Home Front (Star Kingdom #7) - Lindsay Buroker Page 0,116
a huffy porcupine.
“I think that’s Dubashi,” Tristan said.
Casmir sank back into his pod. “I think so too.”
And he didn’t think their little fleet had the firepower to touch it.
25
Terror sent adrenaline surging through Oku’s veins as she read the message again, the promise that Chasca wouldn’t make it past high tide if she didn’t hurry alone to Picnic Point. She almost sprinted for the back gate to race out of the castle grounds and to the trails leading down to the beach. But she made herself stay rooted, at least until she figured this out. Someone had set a trap, and the stupidest thing she could do was run into it.
She checked the tide schedule on her chip as she envisioned Picnic Point in her mind, a beach she’d visited often in her life. It was two miles to the south of the castle and at the bottom of a cliff. Rock formations rose up out in the water, and boulder piles dotted the beach, boulder piles exactly like the one Chasca was chained to in the photo.
“Your Highness?” Maddie was standing back to give her privacy, but she must have read all the horrified expressions on Oku’s face.
Oku hesitated, certain Chasca’s kidnapper didn’t want her to share this with anyone, but if she went down there alone, she would end up kidnapped. Or worse. She held the note out to Maddie.
“That ass,” she growled. “It came from inside the castle, and it had to be someone Chasca knew or she wouldn’t have gone along quietly. It had to be Finn.”
That thought had crossed Oku’s mind. He was enough of a jerk to kidnap her dog. She would like to think he wouldn’t kill her dog, but if he was worried about his position as heir, maybe he planned to kill her and cared even less about Chasca.
But she shouldn’t assume it was he. Jorg’s death could have been an impetus for other nefarious people to set plans into motion. Oku had also just irked Chief Van Dijk from Royal Intelligence, though this didn’t seem like something people loyal to her father would do.
“Chasca would go with anyone who gave her food. As much as I want to go pummel Finn, that wouldn’t do much even if he’s responsible. He would have hired someone else to do the dirty work, and it’s already been set in motion.” Maybe Oku would still pummel him to see if he knew anything. “Who do you trust among my other bodyguards not to be bought off?”
Oku would have said she trusted them all, but Maddie was professionally paranoid for a living and more likely to have heard things that people wouldn’t say around their princess.
“Gunther and Rokuro. I’ll get them and we’ll all go down to the beach.” Maddie gripped the hilt of her pistol. “We’ll find the kidnappers before they can hurt Chasca.”
Oku bit her lip. “A sniper could be anywhere on that cliff, or even above it, aiming down from one of the benches lining the walkway up there.”
“Not in this visibility.” Maddie waved at the fog.
“Ah, good point. They’d have to be close. Maybe in one of the caves in the cliff then. Or out in the open on the beach, but if so, they’d be easier targets themselves.”
“We can take care of it, Your Highness.”
“Not on foot. They’ll be expecting that.” There was only one path down to that beach, and they would be watching it. But if Oku flew in… “Can either of those guys pilot a darter?”
“Gunther. I’ll tell him to meet us… Where?” Maddie frowned at her. “Under your authority, we can requisition a vehicle from the royal landing pad across the street, but if they’ve got someone watching for that or watching the exits of the castle to make sure you comply…”
Oku closed her eyes, rethinking childhood memories of winding through the secret tunnels under the castle, of her father showing her and her brothers how to get to the vehicles and air darters stored in the underground hangar in case of an emergency. It had been years since she’d gone down there, but she believed she could still find the way, and she was certain her father maintained the area. She only hoped that Finn or whoever was behind this wouldn’t think of that hangar. If someone spotted her not obeying the orders in the note precisely…
She swallowed, trying not to imagine a heartless assassin shooting her best friend.