Royal Protocol

“We lost a man.” He passed on the news and reached for Rayne’s hand, held it for a brief second before she pulled it back.

No more information was coming through his headset, the line was quiet. He wanted to ask of the damage to the building, but how could he do that? To Tamas, the damage was absolute. He had lost a brother. Benedek gave thanks to God that his brothers had been late to the performance, that they would be spared whatever was going to happen.

As long as they were smart enough to stay away. Unfortunately, knowing his brothers as he did, he highly doubted that.

“Ceiling caved in here,” Tamas reported after a while, his construction-trained mind probably surveying even without conscious effort on his part. “Some walls collapsed, but all the load-bearing walls are still standing. No major damage to the structure. No breach in the outside wall to get us out of the place.” He paused. “I’m going to stay here for a few more minutes. ”

To say goodbye. “Take all the time you need,” Benedek said.

The siege of the opera house had its first victim. He wasn’t optimistic enough to believe that the man had also been the last.

A MAN HAD DIED.

It brought everything into sharp focus, making their situation even more frighteningly real. Rayne followed Benedek back to the security office where he was supposed to meet the others.

“How did you know they were going to detonate the bomb?” The way he’d been running for cover, it was as if he’d known exactly what was going to happen.

“They gave us an ultimatum.”

“Which was what?”

They were heading up the stairs. The prince remained silent.

“What ultimatum?”

He said nothing.

A man waited for them at the office door. Benedek introduced him as the director of security. Rayne wasn’t impressed.

“What do the protesters want?” she asked without preamble, in a voice that told the guy that she expected a clear and honest answer.

“Right now, they want you, Madam.” The man cast a nervous glance at the prince.

The words left her speechless.

“You’re not going anywhere,” the prince reassured her immediately.

Which was exactly what she’d been thinking, but she would have liked to be the one to decide that. “What on earth would they want with me?” She had no connection to this country, none whatsoever.

The prince explained with some reluctance.

A hostage. So they could get away after they killed him. And he was so insanely calm. Youth. It had to be that. He just didn’t comprehend how much danger he was in. Then again, he didn’t seem like a man who missed much. He had keen, sharp eyes that shone with intelligence. And desire if he looked at her for more than a second. She so did not want to have to deal with that.

And she wouldn’t have to if the rebels took her as a hostage so they could kill him.

She had to sit down. The folds of her gown draped over the chair, nearly making it disappear under the billowing material. Her brain chugged along at a snail’s pace.

He was to be killed.

“Hell of a country,” she said to herself.

“The best in the world.” Benedek’s eyes flashed. “Which doesn’t mean that we don’t have a few malcontents.”

“Odd, but I don’t recall civil unrest and murderous tendencies being mentioned in my pre-trip briefing. Must have missed a page,” she snapped, angry at the whole situation and that he would defend the very people who tried to kill him.

“You’ll be safe,” he promised, his tone instantly milder.

Men were coming into the room—the royal guard. A cell phone rang in Benedek’s pocket. Small and red, she saw when he took it out, handling it as if it were a poisonous snake. Tension immediately doubled as everyone held their breath.

The prince answered the call and listened. “She needs a little more time. She’s almost ready.” He pulled the phone away from his ear. “We got ten more minutes.”

“Freezer?” she asked.

“Not enough room for everyone,” he said.

The director touched his headset and spoke into it. “Tamas? Are you there?” He waited a few seconds as more royal guards came in.

Thirteen people were in the room now. Tamas was the only one missing.

“Tamas? Do you need help?” the director asked, then said after a short pause. “There’s no response.”

“The security cameras are out in that corner of the building since the explosion,” a guy sitting by the row of monitors said. They all spoke English, albeit with various accents, probably as a courtesy to her.

“I’ll go over there and see if he needs anything.” Another man got up to leave.

“We’ll all go.” Prince Benedek looked around at the people in the room. His bodyguard was scowling, but nobody questioned Benedek’s authority. She couldn’t imagine they would, and not because he was a prince. The man had a powerful presence and the aura of a leader. “It might be the safest place yet,” he went on. “The bomb in that section already exploded. Who knows where the others are?”

It made terrifying sense.

One of the older guards, Vilmos she thought his name was, protested some more that the prince should stay in the security office with some guards, but Benedek overrode him.

They trooped down the stairs then, through deserted hallways. The prince kept close to her. She found that she didn’t mind.

In a minute or two, they could see the first signs of damage, cracked walls and floor tile, then, as they turned the corner, the gift shop came into view. The ceiling had collapsed, wires hung from the wall, everything was covered in dust and rubble. It was the first visual they got of what that bomb had done, and it painted a scary future.

A body lay propped against one wall.

“Peter.” The director hurried over.

“Tamas.” The prince was ducking behind a chunk of busted wall.

She followed him and saw a man down just as the prince bent to check for a pulse. His face held so much cold anger that she drew back.

“What happened to him?”

He moved away, and she could see the bloodstain on the man’s shirt. Small cut, big stain.

“Knife wound,” someone spoke from behind her, and her head reeled.