My Fair Captain (28 page)

“Aiden?”

-210-

My Fair Captain

There was no answer.

“Aiden?”

The sword he’d given Aiden earlier was lying across the bed.

Nate searched the washroom. “Aiden? Boy, answer me.” His stomach plummeted with each step he took. Aiden wasn’t here. Nate crossed the sitting room joining his and Aiden’s bedroom to Trouble’s. “Trouble?”

There was no answer. Not that Nate had expected there to be. Trouble would have come running when he was calling Aiden, if he were here.

“Fuck.”

He pushed open the door to Trouble’s bedroom. The bed was made and Jeremy’s reader lay on the bed. The room was immaculate except for the door leading to the valet’s room was standing open.
Fuck!
There was someone on the floor—and blood. Nate ran to the door, his heart pounding, dread swelling in his chest.
Benson.
It was Aiden’s valet, with a big fucking hole in his chest. The tension inside him eased a little on discovering it wasn’t Aiden or Trouble, but now he knew for certain his boys weren’t here and they
were
in danger. “Fuck, fuck, fuck!”

Nate noticed a cravat on the floor inside Trouble’s room. He frowned.

Trouble had had on a cravat, Nate had tied it for him before going downstairs this morning. Picking it up, he brought it to his nose.
Aiden.

It was newly washed and starched, but it smelled faintly of Aiden.
Please
let them be okay.

Nate ran back to his room, grabbing Aiden’s sword, and hurried back downstairs. The entire staff was there, all chattering at once from the sounds of it. They quieted when Nate appeared at the bottom of the stairs. He looked around and found everyone but Aiden, Trouble and Raleigh.

Steven stepped forward. “Aiden?”

Nate shook his head. “No. My son is missing as well.”

The king’s jaw tightened and he closed his eyes for a few seconds before looking back at Nate. “We can’t locate Benson and Caldwell either.”

“Benson is dead.”

-211-

J.L. Langley

Steven’s eyes widened, his face paling just a bit, then he turned back to the group gathered in the foyer. “Thomas, Lord Deverell and I are going to help Raleigh get Jeffers up and running. Keep the children here with you and Christy. Everyone else spread out and search the castle.

We need to find Aiden, Lord Deverell’s valet and Caldwell.” Steven turned back to Nate. “Come on.”

“Where are we going? We’ve got to look for them.” Nate resisted the urge to yell and destroy something. It was hard, he felt as though his entire world were collapsing around him. “Who is Caldwell? And what do you know about Caldwell?”

Steven shook his head. “Caldwell is Tarren’s valet. He has a spotless record or he wouldn’t be employed here. Raleigh double-checked every employee after the weapons were stolen. There was nothing that made them stand out.” Steven opened the door leading to the basement.

Of course not, or they’d have already caught them.
Damn it.
Nate followed Steven into Jeffers’ maintenance room. He had never felt this kind of dread in his entire life. Nothing had prepared him for this. Not the IN, not being disowned by his family. Nothing. He may very well have lost the most important things in his life. He just hoped that Aiden and Trouble stayed together—they’d have a much better chance that way.

Raleigh was typing away on a keyboard on a stand in front of a large screen, like in his personal study. There were racks of computers and different equipment. The overhead lights flickered before going steady again. Raleigh stopped typing and looked at Steven and Nate. “Did you find Aiden?”

“No. But Benson is dead.”

“What?”

Nate watched a series of numbers and letters flash on the screen as Jeffers rebooted. “He’s upstairs. Someone shot him with a fragger.”

Raleigh’s fists clenched. “Damn it. Nate, before Jeffers shut off the admiral said the ship was registered to Chadwick Manchester. That is Lord Braxton’s given name.”

-212-

My Fair Captain

As if that news wasn’t disturbing enough a picture of a man flashed on the screen behind Raleigh. Nate had seen the man before. But where?

Pointing to the screen he asked. “What’s that?”

Raleigh looked but it was Steven who answered first. “That’s Caldwell. Raleigh, why is he on the screen?”

Nate racked his brain. He was certain he hadn’t seen the man here in the castle, which meant he knew the man from somewhere else. Bringing his hand to his forehead he closed his eyes.
Think, Nate.
Where the hell had he seen the man?

