and the other held hers firmly.

It didn't take long before he heard someone say, "Clear."

Ryder didn't move, and his hand tightened around Langley's when she began to stir. He didn't know if the man was talking into a headset or if he had a partner with him, and it didn't matter. They were waiting before they did anything that might make noise.

When he felt comfortable that the search for them really had moved on, Ryder released Langley and reached for his phone. The light from the screen seemed bright after the dark, but it wasn't enough illumination. He turned on the flashlight and moved the light around, trying to get a better idea of the tunnels.

Cobwebs were thick between the wood of the ceiling and the dark wooden walls, particularly in the corners. He felt Langley shudder but ignored it. Spiders were the least of their worries. The floors were also wood and about fifteen feet away there was a set of spiral stairs that he thought would take them to ground level. Everything was covered in a thick coating of dust and that was a good sign. It meant that the household staff didn't come in here to clean.

It meant the tunnels might actually be secret.

Gesturing with the light, Ryder indicated she should take the stairs. Langley didn't move. He repeated the motion, more insistently this time.

She turned to scowl up at him and then using her thighs to hold one of the jackets, she donned the other, a raincoat, and pulled the hood over her head. With the other jacket draped over her arm again, she moved carefully toward the stairway.

After about four steps down, she stopped.

"Why aren't you moving?" He kept his voice quiet, but he was pretty sure Langley would pick up on the fact he was getting pissed at her.

"Because I can't see where I'm going and the spiral of the staircase is tight. Aren't we in enough trouble without my falling?"

Yeah. It was dark and she was out of the pool of light his phone's flashlight was emitting. Still, he was irritated. "I'll give you the phone so you can have the light. Be careful with it."

"I'm going to ignore your tone," she said.

Ryder's jaw clenched at how painfully polite she sounded and handed her his mobile. She thrust the leather jacket at him. Scowling, he shrugged it on, repositioned his pack and said, "Move."

Hanging on to his phone with one hand and the bannister with the other, Langley slowly descended. Impatience made him tense, and he struggled to keep his mouth shut. The staircase was steep, the spiral was tight, and her legs were in rough shape, but damn it, he wanted to tell her to hurry the fuck up.

About six million years later, they reached the ground floor. She stayed at the foot of the stairs, and with his voice soft and carefully neutral, Ryder said, "Can you please take another step forward so I can reach the floor too?"

She did, but quickly jumped backward, slamming into his chest.

"What? What's wrong?" He didn't see any threat.

"Mouse," she whispered.

"For fuck's sake, Langley, it's more afraid of you than you are of it."

"It startled me. I apologize for reacting to the unanticipated motion." She enunciated each word with perfect diction.

He pulled the strap of the pack higher on his shoulder and grimaced. Sometimes he forgot that normal people responded strongly to unexpected stimulus, but he didn't apologize. "Let me have the phone."

Taking it from her, he held it aloft, using the light to check out where they were. To their right, there was another set of stairs going to what he guessed was the basement and the dust and cobwebs were every bit as thick there as they were on the set they'd previously used. Straight ahead were a set of hallways shaped in a giant T. They stood at the foot of the letter.

Ryder narrowed his eyes, trying to orient himself. Between not being able to study the plans for the emergency tunnels for very long and the spinning on the spiral staircase, he needed a moment to get his bearings.

When he thought he knew how to head toward the garage, he said, "Go straight ahead, and when you hit the wall, turn left." He passed the mobile back to her.

"I hope your phone is charged."

"It is," Ryder said, not bothering to mention that the battery was more powerful than anything available to the public.

He guided them through a series of turns until he thought they were getting near the garage. If his memory was right, there was an exit from the tunnel to a workshop tucked at the back of the vehicle stalls. He'd leave her inside the passageway and check out the cars. On the off chance one of them was running, Ryder would get her and they'd head out. The odds weren't in their favor, but he knew a hell of a lot about engines, so it was a possibility he'd be able to fix whatever had been done.

They remained silent except for his occasional directions, meanwhile he ran scenarios on what might happen when he checked on the cars. The mansion was large, but he didn't know how many mercenaries there were. He hoped that the entire squad was occupied searching the house, but what would he do if someone was guarding the vehicles?

Finally, they reached the exit out of the tunnels to the garage. He took his mobile from her hand and ran the light over the wall until he found the mechanism to open it. "Okay," he whispered, "I'm going out to the cars. You stay here until I come back. Don't move no matter what, understood?"

"Understood."

Giving the phone back to Langley, he used the lever to slowly open the panel into the garage. The sunlight was bright and he gave his eyes a few seconds to adjust. Putting his pack down in the hall, he slipped out of the tunnel and pulled the door almost completely shut behind him.

He stayed low, remaining behind cover as much as possible until he reached the first car. Keeping it between him and the house, he scanned. No signs of life.

Carefully, quietly, he opened the passenger door, the side of the vehicle farthest from the house, and leaned over to pop the hood. It made a soft snick as it released. Ryder didn't need to lift it all the way to realize they weren't driving out of here. Not unless he could find a working battery to replace the one that had been removed. He carefully lowered the hood, but didn't close it, too aware of how loud that would be. The gap was barely noticeable.

The second car had the same problem. Fuck . Yeah, well, he'd guessed they weren't going to be able to get away that easily.

Ryder ducked and froze as motion caught his eye. As he watched, an armed man passed by the front of the house before disappearing around the side. He recognized him.

The depth of the betrayal slammed into him.

Andy Harper. The man he'd considered his mentor.