Alec's Royal Assignment (Man on a Mission 3)

The metal detector would have gone crazy on either of them—in addition to the gun in his shoulder holster, Alec was wearing his ankle holster with his backup gun—except McKinnon stepped to one side and spoke quietly to one of the guards there. “Yes, sir, it is all arranged,” the guard said respectfully in Zakharan, and he opened the velvet rope to let the three of them pass through to the right of the metal detector.

An usher was waiting on the other side and led them down the center aisle, all the way to the front. He removed the ribbon blocking off the aisle to the front pew and seated them on the left side. Alec didn’t know who else was going to be seated after them, so he moved nearly all the way to the left, figuring that would leave plenty of room remaining for whoever would sit there—the king, the queen, their infant son and any security guards who would be accompanying them.

Through the open door of the cathedral came a roar from the crowd, and Alec knew the royal family had arrived, right on time. Let’s get this show on the road, he told himself with a touch of humor. Movement to the left of the altar had his gaze sliding in that direction, his hand never far from the unbuttoned jacket of his morning suit. But it was only the archbishop, dressed in his ecclesiastical robes, with two bishops and a handful of acolytes coming from the sacristy, moving into place near the altar and the ancient marble baptismal font off to the right.

The organist, who’d been playing for the past fifteen minutes, came to the end of Henry Purcell’s Trumpet Tune. He paused, waited for a signal, then nodded to the string quartet and moved right into Jeremiah Clarke’s Trumpet Voluntary.

The stately music filled the cathedral with sound, and Alec realized Angelina had been right. No assassin could stand behind the organ pipes while the music was playing, unless—and he’d been just as right about this—that person was wearing some kind of noise-canceling headgear. He’d already spotted plainclothes security guards stationed on both sides of the recessed area, so apparently she’d passed along his concern to whoever was in charge of security. But he couldn’t get it out of his mind that anything might happen. And wasn’t that what McKinnon was worried about when he asked me to come armed?

When everyone in the cathedral stood and turned toward the rear, Alec stood, too. But even as he faced the rear, his gaze was sweeping left and right, taking in every detail. Plainclothes security guards were everywhere, earpieces in place, looking for all the world like the Secret Service protecting the president of the United States, except none of them were wearing sunglasses—not inside the cathedral.

Then he spotted Angelina coming up the already crowded far-right aisle—her left, his right—and his heart leaped at the sight of her. She was so beautiful as she slowly advanced, keeping pace with Zakhar’s king and his queen. The queen was carrying their infant son in her arms as she and the king made their stately way up the center aisle.

Angelina’s eyes were constantly looking left and right, just as he’d done earlier. Guarding the queen as best she could without being right beside her. So tall, so straight, so intensely focused. Like a Norse Valkyrie. Or a guardian angel, he thought. Yeah, that’s more appropriate for church. So determined nothing will happen on her watch.

Just like me.

Chapter 6

For no reason he could think of, Alec suddenly remembered the scene in the coffeehouse. Remembered the two bearded young men who’d entered so innocuously but who bore hatred in their hearts and carried death in their minds and hands. His sixth sense—the one he always trusted, which had never let him down—told him there was danger here. He didn’t know from where or from whom, just that it was here...somewhere.

His hand was already reaching for his SIG SAUER, but then he stopped, cursing internally. If he drew his gun, he could trigger an international incident, and he already had one black mark against him with the State Department for taking down those terrorists—even though it had been necessary. One of the security guards here was bound to see his drawn gun, think he was a threat to the royal family, shoot first and ask questions later. Even if he wasn’t killed, the State Department would have a hell of a lot of explaining to do. And so would he.

* * *

Angelina spotted Alec immediately in the front pew as the royal family took their seats next to the McKinnons, though she shunted him to the back of her mind because she had to focus on doing her job. Her eyes scoured the vast room, but she saw nothing that warranted alarm. So far so good.

As the archbishop began the sacred rite of baptism, the organ began playing, and after a few bars, the choir burst into song. She tuned everything out as she kept her focus on the royal family.