was not fit for long space travel, so it must have come off of a much bigger ship.
“Everyone be still,” Patrick said as he lay next to Marcus. “I highly doubt they have motion detectors or heat sensors on board. That is a cargo shuttle from a carrier, but be still and quiet anyway.”
Marcus started to tell him he was the one talking, but refrained. Truthfully, he wasn’t sure whether he could talk at the moment anyway. This was the most excitement he’d had in ages. His heart raced and his palms were sweaty. He even got a tingly sensation on the backs of his arms. Galaxy, he hoped like the very devil that Patrick was right in his assumption about the lack of extra sensors. His leg was better after Agatha gave him some herbs, but he was not fit to run, or even get up all that fast, for that matter. Cursed leg.
The shuttle got closer, and the lights went on, but it wasn’t the normal bright lights that nearly blinded those on the ground. It was dim and focused solely on the ground in front of the craft, and it had not turned on as soon as most. They were obviously using the ship’s navigation and autopilot. At least he hoped that was the case, because if not, they were using the gauges and sensors, like infrared, motion detection, and sound.
When the ship set down a few yards away from the building, Marcus held his breath. There were no markings on the ship. He wasn’t even sure it was an IN vessel. They still had no proof it was IN, even though they knew it was.
He waited for the doors to open and for soldiers to rush out, or for them to come flooding out of the building, but that didn’t happen. Thank the stars!
A couple of men in black shirts and pants stepped out of the building, but their focus was entirely on the ship, not their surroundings.
The door of the ship opened with a hydraulic hiss, and the lights on the front of the ship went dark. It took several moments for Marcus’s eyes to adjust, but he made out two men walking down the gangway.
A gasp sounded beside Marcus, and he felt Patrick stiffen next to him. Anger practically radiated off him. He vibrated with it.
“What is it?”
Instead of answering him, Patrick reached past him and snapped his fingers at Bannon, who was peering through the spyglass, but Bannon didn’t hand it over. He was totally focused on the men, and his body had stiffened as well.
Bloody hell, what did they both see that Marcus didn’t? “What?” he whispered.
Finally after a few seconds, as well as several more snaps and hand gestures to turn the glass over, Patrick said, “I think I know that man.”
“Well, I do know him,” Bannon answered without removing the spyglass.
“I’m going to throttle both of you if you don’t tell us who you think they are,” Marcus gritted out.
“I second that,” Ciaran whispered. “What is going on?”
“That man on the left is an IN intelligence operative. His name is…. Well, he’s gone by the name Caldwell and something else. I don’t actually know what his real name is, but he posed as Tarren’s valet.”
“Who is Tarren?” Ciaran wanted to know.
Marcus glanced at Ciaran, who lay on the other side of Bannon.
“He’s a Regelence prince,” Marcus answered, remembering the vivacious toddler he’d last seen over fifteen years ago. He’d been a happy boy. What was he like now? He must be nearly eighteen now. And why was this the first time they were hearing about this? “The man posed as Tarren’s valet?”
Bannon nodded, making the telescope bob up and down. “That is how we found out about the IN’s plot. I thought I told you about it. With the weapons going missing, and then Aiden and, er, Trouble getting kidnapped?”
“Oh, right.” Aiden and his stepson. He hadn’t mentioned that he had been Tarren’s valet, though.
Marcus turned back to the scene, and a hand darted past his head and snatched the glass from Bannon.
“Bloody hell,” Patrick hissed. “I don’t know his real name either, but his code name is Gabriel, and the man beside him is Admiral William Roth, admiral of intelligence, code name Michael.”
A shiver raced up Marcus’s spine, and he glanced over at his consort just as Patrick lowered the glass. Roth’s men had been the ones sent to kill them. It was only a miracle that they’d ended