The Night Hawk

Chapter 3: A Name I Had Not Given

I knew the chapel's rear door opened onto a narrow lane between the palace wall and the old conservatory. I had used it during drills. I had never used it while leading a prince, a records clerk, and an armed attacker through the dark.

The door had been chained from the outside.

I lowered my pistol and inspected the lock. The chain was new, bright metal against the old wood.

"Can you open it?" Julian asked.

"Yes."

My mother stood behind him, listening to the shots echo across the courtyard. "There are people trapped in the gallery."

"I know," I said.

"How many?"

"I don't know."

I could feel her disappointment in the silence that followed. I deserved it, but I could not afford to stand there and take it.

I pulled a small cutting tool from the inside of my jacket. The chain snapped after two attempts. I eased the door open and stepped into the lane. Rain fell in thin silver threads. No one waited in the shadows.

I moved first, then signaled them through.

At the conservatory, I punched in the code to the utility entrance. The panel flashed red.

"Someone changed it," I said.

"Who?" Julian asked.

"Rusk or someone working for him."

He glanced toward the palace. "We can't leave the ministers in there."

"They're not my only concern."

"No. I'm your concern."

The words landed between us. He said them without anger, but that made them worse.

I looked toward the wet courtyard, where the palace windows glowed red. "Right now, yes."

I pulled the utility door open with a pry tool. We entered a greenhouse corridor smelling of damp soil and old leaves. A maintenance ladder led to the loading-bay level. I went first, then helped my mother up. Julian followed.

"Who trained you?" he asked.

"Crown Protection."

"When?"

"Seven years ago."

He stopped on the ladder. "You've been in the records office for seven years?"

"On and off."

"You sat across from me at breakfast for three years."

"I did."

"And you never thought to mention you were armed?"

"I was not armed at breakfast."

"Comforting."

I reached the top and opened the hatch. "You can be angry when we're safe."

"I can do both."

I wanted to tell him that he was right. I wanted to tell him that I had watched him read to his younger cousins in the garden and sit alone in the family chapel after his father's funeral. I wanted to say I had learned what kind of man he was before I ever learned what kind of prince.

Instead, I checked the loading bay.

The delivery entrance stood open. A black van waited beneath the overhang with its engine running. It was a Crown Protection vehicle, but I recognized the driver as one of Rusk's aides.

I pulled Julian and my mother back from the hatch.

"Not ours," I whispered.

"Could be an evacuation vehicle," my mother said.

"It's not on the list."

"You have a list?"

"I have several."

I took the radio clipped to the wall and switched it on. A voice came through, broken by static.

"...all units... east wing... the Crown Prince has been secured..."

Julian's face changed. "That's a lie."

"Yes."

"Then we need to reach the broadcast room."

"No. We need to reach an exit."

"If they tell the country I've been secured, they can announce whatever they want in my name."

"If they control the broadcast room, walking into it won't help."

"I can speak to the people who remain loyal."

"Can you prove who they are?"

He did not answer.

I heard the van door open below. The aide began calling into the building.

I looked at my mother. She took the heavy ring of archive keys from her pocket and held them out.

"Use the older service stairs," she said. "The entrance behind the winter garden. I can get through to the records basement from here."

"No."

"I know those corridors better than either of you."

"Mom."

"Mara, I'm not a package you can carry out."

My throat tightened. She was right. I could not guard her by forcing her into every decision.

I took the keys. "If they find you, say you never saw me."

"I've been saying that for years."

She left through the archive stair, her shoulders straight and her steps brisk. I watched her go until the corridor turned.

Julian stood beside me. "You let her walk into danger."

"She chose her route."

"And you trust her?"

"With my life."

He looked at me. "You haven't trusted me with the truth."

"I was assigned to keep you alive. Not to be your confidante."

"Then why did you stay?"

The answer was in my chest, too familiar to name.

"Because the assignment required it," I said.

His mouth tightened. "Let's go find your exit."

I led him into the winter garden. Beyond the glass, the palace lights flickered and the alarm continued its patient pulse.

At the far wall, I found the service stairs. Before we descended, I heard someone coming up.

I raised my pistol.

A woman's voice called from below. "Mara Ellis?"

My name sounded wrong in the dark.

Julian looked at me.

I held the g*n steady and waited.