Page 119 of Sinful Palace

I frowned and held up a palm to cut him off. “Wait… you aren’t coming with me?”

“No. I can’t.”

My eyes widened. “Why?”

“Well, for one, I need to be seen leaving the party alone so that no one connects the two of us anytime soon,” he replied. “Also, I need to drive down to Alexandria to pick up Jared. I’ll be doing that while you’re sneaking out of here.”

“Oh. How are you going to get him out of my aunt’s place?”

Jamie rubbed his chin. “Easily, I hope. I drove him down there the other week when your mom wanted him to go, and she gave me a spare key just in case I needed it. I know all the alarm codes as well,” he said. “Plus, Jared knows me, so if I sneak into his room and wake him up to tell him that we’re going on an adventure, he won’t scream his head off and wake everyone else up.”

“Right. But what about me? How am I supposed to meet up with you if you’re twenty minutes away in Alexandria?”

“Someone will be waiting for you at the other end of the tunnels. He’ll transport you from there.”

“Who is it?”

“An acquaintance of mine. He’ll take you to the meeting point,” he said. “Hopefully, Jared and I will already be there by the time you arrive.”

I shook my head slowly. “I don’t know about this,” I said, rubbing the back of my neck. “How do you know you can trust these acquaintances of yours? What if they screw us over?”

Jamie put a hand on my shoulder. “I know it’s hard to trust other people, especially for someone like you, but sometimes you just don’t have a choice. Sometimes you have to put your faith in the people you think you can trust and hope to god you’re right about them,” he said. “The people helping us tonight have never betrayed me before, so I’m choosing to put my faith in them.”

I nodded slowly. “I really hope you’re right about them.”

“Yeah, me too. If I’m not, and we get caught…” He stopped and held up a palm, shaking his head. “No, we can’t think like that. We need to stay positive. It’s all going to work out, okay?”

I forced a smile. “Okay. What happens after I go into the tunnels?”

Jamie tapped on the map. “Just follow this. It’s an easy route. One right, three lefts, and two more rights. I’ll give you a little flashlight to use so you can see where you’re going.”

“What if I run into any Order members?” I asked, forehead wrinkling. “They could be down there.”

“If you see or hear anyone coming, just turn off your light and duck into one of the alcoves on the side of the tunnel. Hide there until they’re gone.”

“Okay.”

“When you’ve finished following these directions, you’ll end up at some steps leading to a grate. That grate opens into an alleyway outside.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Don’t go up the steps,” Jamie went on. “Just duck into the alcove directly behind them and wait. Your driver will come along with a flashlight, and he’ll flash it three times at the top of the steps. Then he’ll say the codeword—ambrosia.”

“Why ambrosia?”

“Honestly, it was the first uncommon word I could think of,” Jamie said with a faint smile. “Anyway, do not go up those steps until you hear that codeword. That tunnel exit is hardly ever used, and it comes out in a tiny alley, but still… you never know who might be lurking around.”

“So—three flashes of light and a codeword. Don’t leave the tunnel until that happens.”

“That’s right. Once you’re out, the driver will bring you to the meeting point right here.” Jamie handed me another map and pointed to the top of Potomac Yard. “It’s a marina.”

I arched a brow. “A marina?”

“Yes. You had a very good point about Logan—and your mother, too—being able to look at flight records and surveillance images from airports and private airfields. But they can’t monitor small-scale water traffic, can they?”

“I guess not.”

“Once you get to the marina, we’re going to board a yacht. We’ll go all the way down the river and out here into Chesapeake Bay,” he said, trailing a finger down the map. “Then we’ll keeping heading south until we get out to the ocean. After that, we’ll cruise down to Wilmington.”

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