But he didn’t pull the trigger.

The cell was empty.

Stunned, he turned to his accomplice. “What the fuck?”

The vampire guard looked just as surprised. Only moments earlier, Abel had heard Cain call out to the guard to be let out of the cell. But Simon hadn’t opened the door.

Abel had to think quickly. If Cain and Robert had escaped somehow, it wouldn’t take long until they were coming back around the other side, exposing his plan. He had no time to wonder how they’d done it. He had to cover his tracks. This instant.

“Sorry about this,” Abel said, looking at Simon.

The shot was muffled by the silencer, hitting Simon in the forehead. Slowly the vampire disintegrated into dust.

Abel cursed. He was back to square one, and would now patiently have to wait until he could execute his original plan. So much for golden opportunities.

35

In the tunnel, Cain turned to Robert. “Take off your shirt.”

“What for?”

“So I can blindfold you.” After all, even though he’d found the entrance to the tunnels that John had mentioned and had managed to get himself and Robert out of the cell before somebody had thrown the door open, Cain wasn’t about to reveal all his secrets to Robert. He couldn’t allow him to actually see the tunnels. It was bad enough that he now knew about them.

“One word about the tunnels, and I’ll stake you myself.”

Robert took off his shirt and handed it to Cain. “You have my word.”

Had Cain not heard the cocking of a gun through the door as well as some low whispers, whose origin he couldn’t discern, he and Robert would have been sitting ducks. Dead sitting ducks. Who the would-be assassin had been, he didn’t even want to speculate about at this point.

As soon as Robert was blindfolded, Cain took him by the elbow and guided him through the labyrinth until he reached the secret walkway that led to the king’s suite. He let himself in, dragging Robert with him. When the piece of artwork snapped back into place in front of the hidden door in his room, he turned Robert around his own axis several times.

“Now you can take off your blindfold.”

When Robert did so, his eyes roamed the room. “What now?”

Cain had already marched to the door, but stopped himself before he reached it and rushed to the bedside table. He bent down and pulled a gun from the drawer and holstered it, when his eyes fell on something beneath his bed. A cell phone. His hand instinctively went to his pants pocket, but his cell phone was where it was supposed to be. Not having time to investigate this any further, he rushed to the door and opened it.

“Haven?” he called out.

A moment later, his Scanguards colleague popped his head out of his room, his cell phone pressed to his ear. “Yeah?”

“I need you, now!”

“Gotta go. Kiss the baby for me. Love you,” he said into the phone then disconnected the call and rushed toward Cain. “What’s wrong?”

“I believe somebody made another attempt on my life.”

“Shit!”

“Get your gun.” Then he turned to Robert. “Stay here.”

Haven returned to his room and was back two seconds later, his gun in his hand. Behind him, a sleepy looking Wesley emerged. “What’s going on?” His clothes looked rumpled.

“Go and make sure Faye is in her suite. Then guard her with your life.”

Not waiting for his answer, Cain charged down the hallway, heading for the cellblock, Haven on his heels.

When he entered the anteroom to the cells, Cain already knew he was too late. The door to Robert’s cell stood wide open, but the cellblock was empty. The guard was gone, and so was whatever visitor he’d had. His eyes fell on a cupboard whose door was still swinging as if somebody had slammed it, but failed to let it snap shut. In the cupboard, several guns hung on hooks.

Cain walked to it and sniffed. One of them had been fired recently. He could still smell the residue.

“Shit, look at that!” Haven called out to him.

Cain turned and saw him crouching down near the door to the cell. When he approached, Cain could see what his friend was looking at. A fine layer of ash. Amidst it lay a cell phone and some coins. The keys still stuck in the door.

“Somebody killed the guard.”

Cain nodded and tilted his head toward the cupboard behind him. “One of those guns was fired. And I’m sure once we examine it, we’ll find out that there are no fingerprints on it.”

“Let’s give it a whirl anyway,” Haven suggested.