Archie added the other concern. “And don’t forget, we’re all framed for murder. The deaths here will not help our case.”
“Good riddance to the book, I say,” Duncan muttered.
Moira glared at him. “My father risked his life... possibly gave it... to get the book to safety. I will not fail him. And neither will you. You owe him that much.”
Naomi glanced back to the Tower Green. “What about your father?”
“He... he’s a soldier. Once you’re away, I’ll raise the alarm, try to get help to him before they... before he...” She shook her head, unable to finish the grim sentiment. Instead, she hobbled faster. “Which means I need to get your butts out of here as quickly as possible.”
Sharyn kept next to her, gripping her pistol.
Moira continued. “I’ll reach out to Laurent. Let him know about the ambush. Arrange a new rendezvous. He said you had a burner phone.”
“We do,” Sharyn agreed.
“He also told me that he had made arrangements to get you all out of the country until matters could be sorted. It’s another reason he was delayed. To secure forged papers for you all. Papers at least good enough to get you into France.”
“France?” Naomi said.
“TheGardiens’main quarters are in Paris.”
Sharyn raised a concern that they all likely shared. “Can we trust this man? He was the one who sent us here.”
Into a trap.
“I... I don’t know,” Moira admitted. “I would’ve never suspected him before this. But if he had meant to betray you, he could’ve sent youanywhere, certainly to a location far easier to set up an ambush than the Tower of London.”
Sharyn recognized this made sense, but she could not shake her paranoia. Professor Wright’s warning blazed behind her eyes.
Trust no one.
The group continued and cleared the corner of the White Tower. They followed along the castle’s eastern façade, hurrying past the hulk of a cannon, turned a rich verdigris by age. On the other side, a parked white service van unloaded crates and supplies toward the open doors of a café.
Sharyn’s stomach stirred at the smell of baked bread.
When was the last time I ate anything?
Still, she kept going, drawn by the arched tunnel through the Tower’s inner wall.
Almost out.
As they headed into the tunnel, the outer curtain wall appeared. The bulwark rose on the far side of a street that ran between the Tower’s two walls. An archway cut through it and led to a narrow wooden bridge that spanned the castle’s dry moat. It ended at a park that bordered the Thames.
Sharyn stared longingly at the misty river as it glowed, illuminated by the shining bulk of Tower Bridge that crested high over the water.
Freedom lay so close.
And so far.
Tag groaned, clearly recognizing this, too.
A pair of police vehicles blocked the bridge’s far side, along with a gray-paneled truck that looked military. Blue lights flashed and spun everywhere. Uniformed figures stirred amid the chaos.
Archie shook his head. “Seems we’re not getting out of here any time soon.”
24
6:14 p.m.