The furious clacking of keys suddenly stopped and Raleigh laughed.

“That is our son leaving us a clue. Aiden used his login when he shut Jeffers down. He changed the splash screen.”

Nate looked back at the picture of the lean blond man with piercing hazel eyes. Eyes that took on a devious glint when they were cornered and an equally convincing innocent look when they stared back at a panel of officers, requesting a transfer. “Last I knew, that man was IN

intelligence.”

-213-

J.L. Langley

They were moving…or maybe not. It could be his head spinning from being zapped with a bio-jet injector full of sedative. Aiden sat, grabbing his head.
Oh, dust
. His head felt four sizes bigger and full of cotton. He groaned and laid right back down.

“Aiden?” Trouble croaked from somewhere to his left.

“Yeah, it’s me. Are you okay?” It really felt like they were in motion.

Turning his head toward Trouble’s voice, Aiden opened his eyes. It was dim, but not so dark that he couldn’t see. They were in some sort of a hold. He couldn’t see very far, but the room appeared to be empty.

Trouble blinked his eyes open and grabbed his forehead. “I think so.

My head feels like it’s going to explode. It didn’t feel like this when Hawk shot me with a fragger.”

“Caldwell must have knocked us ou— Nate shot you?” What in the Galaxy did the hellion do to make Nate shoot him? That didn’t sound like Nate.
Nate.
Would he notice they were gone? Aiden sighed. They had to get out of here.

“Yeah, long story. Where the hell are we?”

Aiden looked around from where he lay and pushed himself to a sitting position. Bringing his knees up, he rested his head on them. That wasn’t too bad. He was groggy, but whatever Caldwell gave them was wearing off. “I don’t know. A ship’s hold maybe?” Which completely imploded planets. How were they going to get out of here?

Trouble grumbled but sat. “I think you’re right. It looks similar to the hold on the Lady Anna.” Getting to his hands and knees, Trouble pushed

-214-

My Fair Captain

himself up and staggered to the back of the room. Looking along the bulkhead, he stopped. “Aiden, come over here.”

Rising to his feet, Aiden rested his hands on his knees until the wave of dizziness passed. Once he got to where Trouble stood he saw it—a small hatch. “Can we get it open?”

“Uh-huh.” Trouble began picking at a panel to the right of the hatch.

“Where does it lead?”

“Access tunnels.” His fingernails slipped. “Ow.” He shook his hands and went back to work picking at the wall.

“Think we can make it to an emergency shuttle undetected?” All ships had them, right? Aiden dug the little bit of nails he had into the other side of the crevice and in no time the plate popped off. There was a keypad.

Trouble picked his foot up and bashed his heel into the keypad several times. “We can if I can get to a computer.” It crunched under his kick, several of the plastic keys falling out, until it cracked in half and hung limply from some wires. He started pulling out wires and crossing them. The three-foot by three-foot hatch slid up into the bulkhead.

Trouble grinned and crawled through it. “Just like Hawk’s ship. These things never could handle a short.”

They traveled through a narrow access tunnel with wires and pipes on each side of them and overhead. They crawled on a grate that covered even more wires and pipes below them. It was harder to hear in here, sounding like air was whishing by them, and their knees banged on the metal-grated deck. And the space was cramped. It was a good thing he and Trouble were both on the small side. Nate never would have fit in here. The thought of Nate made him crawl faster. Damn, he wanted to go home.

Every ten to twenty feet there was a small hatch, like the one they had come through. Finally, they hit a dead end, or rather a closed hatch.

It was on the deck and there was no keypad. It was a manual panel.

Trouble bit his bottom lip and contemplated the entryway.

“What?” Aiden asked.

-215-

J.L. Langley

“If there are crewmembers in there, we’re fucked.”

He nodded. “Where does that lead?”

“The engine room.”

It didn’t seem to Aiden that they had much choice. Who knew how much time they had. Someone was bound to figure out they’d escaped the hold eventually. And then what? They were, as Trouble said, fucked.

“What other options do we have?” He sure as hell didn’t want to sit around and wait to be found. There was no telling what the psycho valet had planned for them.

