"Lapis lazuli," Vigor said. "Prized for its l.u.s.ter."

The rich decoration depicted a nighttime forest, hung with birdcages of every shape and size. A few squirrels scrambled among the limbs.

Kat searched the room, from one end to the other.

Still nothing.

She lowered her compa.s.s. She turned to find the same understanding in Vigor's eyes. They had failed.

3:36 A A.M.

LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND.

GRAY WAS shoved into a stone cell. It was sealed with Lexan gla.s.s, bulletproof and an inch thick. The door slammed shut. He had spotted Rachel in a cell two s.p.a.ces down...along with her grandmother. shoved into a stone cell. It was sealed with Lexan gla.s.s, bulletproof and an inch thick. The door slammed shut. He had spotted Rachel in a cell two s.p.a.ces down...along with her grandmother.

It made no sense.

Raoul growled at his men and headed away, gold key in hand.

Seichan stood at the door, smiling at him. With his hands still bound behind his back by plastic ties, he threw himself bodily at her, crashing into the gla.s.s wall.

"You G.o.dd.a.m.n b.i.t.c.h!"

She only smiled, kissed her fingertips, and pressed them to the gla.s.s. "Bye, loverboy. Thanks for the ride here."

Gray fell away from the door, turning his back, cursing under his breath, calculating. Raoul had confiscated his pack, given it to one of his underlings. He'd been patted down, his weapons taken from his shoulder and ankle holsters.

He overheard talk by Rachel's cell. A door was opened.

Raoul growled to one of his guards, "Take Madame Camilla up to the trucks. Have all the men ready. We'll be leaving for the airport in a few minutes."

"Ciao, Rachel, my bambina bambina."

No response to her grandmother. What was going on?

Footsteps marched away.

Gray still sensed a presence by the other door.

Raoul's voice spoke again. "If only I had more time," Raoul whispered icily. "But orders are orders. It all comes to an end in Avignon. The Imperator will be returning here with me. He wants to watch as I take you for the first time. After that, it's just the two of us...for the rest of your life."

"f.u.c.k you," Rachel spat back at him.

"Exactly right." Raoul laughed. "I'm going to teach you how to scream and properly pleasure your superior. And if you don't bend to everything I demand, you won't be the first b.i.t.c.h Alberto lobotomized for the Court. I don't need your mind to f.u.c.k you."

He stalked away with a final order to a guard. "Keep a watch down here. I'll radio when I'm ready for the American. We'll have a short bit of fun before we leave."

Gray listened as Raoul's footsteps faded.

He didn't wait any longer. He kicked the toe of his boot hard against the solid rock wall. A three-inch blade sprang from the heel. He crouched and sliced free the ties that bound his wrist. He moved quickly. Timing was everything.

He reached into the front of his pants. Seichan had shoved a thin canister past his belt buckle when he'd thrust himself against the gla.s.s wall. Her left hand had pa.s.sed through an air vent, while her other hand distracted with her feigned kiss of good-bye.

Gray pulled the canister free, stepped to the door, and sprayed the hinges. The steel bolts began to dissolve. He had to give it to the Guild. They had cool toys. While Gray could not contact his superiors, nothing had stopped Seichan from coordinating equipment from hers.

Gray waited a full minute, then yelled to the guard stationed a few steps down the hall. "Hey! You! Something's wrong over here."

Footsteps approached.

Gray retreated back from the door.

The guard came forward.

Gray pointed to the smoky sizzle billowing by the door. "What the h.e.l.l?" he yelled. "Are you a.s.sholes trying to gas me?"

With a crinkled brow, the guard stepped closer to the door.

Good enough.

Gray leapt forward, slammed into the door, popping the hinges. The plate of hard gla.s.s slammed into the guard. He crashed against the far wall, striking his head hard. As he slumped, he tried to free his pistol.

Gray shoved aside the door and pivoted off it to swing around. He planted his boot-heel blade into the man's throat, then ripped it free, taking out most of the man's neck.

Bending, he liberated the pistol from the guard's holster and a set of keys. He ran to Rachel's cell.

She was already up and at the door. "Gray...!"

He keyed the lock. "We don't have much time."

He yanked the door open-and she was in his arms. She wrapped tight to him, lips at his ears, breath on his neck.

"Thank G.o.d," she whispered.

"Actually, thank Seichan," he said. Despite the urgency to keep moving, he held the embrace a bit longer, sensing she needed it.

And maybe he did, too.

But finally they both separated. Gray pointed his pistol toward the end of the hall. He checked his watch. Two minutes.

3:42 A A.M.

SEICHAN STOOD at the foot of the stairs that led up to the main keep. She knew the only escape was out the front door. Steel blast doors sealed the back exit under the castle. at the foot of the stairs that led up to the main keep. She knew the only escape was out the front door. Steel blast doors sealed the back exit under the castle.

In the brilliantly lit courtyard, a caravan of five SUVs was being loaded. Men yelled orders. Crates were shoved into the backs of the trucks. Dogs barked in kennels.

Seichan studied it all from the corner of her eye, tracking one man among the throng. Maximum mayhem would be needed. She had already confiscated a set of keys to the last Mercedes SUV. A silver one. Her favorite color.

Behind her, a door opened. Raoul stepped out, along with an old woman.

"We'll take you as far as the airport. A plane will get you back to Rome."

"My granddaughter..."

"She'll be taken care of. I promise." This last was said with an icy smile.

Raoul noted Seichan. "I don't believe we'll be needing the Guild's services any longer."

Seichan shrugged. "Then I'll head out with you and be on my way." She nodded to the silver SUV.

