Gunfire raged through the passage beneath him.
Bullets ricocheted off the brick. He was above it, near the exit, but was concerned about a stray. He quickly emerged at ground level, slamming down a metal hatch.
“Thank goodness this portal is never locked,” Tanya said. “It was added years ago as a safety measure.”
He grabbed his bearings.
They were south of the palace, west of the great Privy Garden, a brick wall and tall hedges in between. The compact Banqueting House, which fronted the river, nearby. No people here, but he could hear voices beyond the hedges in what he knew were the Pond Gardens. He’d strolled through them before, where the fish served in the palace were once kept alive before heading to the kitchens.
“Was that gunfire I heard below?” Tanya asked.
“Afraid so. We need to disappear. Fast.”
Things had just changed.
Those men came to kill him.
He studied the hatch and saw a lever that allowed it to be opened from the top side, which moved in conjunction with the one below. He looked around for something, anything, and found what he needed near a pond in the center of the garden. A walk leading to and from, bisecting the grass and the flowers, was paved with flat stones. He darted over and managed to dislodge one, about a foot square, from the moist earth. He carried it back and rested it beside the lever on the hatch.
A workable lock.
When anyone tried to turn it from below the stone would block its path.
“Where to?” he asked Tanya, since she’d obviously brought them here for a reason.
She pointed beyond the Banqueting House to the river.
“That way.”
KATHLEEN KEPT MOVING THROUGH THE PRIVY GARDEN toward the Thames. The manicured hedges were all low, offering no place to hide and no cover. A wide graveled path lined with knee-high box hedges led to a center fountain. Not many people here, but enough. Behind her Eva and her companion found the garden and headed her way.
She still carried her gun and was deciding how best to use it. She’d shoot her way out, if need be, but the lack of effective cover cautioned, for the moment, against that route. Statues dotted the grass to her left and right, large enough to offer some protection, but getting to and from them required crossing open territory.
So she kept hustling ahead.
MALONE AND TANYA PASSED AROUND THE BANQUETING House. Tanya seemed to know exactly where she was going. They crossed a small lawn beneath bare trees and found an eight-foot-high brick wall that separated the palace grounds from a concrete walk bordering the Thames.
“I live just there, on the other side of the river, up a tributary,” she said. “I motor to work every day in my boat.”
He nearly smiled. This was a smart woman. He’d wondered how they were going to make their way off the hundreds of acres that surrounded Hampton Court. The simplest route? On the water. Which Tanya Carlton had known all along.
An iron-barred gate opened in the wall, it too with an electronic lock. Tanya punched in the code and they passed through.
“I come through here every day, so the groundskeeper has provided me access. Years ago, I was given a key. I daresay things have progressed since then.”
They turned and hurried down the pavement, a white, wooden rail guarding the riverside, heading away from the gardens. He spotted the railway station where he’d arrived across the river. He kept a watch out toward the brick wall, ready to find his gun. A handful of others were also strolling the path.
His mind was in full alert.
Somebody had wanted him dead.
And that underground passage, with its privacy, had offered them a perfect opportunity.
He needed to speak with Antrim.
As soon as they were away from here.
KATHLEEN SPOTTED A DECORATIVE IRON FENCE, THE WORK OF some talented blacksmiths, which allowed glimpses of the Thames through its gilded foliage. The fence on either side was over two meters high and spiked on top. Eva and her pal were closing fast. She spied left, then right, and noticed where the fence ended and a high brick wall that further guarded the perimeter began. What caught her attention was a set of steps that led up to another level of the garden, higher, nearly even with the top of the brick wall. It would be easy from there to hop onto the wall and jump down to the other side, where pavement bordered the Thames. She could either run like hell or make a swim for it.
She darted right and ran down the graveled path, then up the steps.
Behind her, she spotted Pazan now running her way.
She came to the top of the stairs and onto more gravel. She’d been right. The iron fence with its spikes ended and the brick wall began, lower here thanks to the new height. A simple matter to hop up and jump down the two meters to the other side. But before she could pivot onto the wall, two men appeared from ahead, guns in hand. Eva was now at the base of the stairs behind her, armed too.
“You will not make it,” Pazan said. “Even if you do, look down. There’s nothing but open ground. We will shoot you dead before you get anywhere.”
She glanced left. Where were all of the people? The gardens should be crowded on a beautiful Saturday morning. The few who’d been there before were now gone. And where was Mathews? Two large boats were tied to a concrete dock below her, but no one was in sight there, either.
Pazan climbed the stairs and approached. “I need your gun. Slow and careful. Toss it down.”
She found the weapon and did as told. “Who are you?”
“Not who you think I am.”
MALONE HOPPED INTO TANYA’S SMALL BOAT. A TEN-FOOTER with a respectable outboard at the stern. Two life jackets and a paddle lay inside.
“Never had to use any of those,” she said. “Thank heaven.”
“You want me to start the engine?” he asked.