Vistaria Has Fallen (The Vistaria Affair/Vistaria Has Fallen #1)(39)

The man behind the glass pushed a clipboard through the slot. Duardo signed it. The man gave a salute, which Duardo returned. He tucked Minnie back under his arm. “No sweat,” he told Calli.

“I’m sure they don’t let just any soldier in here,” Calli said.

“Ah, no, but I am walking wounded. They feel sorry for me.” He grinned.

“You’re lying,” Calli said.

“It is perfectly true!” Duardo protested.

A great archway lay ahead. It burrowed through the middle of the building, in the manner of some of the European buildings where the road ran through the middle for coachmen and horses to drop their privileged passengers right at the door. Duardo led them under the arch. Their footsteps echoed across the old cobblestones.

At the other end of the archway, the road became a covered walkway, well lit, with slim columns lining each side. It was a modern addition, designed to provide shade and protection from daily rain for those walking to the legislature. Along the walkway, guards stood between the pillars at regular intervals, facing each other. The walkway ran straight toward another three-story building. There were no spotlights on this building. Windows showed lights inside, while most of them were dark. The Presidential residence.

Duardo did not walk down the pathway. Instead, he slipped out between the pillars, across well-tended lawn and around huge beds of flowers surrounding shady trees, in a big arc that would bring them toward the north wing of the palace.

“You’re heading somewhere,” Calli guessed. “This isn’t simply a stroll in a pretty garden.”

“We are just walking,” Duardo said. He halted them, a hand on Calli’s arm and called out something in a low voice. An equally low response came from their right and Duardo answered. Calli heard the sound of metal clinking. Duardo let her arm go. “Come,” he declared.

“We were challenged by someone with a gun!” Calli said. “Hidden away where no one could see them.”

“You do not think those guards standing so stiff would see everything, did you?”

“They didn’t let you in here on a whim, did they?” Calli said.

“Not quite,” Duardo admitted. He brought them to a halt, next to a tall bed of flowers and grasses. She could smell the dry, herbal odor and a strong, almost intoxicating scent of a type of lily nearby. They faced the covered walkway, about thirty feet away from it and they would be invisible in the darkness beyond reach of the lights.

“See?” Duardo said, nodding towards the walkway.

Calli drew a sharp breath, her heart jumping. Nick strode down the walkway, obviously in a hurry.

“He was alerted by the gatehouse,” Duardo said. “No one comes in here without el leopardo knowing about it. Because it is me, he hurries to find out what is wrong, for he knows I would not come here without just cause. In a moment, when he finds me gone, he will go back to the palace, puzzled and concerned.”

“Why, Duardo?”

He looked at her and in the darkness she saw him smile. “It is time for you to surprise him instead of always being surprised by the leopard. Take the choice away from him this time.”

There remained so much unspoken in his words, a wealth of knowledge and understanding that made her a little uneasy.

Minnie held out her hand. “I told Duardo, Calli. All of it. Even Robert.”

Calli was glad of the dark that hid her burning cheeks. “Jesus Christ, Minnie!”

“This is right,” Minnie said firmly. “Take the risk. Take the leap.”

“Yes, the leap,” Duardo said. “Minnie knows. You listen to her. You, the strong one, here is what you must do.” He took her arm and led her around the far side of the flower bed beside them. They came right up to the palace itself, on the far corner. The stone walls were still warm from soaking in the day’s sunlight. Duardo pointed up at the second balcony, then at the concrete screen that blocked off the end of the lower floor veranda. “A good ladder, yes?” he asked.

“Up there?” Calli asked.

“His rooms are there, where he stays when he is in the city.”

“How do you know so much, Duardo?”

“In the last few days I have learned very, very much, because I met you and Minnie. I have become...a channel.”

“Conduit.”

“Sí.” He glanced over her shoulder. “He comes.” He patted her shoulder, then vanished. The trained soldier moving in stealth.

Calli moved around to face the concrete blocks. Their intricate patterns provided toe and finger holds everywhere. Duardo proved right—it was as good as a ladder. She climbed, wishing she had worn jeans. At least her short skirt didn’t get in the way. It didn’t protect her knees, though. A cotton skirt and spaghetti strap top was not her apparel of choice for climbing walls.

The blocks went all the way to the roof of the building. When she had climbed high enough, she moved sideways to reach the balcony rail, a concrete balustrade two feet thick. She jumped down to the floor and looked about. A massive, old Banyan tree spread its branches out a few feet further along the veranda, giving her a place to hide from observers down below.

She sat on the balcony rail behind the tree and rested against the pillar there, hidden from all but someone standing at the end of the second floor balcony. If Nick’s rooms were at the end, as Duardo said, he would walk past her to reach either one of the three French doors there.