Chapter 33
Liam had returned into the duchy being led by Bastien. His rage and grief at his wife being taken were barely contained. He finally made it to the room in the gym with the big punching bag. He hit the bag hard letting out some of his pent up anger and frustration. Bastien moved to the bag stopping its swing before grabbing the bag and holding it for the King to hit. Liam hits the bag at full strength a few more times before he crumples on the floor. Tears well up in his eyes as his shoulders shake. "I can't live without them", Liam says with a sob.
"Liam you know damn well the Brooks won't let anything happen to that baby. She will guard it with her life", Drake states hoping to calm his best friend down. Liam slammed his hand on the mat shouting, "She shouldn't have too. You don't understand I'm partly to blame. I thought it was just pregnancy hormones as her requests seemed too much to me. Riley wanted us as a country to be more proactive instead of just reacting to events as they happened."
Bastien placed a hand on Liam's shoulder saying, "This is not your fault sir. No matter who is right on the military question. " Drake adds, "I think Riley is right it's time we have a military force. I think Cordonia maybe the only country without one at this point." Liam tries to regain his composure wanting nothing more than this to be just a horrible nightmare. Liam sighed as he got up off the floor when there was a knock at the door. Bastien opened the door "Bastien turn on the TV sir," said the guard at the door. Bastien pressed a button causing a TV to drop from the ceiling. Using a remote Bastien turned on the TV flipping to the station that normally had the news.
There on the screen was Anton or Justin he was bragging about how easy it had been to take the queen and heir to the throne. Video of the queen in a round stone room that could be anywhere in or out of Cordonia. Anton wanted the right to rule the kingdom over to him and in exchange, he'd return Riley and their unborn child unharmed. Otherwise, he was taking over, ruling as King by force with his queen at his side. Liam glared at the man on the screen wanting nothing more than to strangle the bastard.
Mara knocked on the door that she knew the king was behind. Bastien opened the door Mara looked at his crestfallen. Mara handed him an envelope the queen gave her when they arrived at the library. Mara said, "The queen gave me this." Liam snatched the letter from Mara still irritated with the woman for not properly securing the library.
Liam wanted to tear the letter open but took his time opening the envelope not wanting to tear the contents inside. He took out the paper inside with shaky hands as he opened the letter. He read his queens words while trying not to cry again. The letter fell to the floor while Liam tried to regain his composure for a second time that day. Drake and Bastien both looked at the note laying on the floor. It simply read:
Liam, I don't know the driver I fear I will be kidnapped today. I could just be pregnancy hormones but you make sure I know all the new hires. Anyway, I'm hoping I'm wrong and your right. If that is the case then we can have a good Liam sign laugh over this note and you can hold me until the baby comes. Should I be right I will wait for you unless it becomes too dangerous to cooperate then I will rescue myself.
Bastien ran a hand through his hair hoping that the queen would stage an escape that would make rescuing her much harder. Drake knew Liam felt this was all his fault he sighed out, "Liam quit beating yourself up over this. We will get her back you'll see."
Liam ran a hand through his disheveled hair before turning to Bastien saying, "Let's go over strategy for tomorrow. I want my queen back as quickly as possible." Bastien patted Liam's shoulder leading him to the main security room so they could talk privately. When they arrived Liam saw a large illuminated map with a small car placed on it. Bastien said, "This is where we found the queen's limo. We also found evidence of a vehicle change in that location as well. Best we can tell it's either a van or an SUV. The queens tracking broach last sent a signal from here." Bastien points to a point on the map with a circle. Liam looked where Bastien was pointing. "We are unsure if the signal is too weak to reach us now since cell towers are scarce in the last know location or if the battery died. We hope it wasn't discovered and destroyed", Bastien added.
Liam looked at the area saying, "There are at least three directions they could have gone to take her to a remote location. The queen is too recognizable to have been taken anywhere populated without drawing attention. Not with her popularity." Bastien nodded his head in agreement as Drake chimed in, "Isn't one of the remote areas in Olivia's duchy near this location. Maybe we can contact her and have her help search." Liam perked up taking his phone out calling Olivia, unfortunately, there was no answer so he left her a message to call him as soon as possible on an urgent matter. Bastien said, "I say we divide into three groups person in each group with a device that will pick up the signal from the broach should it be working. It will help us from spending too much time looking in the wrong place. I also recommend we ask the locals about round stonework in the area. My bet would be Olivia's duchy she has lots of estates and strongholds made of sone that would match what we saw in the video. We shouldn't rule out the other areas because of that this could be a basement too."
Drake added, "This sounds promising so we head to the last point we knew she was. From there we split into teams I will go with one team I'm sure Maxwell would be happy to go with another. You and Bastien should head to Olivia's she'd take finding you better than finding anyone else." Liam nodded while Olivia had become more friendly since Riley had arrived in Cordonia she still was hostile to most nobles. He was King and this was an emergency and if she didn't respond or he couldn't reach her, he'd have to enter her duchy unannounced. "Well I am going to turn in and try to sleep.I'm going to need all I can get there is a lot to do come morning", Liam stated.