Raoul helped the old woman down the steps and strode toward the lead vehicle, where Dr. Alberto Menardi waited. Seichan continued to track her target. Motion along one wall of the courtyard drew her eye.

A door opened. She spotted Gray. He had a pistol. Good.

Across the courtyard, Raoul lifted a radio to his mouth. Most likely calling down to the cells. She could wait no longer. The man she'd been tracking wasn't as close to Raoul as she'd hoped-but he was still in the thick of things.

She fixed her eyes on the soldier who still carried Gray's pack over one shoulder. It was always easy to count on avarice among the foot soldiers. The fellow was not letting his booty out of his sight. The pack was stuffed with weapons and expensive electronic gear.

Unfortunately for the soldier, the bottom lining of the pack also had a quarter kilo of C4 sewn into it. Seichan pressed the transmitter in her pocket, hopping over the bal.u.s.trade of the front staircase.

The explosion blew out the center of the caravan.

Men and body parts flew into the dark sky. Gas tanks ignited on two of the cars. A ball of fire rolled upward. Flaming debris scattered to all corners of the courtyard.

Seichan moved quickly. Waving to Gray, she pointed her pistol at the silver SUV. Its windshield was cracked, but it was otherwise intact. Gray and the woman dashed out. The three zeroed in on the vehicle.

A pair of soldiers tried to stop them. Gray took out one, Seichan the other. They reached the SUV.

The rev of an engine drew her eye toward the castle gate. The lead truck jumped forward. Raoul was making his escape. Gunfire pelted toward them as soldiers tumbled into a second truck. Its engine was already running.

Raoul popped up out of the sunroof of the lead truck, facing back toward them. He raised a ma.s.sive horse pistol in his fist.

"Down!" Seichan barked, dropping flat.

The gun sounded like a cannon. She heard the windshield collapse and the back window blow out. The thick slug pa.s.sed completely through the vehicle. In plain sight, she rolled toward the rear, keeping the truck between her and Raoul.

Gunfire spat from the other side. Gray, on his belly, in a better position to snipe, shot at Raoul as the lead truck fishtailed toward the exit. The second truck followed.

Raoul continued to shoot, fearless of the hostile fire.

A slug slammed through the front grille of the SUV.

s.h.i.t.

The b.a.s.t.a.r.d was taking out their truck.

The front headlamp exploded. From her viewpoint on the ground, Seichan watched a stream of oil flow out of the engine compartment and pool on the stones.

The slide of Gray's pistol popped open. Out of ammo.

Seichan crab-crawled to join him, but it was too late.

One truck, then the other, shot out of the gate. Raoul's laughter carried back to them. The portcullis gate dropped behind the last vehicle, its teeth slamming into the stone notches, sealed tight.

A trundling noise penetrated the echo in her ears.

She rose to a crouch. Steel shutters dropped over all the windows and doors to the castle. Modern fortification. The Court took their security seriously. They were trapped in the courtyard.

A new sound followed.

The click of a series of heavy latches.

Seichan turned along with Gray and Rachel. She now understood the trailing laughter by the escaping b.a.s.t.a.r.d.

The gates to the line of twenty kennels rose up on motorized wheels.

Monsters of muscle, leather, and teeth stalked out, snarling, frothing, driven mad by the thunder and blood. Each pit-dog stood chest-high, ma.s.sing close to a hundred kilos, twice the weight of most men.

And the dinner bell had just rung.

3:48 A A.M.

AVIGNON, FRANCE.

KAT REFUSED to concede defeat. Holding despair at bay, she stalked the length of the blue bedroom atop the Tower of Angels. "We're looking at this the wrong way," she said. to concede defeat. Holding despair at bay, she stalked the length of the blue bedroom atop the Tower of Angels. "We're looking at this the wrong way," she said.

Unlike her, Vigor remained stock-still in the room's center. His eyes were somewhere else, calculating. Or was it worry for his niece? How focused was he on the task at hand?

"What do you mean?" he mumbled.

"Maybe there's not a magnetic marker." She held up the compa.s.s, drawing his eye, attempting to engage him fully.

"Then what?"

"What about all that talk earlier? The Gothic history of the town and this place?"

Vigor nodded. "Something built into the structure of the building. But without a magnetic marker, how are we to find it? The palace is huge. And considering the state of disrepair, the clue might have been destroyed or removed."

"You don't believe that," Kat said more firmly. "This secret society of alchemists would've found a way to preserve it."

"Still, how do we find it?" Vigor asked.

Lightning crackled out the nearby window. It lit up the gardens below the tower and the spread of city below the hill. The dark river snaked past below. The rain had begun to fall harder. Another fork of lightning scintillated across the belly of the black clouds.

Kat watched the display and slowly turned to Vigor, conviction firming with sudden insight. She pocketed her compa.s.s, knowing it was no longer needed.

"Magnetism opened Saint Peter's tomb," she said, stepping back to him. "And it was magnetism that led us to Alexander's tomb. But once there, it was opened Saint Peter's tomb," she said, stepping back to him. "And it was magnetism that led us to Alexander's tomb. But once there, it was electricity electricity that ignited the pyramid. The same might lead us to the treasure here." She waved a hand at the dazzle of the storm. "Lightning. The palace was built atop the largest hill, the that ignited the pyramid. The same might lead us to the treasure here." She waved a hand at the dazzle of the storm. "Lightning. The palace was built atop the largest hill, the Rocher des Doms Rocher des Doms, the Rock Dome."

"Attracting lightning strikes. A flash of light that illuminates darkness."