Page 58 of The Heart of the King

Edward sighed. “I’m not certain. None of us are yet, but David seems to think we’re all in danger.”

“Where is he?” It was Jazz’s turn to demand answers. “Where’s Hazel?”

“As far as I know, she’s still stuck and he’s still working to get her foot loose, but the door to the room they’re in isn’t working properly either. It’s stuck closed. They’re trying to get it open now while David deals with whatever is going on in the room.”

Jazz didn’t like that answer. She turned and stalked to the stairwell leading to the upper decks.

Randall stopped her. “You can’t go up there right now, ma’am.”

She glared at him. “I need to be there for David and Zellie. Let me by, Randall.”

“He’s right, ma’am.”

Jazz turned her glare on Justin. “You’re not Auverignonian. What gives you the power here?”

“They’re right, Jasmine.” This time the words came from Edward. “The last thing David needs is to be distracted from whatever is going on in that closet. You need to wait here with us. Their job is keeping all of us safe.”

With a sigh, Jazz nodded and let her body relax from its fight posture. “Fine. But I want to know what’s going on.”

The monarchs and security team members exchanged a look. Finally, Edward nodded. Benjamin might have been king for well over a decade and was Auverignon’s closest ally, but Edward was clearly the elder statesman of the group.

“They think there may be a bomb in the closet where Hazel is stuck. Daniel is on the phone with our bomb squad. They may have to talk David through defusing it.”

Jazz clutched her stomach as she gasped. Edward wrapped his arm around her to keep her from falling.

Now what?

With his heart racing,David tried to project outward calm for Hazel. “How are you, sweetheart?” he asked, keeping his tone even.

“I’m okay.” She sniffled.

“It’s okay if you’re scared.”

She blinked back tears. “It is?”

“Of course. I’m scared, too, but I’m praying that we’ll get out of here safely. I have complete faith that Daniel and the others will be able to either get in here and get you unstuck or walk me through taking care of this.” He hoped his smile was reassuring and not scared or creepy.

Hazel sniffled and nodded, but remained fairly calm as she huddled next to the hull of the ship.

“Tell me what you see.” Daniel’s voice came through both the door and the phone speaker as Hazel held it for David.

He tried to maneuver himself so he could get a better look. “Let me have the phone, Hazel.” He held out his hand then turned the flashlight on so he could see better.

It looked like every bomb he’d ever seen in movies. Not that he’d seen many movies in recent years. “It’s tan or brown and rectangular but it’s several smaller rectangles put together. There are wires, a keypad, and a digital clock counting down.” It looked like he had a couple of hours before the bomb was supposed to detonate.

If that was the real timer.

It was always possible the timer he could see was a decoy.

“Okay. We’re getting our best man on the phone.” A second later a new voice said hello before Daniel went on. “Sir, this is Captain Phillips. Tell him what you told me.”

Again, David described what he saw.

“Let’s see if we can get a video chat going,” Captain Phillips said. “I’d prefer to see it myself.”

David swore to himself. He should have thought of that. Before he could tap the button on his phone, the man on the other end sent a request to video chat. A minute later, he’d connected to the military officer on land.

After slowly panning across the bomb, David asked if he needed to see anything else.

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