Page 64 of Trained Royal
He did as he was told, sitting beside Nina with a small nod in her direction.
“As I was saying.” Brett glared at Kieren. “They have released Charles. The police couldn’t hold him any longer because they had no evidence that he had anything to do with it other than what Christian said he’d told him. He hasn’t been forthcoming about anything, and Commissioner Thomas was unable to get anything else out of him. Not for lack of trying, though.”
“Is he a threat?” Locke asked. She was one of Freddie’s bodyguards.
“Charles? I’d consider him one. Not only because of who he’s associated with but because I’m sure he sees this as a mark against our royals.” Kieren smiled at the reference to “our” royals. “Keep a vigilant eye out as always, and make sure you let me know if you see anything at all that might be worth noting. Even the smallest thing.”
“What about the ongoing threat from them?” Isaac, George’s guard, asked.
Brett sighed. “Still the same. We’re going on the assumption that they haven’t changed their plans, and their next target is the Christmas event, but there’s no guarantee. As with anything. If the auction incident was part of their plan and not something Charles did off his own back, then they could’ve changed things.”
Kieren hated they had no idea what they were heading into. But that was part of their job, wasn’t it? Dealing with impromptu events and incidents, thinking on their feet.
“In other words, we have no idea where a threat can come from?” Eric, Douglas’s guard, said.
Brett raised his eyebrows. “Do we ever really know?” Good point. “Anyway, let’s get through this, and our royals can get on with their day.”
He stayed quiet throughout the meeting, not having much to add to the conversation, and when everyone stood to leave, he remained seated. Nina glanced at him and paused.
“I’ll wait outside,” she said.
“Please.”
It was strange having a guard of his own, but he knew he was a target now. There had been a lot about Patrick and him in the news—both in the papers and online—and although their relationship had not been confirmed by internal sources yet, they still needed to be careful, which was why he’d not baulked when Brett and Patrick had insisted he had Nina with him at all times.
When everyone had left, he approached Brett. “What aren’t you telling them?”
Brett blew out a breath and dropped into a chair, Kieren sitting beside him. The man appeared worn out, but if he was working half as hard as Kieren expected him to be, he would be tired. How he managed to oversee the entire security team as well as guard Christian was beyond him.
“I’ve received some information from Neil. He says Gia’s found an anomaly in the code.”
“An anomaly? In what way?”
“I’m not a computer expert, so I’m paraphrasing, but from what I could gather, at first glance, everything is as they figured it out to be. Gia, however, dug a little deeper—for what reason, I don’t know—and she found some of the symbols had extra details that weren’t picked up on the initial go rounds.”
“Extra details? What does that have to do with anything?”
“She believes it’s an encoded message within an encoded message. She’s currently working her ass off to figure it out.”
“Like an envelope within an envelope?”
Brett nodded. “It could just be an error, but Gia’s sure she’s on to something. It’s just a waiting game.” Kieren tapped his fingertips on his thumb. “What’s up?” Brett asked.
Kieren glanced at him with a slight shake of his head. “I feel useless. I don’t know if I can do this for however many weeks or months it’ll take me to get back to normal.”
“Do you want to get back to normal?”
Kieren scoffed. “Of course I do.”
Brett rested a hand on his shoulder. “Do you really?”
Kieren met his gaze. A multitude of emotions flickered over his boss’s face, but the most prevalent was understanding. He averted his gaze, rubbing at a spot on his jeans.
“I’m not being an ass, Kieren. When you came into this job, I was over the moon because you’re a damn good guard, and I would hate to see you go.” He licked his lips. “But…and don’t hit me here…you don’t need to do this job as penance for your family. Saving other people won’t assuage your guilt of not being there for them. All it does is put you in danger instead.”
“I have nothing else to give,” he whispered.
“I think there’s a certain prince who would object to that.” Brett grinned. “Now, get your ass gone, and I can get to Christian. I’m sure he’s already waiting.”