Trouble sighed, ran his hands through his hair and groaned. “Good point. It’s now or never, huh?” Trouble slid it open a little.

They both froze. Aiden held his breath.
Please don’t let there be
anyone in there.

After several seconds when no one came running to attack them, Trouble stuck his head in the opening and looked around. “Coast is clear.” He pushed the hatch all the way open and dropped through.

Aiden followed, looking around. His stomach was tied in knots, but he forced himself to continue. They had to get out of here. Just because no one came rushing at them, didn’t mean no one was in there. It was very loud down here so they might not have heard them.

It was colder than in the tunnels, brighter lit too. There were several racks of computers. Blinking red, green and blue lights were all over the place. It was like a maze of computers. He decided they were either very lucky or stupid. It was too soon to tell which.

They turned a corner and were suddenly out of the maze. No one else was in sight.
Lucky, we’re definitely lucky.

An open door. It looked like some sort of command room.

Trouble saw it too. Hurrying over, Trouble waited for him to get inside and closed the hatch. It was a control room or rather control closet.

Rushing to the computer, Trouble started typing. “Aiden. Look around some more. See if you can find anything to use for a weapon.”

“Okay. What are you doing?”

-216-

My Fair Captain

“Finding out where we are and where this ship is going. I’m going to try and shut off the ship’s cameras and see if I can get us to an emergency shuttle. In the main part of the ship it will be like the main part of the castle. The computer will see us. I have to shut that function down. And make sure it isn’t going to give us away to the captain.” He continued typing, his fingers flying across the keys.

Aiden was impressed. He knew a hacker when he saw one and Trouble was somewhere in the same league as Payton. It made him feel much better about their chances of escape.

Wandering around, he looked for anything that might be useful.

There wasn’t much here, it was a small area once you got through the maze of computers. There was a large hatch, which he hoped stayed closed, and little else.

“Aiden.” Trouble motioned for him to hurry. “I started nosing around to see if there was any kind of hint as to why we were taken. And I came across the name Lord Braxton. Do you know him? He’s in the captain’s quarters right now with the captain and Caldwell.”

Aiden’s jaw dropped. Braxton? “Can you listen in or see them or something?”

Trouble nodded and typed again. Then there were voices. Trouble frowned. “That doesn’t sound like Caldwell.”

Aiden listened carefully. No it didn’t, but it was definitely Braxton.

“Who’s the captain?”

“Chapman. Felix Chapman.”

“That is the man who tried to kill me. We’re on The Marchioness.”

It wasn’t a question, but Trouble nodded anyway, then went back to typing. “I’m going to download everything I can and then we’re going to get out of here. I’ve already disabled the computer’s notifications and I sent a distress signal.” He reached down and did something with the heel of his ankle boots. The wedge swiveled and he got a small rounded disk-shaped object out before pushing the heel back in. He held it up to Aiden and grinned. “A multifunction drive and holographic camera.”

-217-

J.L. Langley

Damn,
the kid was good. Aiden’s unease let up a little. He wondered if Nate had any idea his son was this prepared for such events.

While Trouble typed, Aiden listened.

“Tell me again why you felt it was necessary to kidnap the prince?”

Chapman sounded exasperated.

He and Trouble looked at one another.

“For money. We’re going to ransom him.”

“I told you I had a buyer already for the schematics we will be obtaining from the deal. That was to help you get away. Why do we need ransom money?” Caldwell said.

“I changed my mind. There is no way they haven’t found me out. We left this ship in my name and that little shit has sketches of the weapons on it because you failed to erase them from their damned castle computer. I’m not being hanged as a traitor. We are keeping the money we got from selling the weapons, the schematics and now the ransom for the prince, then I’m taking my share and I’m done. I’m tired of that backward-ass planet and their fucked-up morality anyway. Have you any idea how hard it is to find a decent piece of ass on Regelence? All the women are so inelegant and lower class. Although it is amusing to watch them come crawling back groveling at my feet for a chance at aristocracy even when they know I will leave them bruised, broken and bleeding.”

Braxton chuckled.

“Are you getting this?” Aiden motioned to the wireless device Trouble had set on the keyboard that now had a steady blue light on the top of it.