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A man’s form was silhouetted in the doorway to the ladies’ salon

Brent awoke, startled and still, yet uncertain of where he was

He cursed hi hi at the saht had not yet coh the darkness, toward the house All seemed well, and when he closed his eyes and concentrated, he felt nothing but the stillness of the night

But so had to be done Today

Chateau DeVant held the key

Look at what you have done! At the mess that you have ain But his words were still ringing in her ears, and she felt a greater Jury toward him than she had toward any of the silly creatures who had not known her, and had not knoho she was He knew And he had treated her as if she were an errant child

Look at what you have done The mess that you havethat I have done

At first, she had silory, slid her hands over her breasts and the length of her torso, relishing the delicious feel of the coat of red she created Triumphant and aly, and nowCo, I’ve not left much, but you are welcome to what little reirl

She was notNothing

He had walked in i the richness of the beauty and the bounty she offered

I’d have thought you’d have more sense!

She’d felt as if she’d been slapped And she had drawn herself to her full regal height

You forget to who!

And you don’t realize to who but impatience, irritation There was a mess to be cleaned up There were not er in the city, extreet so much further before they were discovered, and already, with her carelessness, so many knew

And ould they do? She wanted to know What could they do?

She didn’t begin to understand, and what a foolish woman After all that had occurred before, she should have known They had to go, there was no tis that he could do

And then, of course, there were the servants But not as they used to be Sheall that he felt must be done

Then, they were away

And safe

Her teone so much awry, and one of the reasons they must be so careful was that those who had caused her return to be less than nificent must be dealt with quickly Surely, she had realized that He are of her movements, he had been just steps behind But so had the others

Ah, but, indeed, he had planned, because here she was, in safety, in comfort

And when she had lain down to sleep, he had at last knelt by her side, and touched her with the reverence and adoration she deserved

Restand our night will coetherwe forers upon her cheeks Ah, yesadoration

My dearest beauty, we form our own alliance And there are others, others who are working with us, it’s just that I cannot lose you again, and we ive ’s full light, Jacques DeVant ake, and feeling strong

He had awakened very early, having been troubled by nightht him competence and speed in all natural functions, and he was showered, shaved, and dressed in a matter of minutes, and down in his library

He pulled down book after book, and he realized, considering hiined the scope of what had been going on

With his books surrounding hied on to his coave hiht be an oldto do with the confoundedhe could about rams, and about the Internet itself He could break many codes, enter into many records where the various institutions would assure their clients that their information was totally safe, secure, and confidential

Jacques searched very carefully through all the records that he accessed

He read them all over slowly, twice

Katia knocked on the door and stuck her head in, offering hireed

Back at work, he ht his coffee, and he sipped it, staring at his inforht Yes, yes, he was right

He knehat had happened, what had been happening He could see it all now--the how, the where, the when, the why

Just not the who

He needed help He was old The Alliance had been weakened by tieneration didn’t believe Because they didn’t know<ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins>