The Unshackled Queen: Never Say Never by Gilbert Soysal

“You don’t have to worry about me, I’m fine,” Bryson said in a hurried voice.

The line went dead before Hannah could answer.

She gripped the phone, the plastic slick with cold sweat.

His last, muffled voice echoed in her mind, a chilling whisper in the face of uncertainty.

Belief in him warred with a gnawing fear that things would go terribly wrong.

The leaden sky outside mirrored her mood, casting long shadows across the room.

She took a shaky breath, her gaze falling on the half-packed suitcase sprawled on the bed.

Bryson’s location remained a mystery, but at least he was alive, a faint echo in the vastness.

The Queen Elizabeth awaited.

She had to go now.

Miles away, Bryson leaned against the headboard of the rough wooden bed, the starkness of the room mirroring the turmoil within him.

He met the gaze of the intruder with a weary lift of his hand.

“Have they found us?” he rasped, his voice dry as desert sand.

“No,” came the calm reply.

Caleb, his face a mask of stoicism, set down a medical bag.

“There’s a special medical team on board but Rodrigo Wilde’s men are scouring the ship for the injured.

exposure, we just

”

Bryson’s brow furrowed.

“The plan failed then?”

as he

Lieutenant sleeps with the

But Mr.

Mitchell.

”

flicker of guilt

“It was my fault.

I nearly paid

could have gotten

”

shot, the sting of pain momentarily eclipsed by a steely glint in his

didn’t see our faces,” he said, his voice

“Newfort awaits.

they must be sweating harder than we

they can’t find us now, they won’t be able to find us when

”

we should find another place to hide

more time

”

“No,” Bryson countered.

won’t buy us time, only delay the

as a hawk’s, landed on

in our name, Caleb, sullying

can’t turn a blind eye