Casimir, who was sitting beside him in the backseat, answered, “A bit over a hundred kilometers. Are you quite all right, Max?”
As the helicopter had risen in altitude, the temperature inside had dropped precipitously. Max was naked from the waist up and wearing the equivalent of shorts where he’d ripped off his pants legs. He told Casimir, “I’m fine.”
Arthur shrugged his arms out of his suit jacket and tossed it into the back seat at Max. “I’m hot. The front seat is getting all the sunlight.”
Max slid his arms into the suit jacket gratefully. He wouldn’t have died of hypothermia, but he was a lot more comfortable with the suit coat. The silk-lined wool slid up his bare arms.
Arthur glanced back at him, probably making sure Max put it on like the mother hen Arthur was.
“What the hell happened to you?” Casimir asked him, his low voice growling in Max’s earphones. “We saw news footage of your own goons dragging you away.”
“Kidnapping, again.” Maxence told them the rest, using the driest terms he could muster.
Boat.
Dark room.
A plan to escape, thwarted.
Talking the crew around to his side.
Helicopter arrived.
And that was all.
Arthur and Casimir nodded.
“And who do you think financed your abduction, and what was the goal?” Arthur asked.
Max told him, “My uncle Prince Jules Grimaldi is number four in line for the throne. He employed Michael Rossi, who assassinated Nico at the Sea Change Gala, and Quentin Sault named him when I was trying to talk him around. The people in the line of succession between Jules and me have already signaled they won’t accept it. I’m the only person standing between him and one-point-one billion euros.”
Arthur nodded from the front seat. “So, Uncle Jules is thede factonumber two in line for the throne after you, if you Monegasques went by absolute primogeniture instead of this horrendous election system you’ve set up.”
Max nodded. “Rossi signaled Quentin Sault at the gala right after he assassinated my cousin Nico. Sault put a bag over my head, said he was preventing me from attending the Crown Council election tonight, locked me in a storeroom, and tried to kill me.”
“So mysterious,” Arthur quipped. “We’ll probably never know.”
Casimir squinted, turning his head to look down at the sea as the helicopter buzzed toward the horizon.
“Right,” Arthur said. “So, your entire security apparatus is compromised.”
“Yeah. That’s what I think, too.”
“Then our first priority will be finding the traitors in your security,” Arthur said, unlocking his phone.
“No, ourfirstpriority is to find Dree Clark.”
“The Crown Council meeting is in eight hours. If you’re not there, Jules will be elected,and he’ll win.”
“We’re making sure Dree Clark is safefirst.”
Arthur sighed. “Right.Dree Clark.I’m sure your secretary’s well-being is every bit as important as your national security. Nevertheless, we’ll do them concurrently. I will discuss the matter with some friends, who will follow your security’s electronic footprints to determine who stands with whom.” He thumbed his phone, texting quickly.
Arthur then handed his cell phone back to Max. “Why don’t you call the palace and inquire about your friend? The earphones have Bluetooth. It should sync up.”
Max dialed the phone number for his valet.
The man picked up. “Who is this? How did you get this number?”
