Princess in Peril

Isabelle did so. She wasn’t nearly as sure of Levi’s plan as he seemed to be, and she feared that his efforts might bring the ceiling crumbling down on top of them or, at the very least, alert the soldiers to their presence.

The thick end of the old wood thudded against the stones as Levi pummeled it a few times. Then he appeared to brace himself, took several steps back and came at the wall at a run.

“Augh!” Levi exclaimed as the beam buried itself deep in the stones and he stumbled from the impact.

“Shh!” Isabelle hurried to his side. “Are you all right?”

The bodyguard looked stunned as he eased himself to his feet. “I’m fine,” he said, though he didn’t sound fine. He tugged at the beam and the stones shifted, crumbling away to reveal a round hole half a meter in diameter. The dust settled, exposing utter blackness beyond.

Isabelle shuddered. “Do you think the soldiers won’t notice the hole and guess where we’ve gone?”

Levi pulled off his sunglasses as he turned to face her. His blue eyes were piercing in the silvery beam from the flashlight. “Your father’s generals know about the catacombs,” he stated bluntly. “They were there when your father shared the maps with me. If Lydian soldiers are answering to Valli, he must have at least one general under his thumb somehow. This tells him nothing he doesn’t already know.” He reached for her hand. “Would you like to go first?”

Although the hole hardly seemed large enough to squeeze through, Isabelle realized they didn’t have time to enlarge it. And the fact that Valli likely knew about the catacombs made their flight that much more urgent.

Reluctantly, Isabelle placed her hand in Levi’s and climbed over the pile of rubble to peer into the darkness of the hole. “You do recall that we left several soldiers in the mausoleum, don’t you?”

“I’m sure they’ve left by now.” Levi shined his flashlight into the darkness beyond. “It’s less than a meter to the floor. We should hurry.”

Realizing he was right, Isabelle hoisted the skirt of her evening gown just high enough to permit her to step through the hole. Her feet found the floor beyond and she secured decent footing among the jumbled stones. As soon as Levi was through she reached for the jacket he wore.

“I’m cold.” Even her voice shivered.

Levi pulled off the tuxedo jacket and placed it around her shoulders. “I should have given it to you sooner. I don’t need it.” His white cotton shirt rose and fell against his muscular chest as he sucked in deep breaths, obviously still winded from the exertion of breaking through the wall.

Slipping her arms through the sleeves, Isabelle turned away from Levi and tried not to think about how indebted she was to the handsome bodyguard for all he’d done on her behalf that evening. Instead she focused on the path ahead.

Isabelle knew they didn’t have much ground to cover because the Embassy was so close to the cathedral. They rounded a corner and found themselves back at the staircase that led up to the mausoleum. The climb that had been so frightening the first time now felt familiar, although Isabelle knew they had just as much to fear—possibly more so now that the soldiers knew she was alive. When they lifted the opening above, artificial light continued to shine down brightly from the central hall.

Levi paused. “Do you hear anything?” he asked after some silence.

“Nothing.”

“Then let’s go.”

They clambered through the hole and darted down the hall. Isabelle saw no sign of the soldiers they’d left behind less than an hour before. Relieved that the men weren’t still there, Isabelle nonetheless wondered where they might have gone. Her fingers tightened around Levi’s arm, and her steps slowed.

“We need to hurry,” he reminded her.

She shook her head. “Hurry where? You said yourself this is the last place they’d likely look for us. If we go running upstairs we could be captured.”

The dark line of Levi’s beard flexed as he clenched his jaw. He seemed to weigh her words carefully before he spoke. “The soldiers have already checked the cathedral—I have no doubt about that. They’ll most likely assume we’ve fled the area. They’ll widen the perimeter of their search area before they recheck where they’ve already been.”

“Do you think so?”

His blue eyes hardened. “Whoever’s behind this insurgent uprising, they seem to have gained control of the Lydian military. That means Lydian commanders following Lydian protocol.”

Isabelle recalled his earlier insinuation that he’d served in the Lydian military. Although she wanted to question him about it, there simply wasn’t time. She followed him down the hallway toward the steps that led up to the cathedral. “How long do you think we’ll have before they circle back and check the cathedral again?”

“It depends on how organized they are. They’ve just pulled off a major ambush so I’d like to believe they won’t be too methodical about their search just yet. We might have an hour, maybe several hours. We still need to move quickly.”

“And where are we moving to? Do you still think you can get me out of the country?”

A smile twitched in the corner of Levi’s eyes. “Now you want out of the country?”

He looked far too pleased with her change of priorities, but Isabelle refused to be distracted from her goal of reaching safety. “If Stephanos Valli is working with the insurgent forces, then yes, I want to get as far from here as I possibly can.”

“Then we’ll need help.” Levi led her up the stairs to the back hallway of the cathedral, where the stone floors gave way to Persian rugs, softening their footfalls. “One of the deacons at the Cathedral is a former Sanctuary International agent. If he’s here—if we can find him before anyone else recognizes you—perhaps he can help us get to out of the country. The Sanctuary International headquarters are in New York City. We’ll be safest there.”

Isabelle nodded. “What does this former agent look like?”

“I don’t know,” Levi admitted. “We’ve never met, but your father mentioned his name in passing—”

“What’s his name, then?”

“Dan? Don? Dom?”

“Dom Procopio?”

“Yes.” Levi snapped his fingers. “I think that’s it.”

“Dom Procopio is a deacon and a friend of my father,” Isabelle offered cautiously. They’d made their way down the richly inlaid hall, and now the doors to the deacons’ offices appeared in front of Isabelle as she turned the corner. The name Dom Procopio was etched into the placard on the third door, and Isabelle grasped the doorknob with her right hand.

Levi’s calloused fingers covered hers. “Careful,” he cautioned her, suddenly so close that she could feel his warmth still the goose bumps on her arm. “We don’t know what we’ll find on the other side of that door.”

Isabelle swallowed but didn’t dare turn around to meet his eyes. She’d spent too much time getting close to Levi already. Needing to put some space between them, she cautiously cracked the door open just far enough to allow her to see inside the room.

Dom Procopio sat bound to his desk chair, a thick gag stuffed into his mouth.

Isabelle wondered if he was even still alive.

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