Page 89 of One Last Stand

Shep!

And then everything went black.

CHAPTER9

One minute.Wait one minute. Except Shep had seen London just down the hallway, and—sheesh,ten seconds out of his sight and?—

Forget this. He pulled out his phone and tapped on the flashlight.

Around him, people panicked under the darkness and the scream of the siren, rushing past him to find an exit, but he stood still, shining his light down the hallway to the bathrooms.

No London.

That didn’t make sense.

He spotted a slew of gowned women, but none wore the deep-blue V-necked dress that turned London into some kind of lady-in-waiting. He hadn’t known what to do with the sense that he’d stepped into a world way over his head as they’d gotten into the limousine.

He stood in the tourniquet of his monkey suit and cast his light around him, that sense crashing over him again. No London, and . . .shoot. He knew, just knew, this would happen.

“London!” He raised his voice, but the siren gobbled it.

Maybe she’d already headed to Cryptex. He took off down the hallway toward the stairs, following the map imprinted in his head.

No guard at the top, so perhaps York’s plan had worked. Shep raced down the stairs, then the next set to the ground floor, and found the glass corridor that led to the Cryptex entrance along with the external door to the palace.

According to York’s timeline, York would be standing on the other side of the door, in the courtyard.

Shep grabbed the handle and opened the door.

York stood on the other side, looking at his phone. He glanced up. “They’re trying to turn off the alarm, but Coco has hacked the system. We have maybe three minutes and then the entire system is reset.” He glanced past Shep, frowned. “Where’s London?”

“Not here,” Shep snapped. “She was in the hallway before the blackout. I waited—she never came back to me.”

“Maybe she’s already at Cryptex.” York pushed past him and ran down the glass hallway, Shep on his tail.

Please, please?—

Darkness bled through the Cryptex door, and Shep looked inside the glass, through the entry to the lobby behind the barred gate. Just the eyes of the computers, glowing against the night.

“She can’t get to the inner area without help,” Shep said. “Someone has to hit the buzzer under the desk while she grabs the door.”

York turned away. “She’s not here.”

Duh.Still, the words sliced through Shep. He wanted to put his hand through the glass door.

Instead, he blew out a breath. “Let’s go back to the palace. I should have checked the bathroom.”

York nodded, and Shep took off back down the corridor to the palace entrance, flew up the stairs.

The lights flickered on, the siren cutting off as soon as they reached the second level.

People stood in the hallways, their hands to their ears.

Shep slowed, strode past them down to the bathroom, paused only a moment, then, “Man on the floor!” He shoved his way into the bathroom.

The door banged against the wall.Empty.“London?”

He stalked down one side, searching for a closed door. Nothing.

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