Chapter Thirty
SEDONA’S brEATH STALLED in her lungs. “You can’t be serious. Trey, please tell me you’re joking.”
He snorted. “We aren’t boy scouts, and I’m not in a joking mood. You bet he’s serious.”
“But why?”
Trey looked at her a moment. “I guess it doesn’t matter if you know the truth. Because of Lyons, the boss’ uncle went to prison, where he died. His uncle raised him. So, you bet Mr. Simpson wants Lyons dead.”
She lapsed into silence, thinking about Trey’s information, especially the first part. The only reason it wouldn’t matter that Sedona knew the truth was if Simpson planned to kill her after the mission ended.
Tears burned her eyes. How could Trey mention that without seeming the least bit remorseful? He didn’t care if Sedona lived or died. She glanced around at the other guards near her. They were like Trey. None of them cared about anything except following orders.
Sedona wiped the tears from her cheeks and studied the castle. The beautiful, stately home was enormous, hinting at an earlier time in English history when castles were a sign of wealth and class.
She wished Simpson had given her more time to study the layout of the home. If Sedona escaped, she would have to rely on her instincts to get her out of the castle before Simpson’s henchmen caught and killed her.
When she escaped, not if, Sedona needed a plan to stay out of the hands of the enemy. She made a face. Really? Simple was the name of the game. Complicated plans would take too long and end in her death. Not acceptable.
When the gunfire slowed, Sedona glanced around. The men close by came out from behind cover and gathered near Simpson as though awaiting orders.
She looked at Trey. “What happened? Why did they stop?”
He gripped her upper arm again. “We won. Come on. It’s time to keep your promise to the boss. Trust me when I say you won’t like it if you let him down.”
“I’ve got news for you, buddy. I won’t like it if I let myself down because I’ll be dead. Under the circumstances, I’m more concerned about falling one hundred feet because of a tiny misstep than what your boss thinks.”
Trey shoved her back against another tree and leaned in close. “You should be worried about him, lady. He can make your life or death miserable. The boss knows at least a hundred ways to kill a person.”
“Is he planning to kill me?”
“Don’t ask.” Trey got her moving again and hustled her toward the castle’s front door. “Just focus on the job, okay? One foot in front of the other, and don’t look down.”
“Will you spot me?” Like him waiting below to catch her would do any good.
“I guess I could do that. Sure.”
“Thanks.” Sedona didn’t know what good it would do to have a guard in her corner, but she wouldn’t waste an opportunity that might save her life.
Soon, Trey rushed her up the stairs to the porch and the front door. He typed in a code and the tumblers shifted. He twisted the knob and shoved the door open so hard that the knob left an indent in the wall.
“How did you know the code?” Sedona asked. “You said Mr. Lyons is paranoid about security.”
“I’m friends with a maid.”
His smug smile gave her a pretty good idea of what kind of friends they were. “I’m sorry I asked.” As careful as Mr. Lyons was said to be, all his security measures came to naught because of a maid sucked into a relationship with the wrong man.
Trey chuckled. “You’re funny.”
He wasn’t. Sedona felt sorry for the misguided maid.
Trey looked at one of his friends and inclined his head toward the doorway, then drew Sedona back a couple of steps. The friend who looked about the same age as Eddie walked into the home with his weapon up and ready. Six more men followed him inside.
Five minutes later, the young man returned. “All clear, sir.”
“Good. Tell Mr. Simpson.”
Soon, Simpson strode up the stairs and into the home, surrounded by one of his security teams. Trey and Sedona fell into step behind him and his entourage.
To Sedona, the massive home was a maze of intersecting corridors and staircases. The group walked for at least ten minutes before they walked through a doorway into an enormous circular room.
She glanced up and stared at the one obstacle between her and freedom.
A four-inch beam stretched from one wall to the other side of the room.
When the ground seemed to move under her feet, Sedona hastily looked down, dismayed to find the floor unmoving.
That wasn’t a good sign. If she had an episode of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo on that beam, she would fall to her death.
Determination filled her. She wouldn’t accept that outcome. Sedona had a life ahead of her with the love of her life. She wouldn’t be able to enjoy that life unless she was still drawing breath.
