The King's Deception (34 page)

“For a sewer, this doesn’t smell that bad.”

“Oh, my, this hasn’t been used for waste in centuries. Can’t go dumping in the river anymore. It’s mainly for rainwater. There are staff that keep it cleaned out. The entrance we used was the way servants would come here in Henry’s time to keep the flow from clogging.”

She seemed at ease with all this intrigue, as if it happened every day. But he had to say, “I’m sorry for involving you in this.”

“Goodness, no. Most excitement I’ve had in a long while. Mary
said there might be an adventure, and she was so right. I once worked for SIS. Did Mary tell you that?”

“She left that detail out.”

“I was an analyst in my younger days. Quite good, too, if I do say so.” She kept plowing ahead. “Not as exciting as things you once did, but I learned to keep a cool head on things.”

“I wasn’t aware you knew what I did.”

“Mary said you were an American agent.”

He was forced to stoop as they walked. Tanya had no such problem. Their lights revealed only about twenty feet ahead of them.

More eels splashed beside his feet.

He heard a sound from behind.

Voices.

“Oh, dear,” Tanya said, stopping. “I’m afraid the palace staff must be involved. They are the only ones who could open that door.”

K
ATHLEEN DROPPED TO A GRAVELED PATH
. T
HE
P
RIVY
G
ARDEN
stretched out before her, the space full of pyramid yews, round-headed holly trees, fall bulbs, statues, and annuals edged with box hedges. Graveled paths and wide avenues routed traffic through the natural décor.

She decided to head away from the river, to the rear side of the palace. From there she could double back to the train station and catch a ride somewhere. Anywhere but here. She needed to think. Make some decisions. Smart ones this time. The problem was she had only one place to turn. She was through at SOCA. Her employer would do nothing to protect her. The police were likewise useless. Only Thomas Mathews could help.

Or could he?

And if so,
would
he?

She followed the path to the palace rear and turned left.

Fifty meters away stood Eva Pazan and the same man from inside.

Both spotted her.

She turned and raced away, shielded by the corner of the building.

Ahead was nothing but more buildings with more cameras.

So she decided to go left, toward the river, into the riot of color and order that was the Privy Garden.

M
ALONE REALIZED THEY HAD A HEAD START BUT WONDERED
where Tanya was taking them. The concern for what lay behind them was helping with his unease at being underground. He thought about just stopping and confronting their pursuers. If it was MI6, why would there be a problem? If the police, same thing? What was the worst that could happen? Arrest? Stephanie Nelle could get him out of that.

“It’s just ahead,” Tanya said.

He assumed the men behind them carried flashlights, but he could not spot their beams. In absolute darkness weak pencils of light carried only so far. But that meant their flashlights were not visible, either. Ahead he saw a ladder that led into an opening in the ceiling.

“Mr. Malone,” a voice said from the blackness behind them, with an echo, which signaled distance.

“One chance. Stop and wait for us.”

Tanya grabbed the ladder.

He motioned for her to climb and fast.

“This is not your fight,” the voice called out. “No need to die for it.”

Die?

He grabbed hold of the metal ladder. Aluminum. Sturdy.

“Who are you?” he called out.

“That’s not your concern.”

He stared back into the darkness to his left. A pale glow, far off, to his right, revealed the emerging end at the Thames. Light appeared
above him as Tanya opened a hatch in the short tunnel that led through the brick ceiling.

He climbed up, free of the tunnel below.

A bang.

Which startled him.

Then another.

More.

Gunfire raged through the passage beneath him.

Bullets ricocheted off the brick. He was above it, near the exit, but was concerned about a stray. He quickly emerged at ground level, slamming down a metal hatch.

“Thank goodness this portal is never locked,” Tanya said. “It was added years ago as a safety measure.”

He grabbed his bearings.

They were south of the palace, west of the great Privy Garden, a brick wall and tall hedges in between. The compact Banqueting House, which fronted the river, nearby. No people here, but he could hear voices beyond the hedges in what he knew were the Pond Gardens. He’d strolled through them before, where the fish served in the palace were once kept alive before heading to the kitchens.

“Was that gunfire I heard below?” Tanya asked.

“Afraid so. We need to disappear. Fast.”

Things had just changed.

Those men came to kill him.

He studied the hatch and saw a lever that allowed it to be opened from the top side, which moved in conjunction with the one below. He looked around for something, anything, and found what he needed near a pond in the center of the garden. A walk leading to and from, bisecting the grass and the flowers, was paved with flat stones. He darted over and managed to dislodge one, about a foot square, from the moist earth. He carried it back and rested it beside the lever on the hatch.

A workable lock.

When anyone tried to turn it from below the stone would block its path.

“Where to?” he asked Tanya, since she’d obviously brought them here for a reason.

She pointed beyond the Banqueting House to the river.

“That way.”

K
ATHLEEN KEPT MOVING THROUGH THE
P
RIVY
G
ARDEN
toward the Thames. The manicured hedges were all low, offering no place to hide and no cover. A wide graveled path lined with knee-high box hedges led to a center fountain. Not many people here, but enough. Behind her Eva and her companion found the garden and headed her way.

She still carried her gun and was deciding how best to use it. She’d shoot her way out, if need be, but the lack of effective cover cautioned, for the moment, against that route. Statues dotted the grass to her left and right, large enough to offer some protection, but getting to and from them required crossing open territory.

So she kept hustling ahead.

M
ALONE AND
T
ANYA PASSED AROUND THE
B
ANQUETING
House. Tanya seemed to know exactly where she was going. They crossed a small lawn beneath bare trees and found an eight-foot-high brick wall that separated the palace grounds from a concrete walk bordering the Thames.

“I live just there, on the other side of the river, up a tributary,” she said. “I motor to work every day in my boat.”

He nearly smiled. This was a smart woman. He’d wondered how they were going to make their way off the hundreds of acres that surrounded Hampton Court. The simplest route? On the water. Which Tanya Carlton had known all along.

An iron-barred gate opened in the wall, it too with an electronic lock. Tanya punched in the code and they passed through.

“I come through here every day, so the groundskeeper has provided me access. Years ago, I was given a key. I daresay things have progressed since then.”

They turned and hurried down the pavement, a white, wooden rail guarding the riverside, heading away from the gardens. He spotted the railway station where he’d arrived across the river. He kept a watch out toward the brick wall, ready to find his gun. A handful of others were also strolling the path.

His mind was in full alert.

Somebody had wanted him dead.

And that underground passage, with its privacy, had offered them a perfect opportunity.

He needed to speak with Antrim.

As soon as they were away from here.

K
ATHLEEN SPOTTED A DECORATIVE IRON FENCE
,
THE WORK OF
some talented blacksmiths, which allowed glimpses of the Thames through its gilded foliage. The fence on either side was over two meters high and spiked on top. Eva and her pal were closing fast. She spied left, then right, and noticed where the fence ended and a high brick wall that further guarded the perimeter began. What caught her attention was a set of steps that led up to another level of the garden, higher, nearly even with the top of the brick wall. It would be easy from there to hop onto the wall and jump down to the other side, where pavement bordered the Thames. She could either run like hell or make a swim for it.

She darted right and ran down the graveled path, then up the steps.

Behind her, she spotted Pazan now running her way.

She came to the top of the stairs and onto more gravel. She’d been right. The iron fence with its spikes ended and the brick wall began, lower here thanks to the new height. A simple matter to hop up and jump down the two meters to the other side. But before she could pivot onto the wall, two men appeared from ahead,
guns in hand. Eva was now at the base of the stairs behind her, armed too.