Decode (Luke Series, #7) Read Free Page B

recognized and harassed as being normal. From that day on, I
decided that my children would never see their bodyguards. They
would be normal. Or, as normal as they can be.
    “I love London,” I
whisper as we walk along the curved stone pathways toward the
London Eye. “I don’t care if it’s a glorified Ferris wheel.”
    “Mommy, I’m hungry,”
Rhianne says as she twists the front of my T-shirt in her chubby
fingers.
    “Baby, you just ate
lunch. We’re going to have tea with Daddy in an hour. Aren’t you
excited?”
    She smiles and nods
vigorously as I switch her over to my other hip when my arm gets
tired. We make it to the Thames boardwalk where I turn around to
see Lucas’s reaction to seeing the London Eye up close. Lucas and
Violet are gone.

Chapter Four
Brina
    My vision gets blurry
as the adrenaline surges through my veins. Without thinking, the
first thing I do is scream Lucas’s name. At least a hundred people
in the vicinity turn toward the sound of my cry and I don’t care. I
want to put Rhianne down so I can race through the green fields of
Jubilee Gardens, but I can’t. I set her down on the stone path and
grab her hand tightly. The frightened look on her face breaks my
heart.
    “Baby, you have to run
with Mommy. Can you do that?” I ask as I kneel before her and dig
my hand into the back pocket of my jeans to retrieve my cell
phone.
    I hit the power button,
but nothing happens.
No, no, no, no!
I
forgot to charge my phone when we went to sleep this morning. Luke
told me I would regret not using the solar-charging cell phone
case.
    “Mommy, is Brother
lost?”
    The innocent anguish in
Rhianne’s three-year-old face, skin so delicate and flushed pink
with the summer heat, is what brings me back to the present moment.
Lucas is with Violet. They probably wandered off when Lucas saw
something interesting. I don’t see Ian, our bodyguard, anywhere. He
must be with them. They’re safe. They have to be safe.
    “No, baby, Lucas is with
Violet. He’s not lost. We just have to find a phone to call them
because Mommy’s phone’s not working. Can you walk while we look for
a phone?”
    She nods, but she still
looks worried. I pull her into my arms and squeeze her until she
giggles. I release her and the smile on her face is like a beacon,
guiding me back from a moment of near panic.
    I stand and take her hand
as we walk through the crowds back toward Belvedere to look for a
payphone. I consider asking a stranger to borrow their cell phone,
but the last thing I need is to be held up by someone who
recognizes me. Part of being married to Luke means being in the
public eye. I always speak at his conferences. I even starred in a
promotional video with him a few years ago where the two of us are
dancing to a bouncy indie pop tune. At the end of the video, it’s
revealed Luke is actually on the opposite side of the ocean and
we’re both using Maxwell Computers’ as-yet-released holographic
calling app Be, for “be there, anytime, anyplace.”
    I wish Luke could
be
here right now.
    My eyes scan the fields
of grass in the gardens as we walk along the path. I try not to
yank Rhianne too hard as I drag her this way and that way at the
slightest whim of my instincts. Finally, we reach Belvedere with no
sign of them and my heart plummets. I want to break down, but I
can’t do that in front of my baby girl.
    I scoop Rhianne up into
my arms and set off toward Chicheley Street. I contemplate asking
the constable guarding the gates to Chicheley if I can borrow his
cell phone, but I decide against it. He’ll want details and I don’t
need a massive search initiated when Lucas is with his nanny and
bodyguard.
    I continue down Chicheley
and decide to turn in under the purple awning for the Premier Inn—a
building that looks like it’s been around a couple of centuries.
The lobby is dimly lit and two clerks, a young man and woman,
wearing purple polo shirts are chatting behind a beech wood
check-in