A/N: Nine followers? Six favourites? Thank you all so much! I'm so glad you're all enjoying the story!
Disclaimer: I own just Ellie.
'We can't trust them, Vadim. They're both spies and traitors.' Felix said pointing a gun at D'Artagnan and Ellie. Both were very calm.
'You fell asleep when you were meant to be watching my back.' Felix lowered the gun. 'So no-one's perfect.' Felix turned away. 'This woman…she's important to you?' Vadim asked.
'Yes, she is. I had to see her again, it could be the last time.' He defended.
'Neither of you said anything?' He questioned.
'Vadim, we were both careful. No-one saw us.'
'I understand love, D'Artagnan, believe me. But.' Vadim stopped, getting up off of the chair he was sitting in. 'Next time you want a conjugal visit, you ask.' He was inches away from D'Artagnan's face. 'You understand?' D'Artagnan nodded, and Vadim backed off. 'Get some sleep, both of you. You'll need it.' He and Felix left the room. Ellie sighed.
'By the way, I really hate you for kidnapping me.' Ellie told him as she laid down on the floor.
'I am away of that.' Ellie smiled.
'We strike tomorrow at eleven, as the clock chimes.' Vadim, Ellie and D'Artagnan stood around a table, studying a map. 'Three men in the crowd with bombs, four more standing by, should they fail.' Thunder rumbled outside as the rain continued to pour down. 'The King and Queen will be dead before a quarter past.' Vadim chucked a coin onto the table.
'And us? What do we do?' D'Artagnan asked.
'I have a very special destiny for you, my friend. This time tomorrow, my name will live forever. Yours, too, should you play your part.' The two men shook hands, and Ellie just watched the candle flame flickering. 'Here, take the map. You might need it.' Vadim folded the map up and handed it to D'Artagnan. 'And buy wine. We should celebrate.' He handed Ellie a couple of coins.
Ellie pulled open the gate and walked up the small flight of stairs and outside. The rain had stopped, but the thunder still rumbled. D'Artagnan whistled as he walked.
'Give this to Treville.' He said as he dropped the map in front of Porthos.
'In a few hours' time, the King will be dead!' Vadim exclaimed with one arm around Suzette. 'Every man here I trust like a brother. All except one.' Vadim strolled towards his gathered men. Ellie started to feel uneasy. Something was wrong. 'We have a traitor in our midst.' Vadim paced up and down the gathered men. He stopped in front of Felix.
'It's not me, Vadim.' Felix told him. 'I would lay down my life for you.'
'He knows that, Felix. You're not the one' Suzette said. Vadim cocked his gun and move it so that it was aimed at D'Artagnan and Ellie.
'On your knees…' Vadim ordered. Ellie's heart started beating very loudly.
'You're wrong.' D'Artagnan whispered.
'Musketeer!' Vadim moved his gun against D'Artagnan's head, Felix pointing his gun at Ellie. The two got down on their knees, hands up in surrender.
'No-one outwits Vadim!' Suzette told them. There was a sharp pain in the back of Ellie's head before she crashed to the floor, surrounded by darkness.
Porthos leant against a building, watching the entrance to Vadim's lair. The rain was still pouring down, soaking him and the Musketeers behind him. He nodded and Treville signalled to the men.
They ran towards Vadim's lair, Musketeer's each side of the entrance. One handed Porthos a gun, and he smashed the lock open; handing it back to him. He then ran inside, guns raised the others following him. But as he walked into the room, where Vadim had been moments before, there was no one and nothing there.
'No.' Porthos whispered turning around. 'I swear they were all in here.'
'There's a back door.' Aramis said. Athos crouched down, staring at a blood stain on the floor.
'Blood.' He muttered as some of it came off onto his fingers.
'D'Artagnan or Ellie?' Aramis asked
'Perhaps.' Athos replied standing up.
They chose to take the risk. There's nothing we could have done.' Treville told him. Athos turned around to face his Captain.
'No, D'Artagnan took the risk, and dragged Ellie in with him.' Aramis reminded him.
'And we could have stopped them.' Athos said.
'At least they left us this. Our job now is to protect the King.' Treville answered, holding up the map. 'When that's done, we can worry about D'Artagnan and Ellie.' Athos looked down at the blood on the floor. The Musketeers left, Porthos being the last to leave.
Suddenly a hole in the floor lifted up, and Felix popped his head up; checking to see if they had all gone. He smirked to himself, before disappearing back into the hole; pulling the lid on top. He climbed down the rope, to where Vadim's men were waiting.
'They're gone.' He told Vadim.
'Take it. Use it well, brother.' Vadim told him, handing him a bomb.' Tomorrow is your day.' Vadim moved in front of D'Artagnan and Ellie who were being held up by four of his men. Vadim lifted D'Artagnan's head up, one of his men moved the candle towards his face. Vadim looked at D'Artagnan, before blowing the candle out.
D'Artagnan groaned, the throbbing in his head increasing. He went to move but found that he was tied down to something. He started pulling harder against the ropes, attracting Vadim's attention.
'I was hoping one of you'd wake.' He told him. D'Artagnan looked to his left and saw Ellie tied to a barrel as well, her head slumped forward and a line of blood trickling down her forehead. 'I wouldn't want you to miss the high point of our brief acquaintance.'
'Where are we?' D'Artagnan asked, watching Ellie out the corner of his eye.
'In the tunnels under the Louvre.' Vadim told him. 'They run from the palace to the city wall. Built by one of our King's forebears, as an escape route.' Vadim pushed a candle into a hole in the top of a barrel. There was a fuse running from it. 'Bricked up in the time of Henri IV.' He started to lay down the fuse. 'I discovered them whilst working in the palace kitchens.' He held out a hand. 'You can almost feel the heat of the bread ovens.' He sat down on a barrel. 'You see, D'Artagnan, servants are like rats.' He tied the fuse to the cork of another barrel. 'They'll find all manner of secret exits and entrances.' He looked over his shoulder at the candle. 'In exactly 15 minutes, that candle will burn down, and light the fuse that will explode the powder stored in those barrels.' D'Artagnan's eyes widened as he turned to look at the barrels, which he and Ellie were tied to.
'Blowing us to pieces.' D'Artagnan stated dryly.
'Well, certainly, but that's not the main purpose of the exercise.'
'You know, it doesn't matter what you do to me, or Ellie, Vadim. You've failed. I told the Musketeers everything.' Vadim moved inches away from his face.
'You told them exactly what I wanted you to tell them.' Vadim told him. 'I explained the trick to you, D'Artagnan. You should have paid more attention.' Vadim moved away from him and picked up his bag. He started putting several bombs in the bag, they clinked as the moved around inside. He placed a glass jar over the top of the candle. 'Fourteen minutes. Tick, tock, tick, tock.' He said before walking out and slamming the door shut. D'Artagnan started to struggle against his ropes again, pulling even harder as he watched the candle slowly burn down.