The Protected: Book Five

Death, Diamonds, And Dirty Socks Series

Book 1: Priceless Inheritance

Book 2: Mischief Before Mastery

Book 3: Cheating Death

Book 4: Solomon's Ring

Book 5: The Protected

Book 6: Vessel Of Safety

Copyright 2016 T.L. Tabor

Published by T.L.Tabor

This book is available in print at most online retailers.

ebook Edition License Notes

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Table of Contents

Prologue

Chapter 1 - Shrink To Fit

Chapter 2 - Platinum Perks

Chapter 3 - Dresses, Tuxes, And Shoes Oh My

Chapter 4 - Triple Crossed XXX

Chapter 5 - The Frantians

Chapter 6 - Vessel Of Safety

Chapter 7 - Demanding Demands

Chapter 8 - True Intentions

Chapter 9 - Oh So Small

Book Six: Vessel Of Safety (Sample)

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Prologue

Jarod and Tommy’s first assignment from Brindly, to each decode one of Jarod’s grandfather’s mystical books, has gone very wrong in one afternoon. They went to the girl’s school where the books were hidden, they decoded the odd messages, and then headed back home to Greenhaven. What they didn’t know was that someone had been monitoring their every move and now that someone had found the hidden ring Brindly had intended for them to discover for their first mission: the powerful ring of King Solomon.

Legend has it that whomever wears the ring can control the demons of the earth, but by demons back then they meant genies, and not just bad genies, but any genies with powers they wanted to harness. Now the only safe genies are the ones hidden inside their own bottles. Any genie within range of the wearer of Solomon’s Ring will be forced into submission. Being a genie, Brindly is trapped in his bottle as long as the painful call of Solomon’s Ring summons him. He is unable to aid them at all and it’s up to Jarod and Tommy to find help and get the ring safely hidden away again...before the call of Solomon’s Ring gathers an army of genies that becomes unstoppable.

Chapter 1 - Shrink To Fit

By 6:00 pm Porter still hadn’t called back and Jarod was sure he wasn’t going to. He and Tommy were hanging out in the entryway with Jarod’s blood sample all ready and packaged up in a FedEx box, trying to figure out what to do next. I wish I could just go back and talk to Brindly again. It really stinks that he only has two pairs of shoes. We’re going to have to fix that when this is over.

If we’re all still alive, Tommy replied from where he sat leaning against the wall by the door. So do we call the delivery guy or drop it off ourselves?

If we call them to come get it, we’ll have to open the doors and he could be working for Gaffie. And if the phones are tapped they’ll know we called.

How are we going to get it there otherwise? Have you been practicing driving the Rolls Royce? Tommy laughed.

Just then they heard Meg’s door open and this time she actually showed herself over the railing. Jarod! she hollered, then looked down and saw them sitting on the floor. What are you doing down there? Lurking?

Tommy smiled up at her. He’s waiting for a delivery guy and I’m lurking.

She shook her head and rolled her eyes, then pretended Tommy wasn’t there again. Mom called and said they’re not coming back tonight because they’re at some great little amusement park and Lindy wants to go again tomorrow. They might stay through the weekend.

What about us? Jarod asked, wondering if this was a good thing or not. Somehow Brindly had known they were going to be away for the weekend and had already relieved the staff. He didn’t even know where the kitchen was and it wasn't like any of them could cook.

They said since Brindly was here it was fine that I go out and leave you two freaks home if I wanted. Meg stuck her tongue out at Jarod.

But Brindly’s not around. We can’t find him.

I don’t care. I’m still going out tonight. I’ve got to get a dress for the ball in two days.

Make sure it matches my eyes, Tommy piped in. We don’t want to clash.

Jarod wasn’t in the mood for their little exchange. There were way more important issues to deal with right now, and Meg being here was complicating it all. Well, the house is on lockdown like Porter instructed when we couldn’t locate Brindly. Don’t you even care that he’s missing? Something could have happened to him.

All I know is that I’m going to the mall with Kendyl in about an hour, so you have until then to get the door unlocked for me. And you and your dumb little coat-and-dagger games are getting really old, Jarod.

"It’s cloak and dagger," Jarod corrected her.

Whatever, she said with a flip of her hand. When are you going to grow up?

We are grown up! Tommy yelled back as she walked off to her room. At least I am.

Call me when the door is unlocked…AND don’t bug me again until then. Her door slammed and there was silence.

Like we bugged her, Tommy complained. She came out and bugged us. I don’t think she can stand not hearing my voice every few hours.

Jarod just ignored his dreaming as usual. Now we have to figure out how to open the doors without Meg seeing how I do it if we call the delivery guy. I don’t want anyone else to know about this. Jarod held the dagger in one hand and the ring in the other.

You know, if she leaves we won’t have a ride out of here, Tommy reminded him.

I didn’t think about that. But we can’t stop her from leaving.

I could. Tommy wriggled his eyebrows up and down playfully. We can make her do anything we want if she really wants to go to that ball so badly. You have to learn how to use your leverage, Jarod. It’s so rare guys like us have any with girls like her.

I don’t know, Jarod worried out loud. She can be pretty scary.

One man’s scary is another man’s delight. Leave it to me.

What are you going to do? If you tick her off she won’t give us a ride anywhere later on.

I tick her off every time I open my mouth, Tommy laughed happily as if it was all part of his long-term plan. The trick is to make her think it’s her idea, not ours.

What if we get her to take us with her to the mall and drop the package off ourselves?

