———
ZACHARIAH HESITATED AT THE MAIN DOORS AND WATCHED AS Alle and her father entered the catacombs. Sagan had apparently closed the iron gate, which stopped Jamison’s advance, the cathedral attendant now trying to reopen the lock. He’d wondered what Rowe would do next. Apparently he still wanted Alle Becket—and now her father. He’d compromised Alle because he wanted her to go with her father. That way Rocha could deal with them both. Of course, he assumed they would leave through the main doors.
But that was not the case.
And what Sagan had said to him about the truth.
Something was wrong.
He stepped outside and immediately spotted Rocha. He gestured and his man trotted over and said, “I saw Jamison go in.”
“They are all headed down into the catacombs.”
He wondered if this might be an opportunity.
“Come.”
And he and Rocha reentered the church.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
TOM HUSTLED DOWN THE STAIRS WITH ALLE CLOSE BEHIND.
They found the bottom.
Before them stretched a maze of passageways, all hewn from bedrock centuries ago. Now it was an elaborate, Baroque necropolis where bishops and provosts lay buried. He’d studied the cathedral guidebook while waiting and had learned the layout, knowing where he had to go. When he’d met with Inna, one favor had been to get him inside the cathedral unnoticed.
The other had been to get him out.
“That way,” he pointed.
———
ZACHARIAH HALTED HIS AND ROCHA’S ADVANCE AND THEY sought cover behind one of the pillars. Brian Jamison hurried the attendant, who was still trying to reopen the gate. The commotion had drawn some attention from visitors, but not much. He’d toured the catacombs before. Lots of tombs, crypts, and bones. But he wondered. Was there another way out?
The older woman fumbled with her keys and finally inserted the right one into the lock.
Jamison disappeared, descending stairs.
He and Rocha rushed forward just as the woman was beginning to relock the gate. He was careful to keep his face angled away from her.
The older woman opened her mouth to speak, but Rocha slammed the gate shut behind them.
———
ALLE WAS CONFUSED AND SHAKEN. SHE’D HAD NO CHOICE BUT to go with her father. Zachariah had sold her out. He seemed irritated. But how could she blame him? She’d accused him of trying to kill her. Had he in fact saved her? And was it Brian, not Zachariah, lying to her?
She had no idea.
She knew about the catacombs, though. A series of vaulted subterranean rooms. Lots of clergy were buried here, along with the bodies, hearts, and viscera of the Hapsburgs who, for centuries, ruled much of Europe. There were also the bones of over 11,000 people moved from the cemeteries above after an outbreak of plague in the mid-18th century. Their remains lay in massive piles, the display a bit macabre for her tastes. She recalled from her tour that the subterranean rooms flowed one into the other, each lit from the amber glow of incandescent fixtures. Her father seemed to know exactly where he was going, bypassing the main visitor areas that lay straight from the stairs, leading them left toward the bone rooms. Along the way they passed several notable tomb monuments with elaborate copper coffins.
She stopped. “Where are we going?”
He turned. “Out of here.”
“How do you know there’s a way out?”
She caught the irritation on his face.
“Contrary to what you may think, I’m not stupid. I thought ahead.”
“Why are you doing this?”
“Maybe because I got to watch while my daughter was groped by two men, tied to a bed. You think that might motivate someone? Now I’m told the whole thing was an act. Was it, Alle?”
She hadn’t seen anger from her father in a long while and its presence unnerved her. But lying seemed useless. “He was right. It was an act.”
He stepped closer to her. “And you have the nerve to judge me.”
