Ethan took a few more steps away, his shadow following. “Still in the ballroom. The emergency personnel seem to be wrapping things up here.”
“Are there other agents in the room? Can you reach them or signal them?”
“Maybe.”
“Christ. You think he’s involved in the explosions?”
“Possibly.” If that were true, he had to take him down.
“Don’t do anything stupid. I’m leaving the bunker to come to you now.”
“Too late.”
Ethan left the phone on but slipped it into his jacket pocket. He’d slowly walked away from the wall, to a more populated section of the ballroom.
Unfortunately, he’d also left his back turned to ‘Joseph’ for too long.
“Don’t move,Your Highness,” Joseph whispered as he jammed something into his back.
“A gun to the back? Really? That’s so unoriginal.”
“You know whatisoriginal? Kidnapping a royal and holding them for ransom. We couldn’t get to the current rulers or the future ones; might as well settle for the bottom of the royal pits.”
Motherfucker.
Ethan kept up his sarcastic nonchalant tone. “Ooh. Ouch. You wound me.”
He shoved Ethan in the back, and Ethan staggered a few steps forward.
Pissant. “You could have just asked me to start walking.”
“Shut up, monarchist pig. After we have some fun with you, then you’ll learn. Start walking and keep your mouth shut.”
Should Ethan be worried? Probably.
Was he? Not really.
He already knew how to get out of this situation, but he needed information first, and hopefully Marcello would hear it, too. “Are you a part of any specific group? A lot of you still hanging around, maybe waiting for another bomb to go off?”
Joseph scoffed. “We’ve done our duty. There’s two last surprises—one for you, and one for your brother who we know will be arriving on-site soon. Tell me, how will the royal family cope when their head of intelligence is killed? Who’s going to command your armies when war strikes?”
They were nearing a group of people, one of whom Ethan thought could be an agent and he caught her eye. A true agent would recognize the meaning of him tapping his fingers in a pattern against his pants.
Her eyes widened and she walked towards the group of agents near the front of the ballroom.
That done, he kept his captor talking. “You think killing one man will destroy Valleria? And that holding me hostage will get you what exactly? Money?”
“You are no patriot! We should not have a royal family. You only let useless people into this country. It’s shameful!”
Jesus Christ. Not another racist asshole. “You think we should close our borders to those fleeing war? To those escaping atrocities—famine, chemical warfare, rape, and worse? Turn our backs on those needing help?”
“They are terrorists! They are—”
“Newsflash.Youare a fucking terrorist. You just bombed an event meant to help a children’s hospital, multiple people are hurt”—Anda flitted through his brain—“and you just admitted you want to kill and torture me.”
They made it outside the ballroom into the foyer, and Joseph pushed him towards a side door. “I am a true patriot! How dare you?”
Now through the side door and free from prying eyes, he turned slowly and faced him, raising his hands in surrender. “There’s no reason for things to get out of hand.”
