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Before dragging me from the vehicle, the driver removed the rope binding my ankles.He and Puck led me through a creaky, heavy metal door and into a musty-smelling building, which was mostly empty, based on the way our footfalls echoed.
Once inside, I was escorted several paces to another door that didn’t sound as though it was made of metal.When I heard it close behind us, Puck removed the blindfold before the second man pushed me onto a cot.A single chair was the only other thing in the room.The lock clicked when both men exited.
I lay on my back, wrists still bound, and stared up at the ceiling, wondering when Puck would divulge whatever it was he needed my help with so desperately that he’d kidnapped me—the man who, until earlier today, was the bloody chief of MI6.
Regardless of whether I’d tendered my resignation, my disappearance would be investigated at the same level as a high-ranking diplomat.Perhaps even as a royal.Given Puck knew this, it made me more concerned about his mental state.
It would be nearly impossible to track the passage of time without windows to see out of; however, there was a chance that there would be an increase in noise in the immediate area, signifying work hours.
The doorknob jostled, and I swung my body around and sat up.When Puck entered the room, I glared in his direction.“Either end this now, Lindstrom, or be prepared for things to go very badly for you.”
There was a gray pallor to his skin, and his hair was longer than I’d ever seen it.He was also in dreadful need of a shave.His eyes met mine, and in them, I saw anguish and fatigue.
“I cannot, sir,” he muttered.
His use of the honorific made me think he was truly looking for guidance from me.“You said you needed my help.”
He looked over at the wall and appeared to be fighting a display of emotion.
“Someone very important to me is missing.”
The irony nearly had me shaking my head in irritation.People I was important to were likely in a state of panic presently—namely George, although by now, I was sure she’d alerted her boss at MI5, at the minimum.
Puck had been missing too, and there were people, myself included, who were very worried about him.
“How can I help?”I asked rather than point any of that out to him.
“I haven’t figured that out yet.”
I sighed.“Sven, I need to reiterate that this is not the way to go about getting assistance.Let’s return to Vauxhall Cross, where you’ll have the full backing of both MI5 and MI6.”
“There’s an inherent problem with doing that.”
It was everything I could do to tamp down my anger.“Go on.”
“You believe she’s dead.”
“Puck, are you talking about Seshat?”I didn’t justbelieveshe was dead.She’d been shot and killed just yesterday when our team raided a warehouse much like this one, where Oleander had been taken hostage by Seshat herself.
His eyes filled with tears he attempted to blink away.“I met her at university.Oxford, in fact.She’s bloody brilliant.”
I lowered my head and rested it against my chest, feeling the pain of his loss radiating off him as I heard him leave the room again.
I’d met my wife at the very same university.There were times when it felt like it had happened yesterday, and others, when it seemed a lifetime ago—which it was.
We were practically children when we first met.Looking back, it was hard to fathom that ten years later, she was gone.
* * *
I walkedinto the lecture hall, disgruntled that I had to attend a class on my birthday, particularly since it was mind-numbingly boring.Three hours spent listening to a professor drone on about quantitative reasoning usually resulted in many of the thousand students in the theater dozing off.
Given I’d arrived only a couple of minutes before the class started, there were few seats to be had, and those were near the front of the rotunda.
“Pardon me,” I whispered as I made my way to an open seat that was, of course, near the middle of the row.When the woman seated next to it looked up at me, my heart nearly stopped.She was the most beautiful person I’d ever seen.Her wavy blonde hair fell past her shoulders, and her eyes were a haunting gray-green.She took my breath away.
“You should probably take a seat,” she whispered when the professor stepped up to the podium and I was still standing, likely with my mouth hanging open.
“You’re American,” I said, exhibiting my less-than-brilliant reasoning abilities.“Apologies,” I mumbled, taking my notebook out of my satchel.
