Chapter 56: The Escape

Chapter 56: The Escape
Olivia ran.

She did not decide where she was going. Her feet simply carried her, down the corridor, around the corner, down the east staircase until she found herself at the security post near the palace entrance where the chief security officer, a broad man named Cole, was reviewing the morning patrol schedule with two of his men.

He looked up when she appeared in the doorway, breathless.

"Someone entered Lord Harris's chambers," Olivia said. "Just now. He was moving like he did not want to be seen."

Cole was already on his feet before she finished.

"Which corridor?" he asked.

"This way." Olivia pointed.

He turned to his men, gave two short instructions, and they followed immediately.

++++

They reached Harris's chambers in under a minute.

The door was unlocked. Cole pushed it open and went in first, his men behind him. They moved through the room quickly and thoroughly, the wardrobe, the bathroom, the space behind the heavy curtains at the window.

They found no one.

Cole crossed to the window and looked out.

It was open. Just slightly. Enough for a person to have gone through it. Below was the narrow ledge that ran along the outer palace wall, and beyond that the drop to the eastern garden.

Whoever had been in this room was gone.

Cole turned to his men. "Check the garden wall. Both sides. Now."

They hurried out.

Cole stood in the empty room and looked at the open window for a long moment.

Then he went to report to the Alpha.

++++

In the main hall Josh listened to Cole's report without expression.

Josh looked at Harris when Cole finished.

Harris looked away to avoid Josh's gaze, a slight smile tucked at the corner of his mouth. He knew better than to speak.

"What do you have to say to this, Harris?" Josh asked.

Harris remained quiet and that made Josh considerably angrier.

"Your silence," Josh said, "in the face of everything on this table is annoying and unbelievable."

Harris said nothing.

"I have known you my entire life," Josh continued. "We dined and laughed and I trusted what you told me and believed what you showed me." His voice did not waver. "And all of it, all of it… was built on something I had no idea existed underneath it."

Harris cleared his throat. Still said nothing.

"Double life," Josh said. The words came out very flat. Very controlled. "You sat in my council. You broke bread in my hall. You called me brother." He paused. "And in the dark you were selling people. Genuine people. People who had done nothing except be vulnerable enough to target."

Josh stood up. "I am going to ask you for the last time," he said. "Are you guilty of the charges levied against you or not?"

Harris did not even blink.

"This is ridiculous," Josh scoffed. "I believe this is too much familiarity playing out between us."

"Take him to the cell," he said to the guards. "He stays there until he realises he is still under the law and not above it. Until he is ready to look me in the eye and accept responsibility for everything."

"I was here with you the whole time," Harris finally said. "How would I know when someone entered my room?"

"Take him away," Josh said sharply.

The guards stepped forward.

Harris stared at Josh for a moment. Then he stood up without being pulled. He straightened his coat. He walked between the guards with his head up and his face composed and did not look back.

Josh watched him go.

"Everyone else may leave," Josh said, waving his hand in dismissal.

The hall emptied.

He stood there alone for a long time.

++++

The cell in the lower palace was cold and quiet and very old.

Harris sat on the stone bench and looked at the opposite wall and thought about nothing in particular. Or tried to.

The guard outside the cell door changed at midnight. Harris heard the footsteps, the brief exchange of words, the settling of someone new into position.

Then silence.

He closed his eyes.

He did not sleep.

++++

Drake had spent the day hiding in the shadows of the palace, waiting for darkness.

He was patient. That was what made him dangerous. He could wait hours without moving, without sound, without giving himself away. He had done it before. He would do it again.

He was not a man who acted on emotion. He was not a man who acted on loyalty either, exactly. He acted on calculation. And his calculation was simple — Harris was the only person alive who knew enough about Drake's own activities to destroy him completely. Harris sitting in a prison cell answering Josh's investigators was a problem Drake could not afford.

He moved in the mid night.

The guard on the night shift was alert. He had been specifically warned since the afternoon incident that someone had entered the palace unseen. He stood straight and listened carefully to every sound the old building made.

Drake was behind the guard before the man fully registered the sound of a footstep. The guard turned quickly but saw nothing.

Then Drake moved again, faster and grabbed the guard's neck. The snap was instant. The guard dropped without a sound. Drake lowered him carefully to the floor and took the keys from his belt.

He unlocked the cell.

Harris looked up from the stone bench. "Drake," he said. "How did you know?"

"Your cousin has gone further in his investigation than we anticipated," Drake said. "His men are already working. We cannot afford to wait."

"What is your plan?" Harris asked.

"You are leaving this pack," Drake said. "You have been exposed. We both have."

"To where?" Harris asked.

"Somewhere far. Until things settle." Drake stepped back from the open door. "Let's go."

Outside, Harris looked at the guard on the floor for a moment. Then he walked past him without a word.

++++

The next guard on duty arrived at his post and stopped.

He stared at what was in front of him. Then he shouted and ran straight to Cole.

Cole and Dan reached the cell at the same time, breathing hard. They stood in the doorway and looked at the empty bench and the guard on the floor and neither of them spoke for a moment.

"This is unbelievable," Dan said.

They found Josh on the staircase. He was dressed and heading to the Pack Decision meeting concerning the other affected packs, the one that had been scheduled for days.

"My Alpha," Dan said. His voice was unsteady.

"Calm down and speak," Josh said.

"Harris is gone," Dan said. He paused. "The guard is dead, my Alpha."

Josh went very still. "The guard is dead?" he repeated. "Harris would not do that himself." His eyes sharpened. "The man who entered the palace yesterday."

"Yes," Dan said. "It must be one of his men. Someone who works for him."

Josh looked at the wall for a moment.

"Lock down th
e borders," he said. "Every gate. Every road. Every trail out of this territory." His voice was very controlled. "And find Harris. And whoever his man is."