“Time for you to wow the audience, my dear,” Simpson said. He took her arm and escorted her to the far wall where someone had conveniently propped a ladder. Her captor pushed her forward. “Go on. Remember the consequences if you fail.”
She glared at the assassin. “If your goal is to encourage me to succeed, you are failing miserably.”
This time, he shoved Sedona in the back. “Get up there and do your job.”
Well, she’d rather have him say that than harp about the consequences if she failed. But she wouldn’t. “I need at least one person to hold the ladder.”
Simpson motioned over two men who moved into position. “Get moving, Miss Hart.”
Without thinking about it, Sedona slipped out of her socks and shoes, placing them where she could retrieve them easily. If she survived. No, when she survived. She had to make it. Daisy, Eddie, and Julio’s lives were forfeit if she failed, not to mention her own.
Besides, who else could do this? Eddie? Julio’s brother was terrified. That much had been clear when she’d talked to him and Daisy earlier. Walking wires had been her world once. She would have to draw upon her skills one more time.
Right. Sedona wished she believed her own pep talk. Her breath shortened as she grasped a higher rung and stepped on the first rung of the ladder. Without allowing herself to look down, she climbed one rung after another. So far, so good.
A mini-episode of BPPV hit without warning as the floor shifted slightly. Her stomach lurched as she gripped the rung and froze. Breathe, Sedona, she counseled herself. It’s not real. You know it’s just a figment of your imagination. The floor didn’t move.
She breathed through the episode, afraid to move. She ignored Simpson’s shouted orders to get moving again. Finally, Sedona’s sense of balance and positioning returned to normal.
She resumed climbing, careful to keep her head positioned properly. Trusting her peripheral vision to let her know when she’d reached the beam, Sedona continued to climb one rung at a time until there were no more rungs.
Again, she froze, then turned her head slowly to the left. The beam stretched across the room three feet above her head. Her heart raced. In order to climb onto the wood, she would have to let go of the ladder, grip the beam, and haul herself up.
When one man holding the ladder shook it, then roared with laughter along with his buddies, Sedona decided that was her sign to get off the ladder.
She didn’t trust Simpson or his people. He could order his men to yank the ladder out from under her, sending her crashing to the floor, if he believed she wouldn’t do the job.
Her lips curved. If that happened, one of his cronies would have to traverse the maintenance beam and flip the switch for the stairs to appear.
She wondered how they would enjoy working one hundred feet off the ground with no safety measures.
Sedona never thought she’d miss her safety harness, but she did.
Safety, it seemed, was out of the question on this quest. The only person who mattered in this equation was Simpson.
She sucked in a breath, reached up, gripped the beam, and stepped free of the ladder. Muscle memory from years of walking the high-wire kicked in as she climbed onto the beam. Her bare feet settled on the wood, testing the surface with her toes.
Hope blossomed. Her confidence grew with each slow, sure step she took. Without thinking, Sedona lifted her arms slightly for balance. She could do this and save two innocent teenagers and her student while protecting the man she loved at the same time.
She took another step. This time, a brief vertigo flicker hit. No, no, no. She paused, locked her neck, kept her head perfectly still, and focused on her breathing for one minute, two minutes.
Sedona reset her focus and resumed the journey of her life one careful step at a time. Five more steps were behind her when the beam vibrated slightly under her weight. More muscle memory kicked in as she adjusted her balance.
Her BPPV flickered at the edge of her mind. With ruthless determination, Sedona pushed the lie aside and gained more precious ground until she was five feet from the access panel.
Another wave of BPPV rolled over her, this one seconds longer.
Her balance shifted to compensate for the lie.
Shouts from below echoed in the tower as she fought the silent battle to remain on her feet.
Seconds later, the wave of dizziness subsided, and she regained her hard-won balance.
Knowing she wouldn’t win another battle with her mind and gravity, Sedona fixed her gaze on the target and took one step in front of another until she stood directly under the panel.
For a man paranoid about security, here was another example of cost-cutting measures that might get him killed.
The panel simply slid open without a lock to secure the stair mechanism, which defeated her only plan to help the man living above her head.
There was nothing else she could have done without risking Eddie and Daisy.
Whispering a prayer for Mr. Lyons’ safety, she pushed aside the panel, reached inside, and pressed the button clearly marked ‘Stairs’.