The room that shocked Rocco was the rotunda several floors below. It looked like something from an ancient castle. It had to be fifty feet in diameter, with two courses of thick arches encircling an altar. The arches had a Moorish flair, with alternating dark and light stones. There were ten arches in all that led to an outer ring, which had only five arches, five exits to other hallways, which he and Selena were not allowed to inspect.
The floor of the rotunda was paved with heavy stones, the lines of which made a star. The points of that star aligned with the five exits. The ceiling of the rotunda was painted in a midnight-blue background with the moon and stars in the foreground. Rocco wasn’t familiar enough with the constellations to know which were being highlighted.
It was a beautiful room that might have been relocated from a world heritage site and reconstructed here in King’s bizarre underground world.
“What do you make of the rotunda?” Rocco asked Selena.
She sipped a glass of wine as she looked around the room. “It was stunning, and oddly overwhelming. I didn’t dig the pentagram on the floor. What do you suppose they do there?”
“Don’t know. That was the one room that had no surveillance cameras in it. Jafaar and a few of the other witnesses were heading there when they left here.”
“And what the fuck is a ‘witness’?” she asked. “If this has anything to do with Fiona, then we need to get down there ASAP.”
Rocco nodded. “Let’s make our way to the exit.”
They were just feet from the door when a woman came inside. She laughed and looked at a man who stayed on the far side of the doors…with an AK-47 in his hand. The hairs rose on Rocco’s neck until he realized that man was Kelan. He heard the rifle being shoved through the handles.
He turned and smiled at Selena. “Time for shit to hit the fan.” They crossed the room to the kitchen exit, making a plan as they went. “Get out of this ballroom and see if you can find something to block the other doors,” Rocco said. “The fewer people out wandering around, the less collateral damage that’ll happen once bullets start flying.”
“Some of the suits of armor in the hallway have swords or battle axes I might be able to liberate for that purpose.”
“Then keep your eyes on the stairs. Kit’s bound to be on his way in. Let him know where Kelan and I are.”
“Roger that.”
“Selena”—Rocco paused and looked at her—“remember you’re not bulletproof, okay?”
She smiled. “You sure about that?”
He shook his head, then took off for the hallway that had the stairs down to the rotunda.
*
Kelan jogged down the hallway to the stairs at the far end. Coming out in their corridor, he saw the door to Fiona’s room was open. He stepped inside cautiously, weapon in hand. He heard weeping. A quick sweep of the suite showed no one lying in wait for him. The crying was coming from the closet. He stepped into the bathroom and pushed the closet door open.
A girl sat on the padded bench, holding her face in her hands. As soon as she became aware of him, she gasped and jumped to her feet. He held a finger to his mouth.
“Where’s Fiona?” he asked.
“They have her.”
“Do you know where?”
She nodded.
Kelan regarded her silently. She had a bruise on her cheek and her lip was split. Would her help lead him into trouble, or was it his only option? “Can you take me there?”
Again, she nodded. “They are going to take her to the rotunda.”
“Is that where the wedding is being held?”
“No.” She started weeping again. “The wedding is tomorrow. Tonight is the initiation.”
“Why are you crying?”
“Because it’s horrible, and I could not help her escape.” She looked beyond him. “And I cannot help you, either.”
A commotion sounded in the other room. “Get down and stay down!” Kelan ordered the girl. He stepped out of the closet into the bathroom as the suite filled with armed guards. He slammed the bathroom door shut and locked it, then ducked behind the half wall of the shower.
When the guards kicked in the door, he shot the first two to come through. The next two were right on their heels and got into the closet before the second one hit the ground. He hurried to block them, but they came out a second later dragging the girl between them, a pistol to her head. Another man paused at the shot-up entrance to the bathroom.
“You’ve made quite the disturbance out of my party,” he said. He was a middle-aged blond man who was clearly the leader of this little group.
“Your party. So you’re King.”
“I’m many things to many people. Drop your weapon.”
“I came for Fiona. No one else has to get hurt.” Kelan looked at the guards as he said that.
The blond man chuckled. “You don’t get it, do you? No one else but Fiona matters. Not you. Not me. Not any of us here. Only Fiona is instrumental in King’s plans.”
“Why?”
“Because he’s made her so. If you come with me peacefully, I will allow you to have one final farewell.”
Kelan instantly calculated the outcomes of several different strategies. Most would cost the life of the girl he had found crying. He couldn’t let her be killed in cold blood. Holding up one hand, he slowly set his MP5 on the ground. Two of the remaining guards yanked his hands behind him and zip-tied them, then finished disarming him.
How much time had passed between when he hung up with Max and now? Was the team close? Where were Rocco and Selena?
“You cost me the lives of many men,” the man said through clenched teeth. “And on a night like this night, so critical to King’s success. Your death will be slow and painful and certain, but I haven’t the time to see to it properly at the moment.” He looked at the guards holding Kelan. “Take him to Pen 9 and secure him.”
Chapter Sixteen
Fiona’s fear deepened as her captors dragged her back up the dark tunnel to the secret door in her closet. Kelan was gone without a trace, and now she knew even his team hadn’t heard from him. Had they killed him?
The only thing sustaining her was that she’d made contact with Max. He’d said some of the guys were nearby. Would they be able to find their way into these tunnels?