Page 60 of The Prodigal Prince

“And you don’t think it’s possible Isaiah forged those documents? Tried to steal this place from our cousin?”

Mr. Villain rushed toward Mac. Mac stood, but let himself be pushed back against the rough hewn stone wall. With his half-brother’s arm across his chest, Mac looked down slightly into the crazed eyes of his captor.

“I’m sick of your insinuations. If you try to claim that again, I’ll make sure your son never sees the light of day again.”

18

Would this nightmare ever end?

Fiona had managed to choke down a small meal and unintentionally rested for a while. Fortunately, when exhaustion hit to the point she could no longer keep her eyes open, the nightmarish scenarios didn’t immediately appear.

She made her way to the conference-room-turned-command-center, a cup of coffee in her hand this time.

“We can go in here.” A man she didn’t recognize pointed to a spot on a map. Did he wear a military uniform?

“If that’s where the tunnel is,” Thor replied with a sigh. “We still don’t have confirmation.”

“Where?” Fiona moved toward the table. “I might not remember exactly what happened, but I might be able to help narrow it down.”

The man glanced at Thor who nodded. “Ma’am, what can you tell me about where you were taken from?”

Fiona stood next to him and studied the map, trying to get her bearings. She pointed to a spot next to the house. “That’s the last place I know for certain we were. I know we went this direction…” She dragged her finger to the right. “…but I’m not certain how far we made it before they were upon us.” She pointed to another spot a bit farther down. “I’m almost certain we didn’t make it that far.”

The man made light marks where she’d indicated. “That means it had to happen somewhere in here.”

“The cameras don’t cover that area adequately,” Thor told them. “But that seems to track with what the recordings did show.” He straightened and crossed his arms over his chest, seemingly deep in thought. “You know, most of the palaces I know of have secret passages of some kind or another. Most of them are marked in some way. Nothing obvious or out of place, but definitely marked. I wonder what they might have used here. Beau, do you have a photo of that area of the wall?”

Fiona straightened. “I took one. On my phone.”

Thor and the other man looked hopeful. “Where’s your phone?”

She shook her head. “I don’t have it. They took it from me and turned it off…”

Both men slumped.

“…but my photos are supposed to automatically save to the cloud. If it did like it was supposed to, it would be there.” A glimmer of hope began to ignite deep inside.

Thor slid a laptop toward her. “This computer is secure. You can use it to log in.”

Fiona’s nose wrinkled. “It would if I could remember my password. I have it saved on my devices. I can go get my computer,” she offered. “It’s in my room.”

Beau nodded toward another staff member who hurried out of the room. “It will be here momentarily.”

The military man took out a notepad. “I know you’ve already been over the story several times, but could you please tell me? I might have different questions or need different information than they did.”

She started to tell her story, but was stopped after just a couple of sentences.

“How wide was this corridor?” The man made a note.

“Not very wide.”

“Can you be more specific? Could two people walk next to each other? Were your shoulders brushing the sides or close to them?”

“Closer to the second one. You definitely couldn’t have two people walking next to each other. My shoulders weren’t touching the walls. I had several inches of clearance on either side, I think.”

He made another notation. “Go on.”

A few sentences later, he asked another question, then the scenario repeated itself several more times.

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