Then how do we relock the house when we leave? And are you safe out there with some crazy wearing that ring and knowing about the books already? They probably have someone watching this place even though Ms. Kia left.

You’re right. We have to stay here until I hear back from the Frantians.

That could be days! And we have no staff, which means no food, Tommy complained.

What choice do we have?

All of a sudden Tommy stood up with a bright-idea look on his face. We go to Safehaven. We leave from there and no one knows.

Jarod thought about it for a minute. We’d have to get the doors open at both ends of the tunnel that connects the two estates. Do you remember what Brindly told us?

I remember it has to do with the dumb star-charts, just like the vault door. But we can figure it out now that we know how.

Jarod frowned. We’ve never tried it yet. We were supposed to give it a shot today.

Then let’s give it a shot, Tommy said. We’ve got the notes right here and you already figured out how to open the passage to the hallway vault.

Even if it works, then what? We can’t drive the Range Rover out of there.

But Meg can, Tommy smiled, …if she thinks there’s no other way to get out of the house because we broke it.

This had the possibility of working and solving all their problems at once. We could get out through Safehaven and sneak back in as well without being seen or removing the lockdown from the house. Whoever is watching out there will just think we’re still here all night. And from the security cameras it doesn’t look like they even know about Safehaven.

Tommy went back to the entry between the staircases and pulled the table back to reveal the three knife slots. Open it. Come on. We have to figure out this star-chart thing.

With the dagger carefully positioned and the ring on his finger, Jarod slid it into the middle slot. He let go of the handle of the dagger and as before, it was sucked the last little bit into the slot and the side-wall wood panel slid aside. Jarod grabbed the dagger and pulled it out of the wall and pushed the table back into place. Okay, bring the notebook and let’s go. The door that connects to the Safehaven passageway is at the end of this hallway.

They both stepped through the doorway and looked back. Tommy asked, Do we just leave it open? What if Meg comes down?

She’s been in here before. It’s the entry to the vault elevator too. Besides, how do we close it from in here?

One of us could stay out there and close it and watch guard…while the smart one figures out the star-charts. Tommy smiled at him, obviously not wanting to have anything to do with those confusing charts again. He took a step back out of the secret entry and held out his hand for the dagger and ring in exchange for the notebook he was holding.

Then Jarod smiled at him and pulled him back in by the notebook. Or we use that, he said, pointing to a slit in the wall next to the door the exact same size as the other three behind the entry table.

Tommy bent down and looked closer in the dimly lit hallway of the secret entry. He straightened up and nodded. Yup, that Grandpa had this all figured out. It’s cool that he had this keyed to the Kentwood King stuff so only he could use it.

It’s Lord Kentwood, not King.

Like it makes a difference here in the colonies. You’re stinkin’ rich and I’m your stable hand. Lord, Duke, Baron, King…who cares. You got the dagger and the ring that make all the cool toys work.

At least I’m a good king who shares with his stable hands, Jarod said, handing the ring and knife over to Tommy.

Tommy took them both and smiled, Let’s keep that ego in check there, Lordie Lord. You’re not king yet. He put on the ring and slipped the dagger into the slot. The door closed behind them and all the light sconces came on down the hallway walls. And we’re not through that door yet. He pointed to the door at the end of the hallway.

Jarod started toward it. I’m sure we got it right. We just have to follow the notes and put in the right numbers. Then the door should open.

Yeah, that’s how it’s supposed to work.

When they reached the wooden door, Jarod turned the knob and opened it. That was the easy part. It looked like just another door to another room in the house, but behind it the way was blocked by a steel wall with a keypad right in the center. Jarod looked around the edges.

Hoping for another slot? Tommy asked, since he’d scanned the edges as well.

It was a hope. Jarod flipped open Tommy’s notebook to the star-chart lesson. He took out the three-page handout Brindly had given them and studied the charts Tommy had drawn. What is that? he asked, pointing to the center of the circle that was supposed to contain the constellation for today’s code.

It’s the Perseus star group thing, Tommy said. He reached over and scratched at the page. That’s just some bits of coconut from my Snowball cupcake yesterday. There, see? It’s perfect.

Jarod wiped away the coconut and looked again. So the hand-out says starting at the fifty-degree mark, count the stars in the constellation from the furthest north point to the furthest eastern point to get the first number, and starting at the thirty-degree mark count the number of stars from the farthest southern star to the farthest western star.

Tommy pointed to an asterisk-like mark he’d drawn on the forehead of a smiley face with fangs. That’s the star on Medusa’s head. The farthest eastern star. It’s called the Demon Star. I remember that. Just a coincidence we need it now that we’re battling the Demon Ring? I think not. He shook with pretend shivers.

Jarod laughed at Tommy’s drawing, but thought more seriously about his words. Do you think all this could just be a lesson that Brindly is trying to teach us? The Ring, the Safehaven vault, and the star-charts? What’s the likelihood both Brindly and Porter go missing at the same time so we have no one to ask about any of this?

Did Brindly seem really scared or just kind of relaxed when you talked to him?

Really scared, like more than I’ve ever seen Brindly scared.

Well, he was either overacting for your benefit to make this an exciting lesson, or he’s really trapped in his bottle for life and needs our help. You already cut your finger to give the blood, might as well follow through with this even if it’s a test.

That almost sounded responsible, Tommy. You’re going to have to stop hanging around me so much.

Tommy backed away quickly. As long as your weenieness doesn’t get on me anywhere.

They both laughed and turned back to the