All The King's-Men (The Yellow Hoods, #3) Read Free Page A

big boy; he’ll be okay,” she said hopefully.
    As she mounted and slowly turned her horse to point westward, she stared longingly over her shoulder. As the horse started to saunter forward, she was hoping to see a sign that would tell her to go with her heart.

CHAPTER TWO

Childhood's End
     
    “Soldiers. Lots of them,” said Tee, returning to her grandfather’s hidden downstairs study. She pulled her hood back, revealing her black eye and shoulder-length, dark brown hair. Adrenaline had vanquished any signs of fatigue or injury from the battle earlier in the day. 
    Elly came up right behind Tee. “I spotted some going around to the back of the house.”
    “Do you think they are the same ones that took Anciano Klaus?” asked Mounira.
    “No,” said Christina sharply. “They’d already know the house. These are a different group, of that I’m certain.” She couldn’t imagine who they were working for, or what they knew about the house.
    She closed her eyes and thought through its layout. She’d visited Nikolas many times over the years, but had never had to think about his house tactically. Given all the secrets that Nikolas had shared with her, and her with him, she’d never known he had a hidden study, let alone a huge secret lab. She was worried about what other secrets it housed.
    Opening her eyes and glancing around the bookcase- lined room, she said, “Okay, I’m going to assume we’re surrounded, and that they don’t know about this room— at least, not yet.” Her tone was that of an experienced leader.
    Mounira walked over and took Christina’s hand with her left, and only, hand. Christina smiled down at her little eleven-year-old sidekick. 
    Franklin stood at attention, several inches taller than everyone except Christina. He stared at her nervously. “Why don’t we fight them?” he asked, aware that everyone knew he had no skills to support such an action. “You’ve got that gun and a shock-stick on your belt.”
    Christina shook her head. “We’re in a small space, we don’t know how many of them there are, we don’t know who they are… no. We’re at a tactical disadvantage. Remy would kill me if I died doing something like that.”
    “Who’s Remy?” asked Mounira, frowning with curiosity.
    “Later,” replied Christina. “I need to think.”

    As Nikolas’ thick oak front door blew apart, a dozen soldiers flooded into his house, onto the landing, and up the stairs to the kitchen. With a few quick gestures, they spread out to the study on the left and the bedrooms on the right.
    “This guy’s got a lot of books,” said one of the soldiers, glancing around the study. He moved his torch around, pushing back the night. “And a lot of stuff.” He stared in disbelief at the two work tables, overstuffed bookcases, and piles of books and papers on the floor in heaps.
    “Careful with that torch!” barked the captain from the landing. “We don’t want this place going up in flames with us in it.”
    “No one over here, Captain,” said a soldier returning from the bedrooms. “Walker’s double-checking under the beds and closets.”
    “And you’re not helping—why?” asked the captain, sending the soldier back. “Newbies.” He rubbed his thick dark beard. “Keep an eye open. Look under and behind every piece of furniture. If there’s someone here, we want them. If there are any brass tubes, you may just have found yourself an Abominator reward, so cough it up. You lunkers hear me?”
    Several soldiers replied with eager yeses.
    The captain took in his little theater of war. “Alright, you’ve got ten minutes to earn yourself an early Solstice bonus, so move with purpose.”
    Satisfied at the sounds of soldiers shifting furniture and things falling to the floor, the captain went up the landing stairs into the kitchen and noticed something affixed to the walls. “Hey, you bunch of lunkers! This place has candleholders on the walls. Probably has oil lamps, too.