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"Why?" Cyn de on Duncan "Why would he do that?"

"Because he trusts you, Cynthia"

"Why not his lawyers?" She turned back to Kiht?"

Kimiko nodded "My husband, Boyd And he would be honored to re Lord Raphael’s release He cannot be locked away here Besides, ave Cyn a baleful glare "Then I will atteements in time If I fail, Lord Raphael will sleep unsecured, vulnerable to whatever the humans plan And I do not doubt for one moment that this entire farce has been orchestrated toward that end The tilanced at Duncan "Don’t look at me like that," she snapped "I’ll do it So what happens now?"

Ki had been her idea "Are you carrying a gun?"

"Of course Why?"

"Give it to me" Kimiko held up a hand to forestall Cyn’s automatic protest "They’ll search you once you’re inside" She paused, taking the proffered Glock fro it inside her leather jacket "But they won’t search me Make sure you stay close afterwards They’ll expect us to consult and, of course, on’t want to be overheard, so we’ll huddle I’ll give the weapon back to you then Can you handle that?"

"Yes," Cyn said, insulted at being asked

Kimiko took her ar to be close Boyd will drive back to the estate, but be ready to roll as soon as we’re out of there"

As if to punctuate her warning, the security lights clicked off on their automatic tiht of sunrise They hurried toward the door and she asked quickly, "Have you seen the bodies?" Next to her Kimiko did a double take

"No," she said, somewhat puzzled "I did request copies of--"

"The victims were drained with puncture wounds to the carotid artery"

"Shit No wonder they’ve been holding back on those coroner’s reports Dammit" She jabbed the door buzzer so hard the button ja noise

Cyn handed Kimiko her backpack "There’s a file in here that Boyd needs to see Be careful with it Some of it, hell most of it, is stuff I shouldn’t have"

Kimiko threw the backpack to Duncan and pounded her fist on the door impatiently "Bastards knoe’re out here; they’re jerking onna sue their asses off when--" The door finally gave a harsh buzz and inched open slightly Ki the rookie cop as hurrying down the hall toward them They headed down the hall, past the stairway, all the way to the back of the building As she walked, she talked quickly

"Okay, listen, these are the rules No one enters the cell unless you specifically request it Once you’re inside, the door will be locked behind you There is to be no surveillance of any kind inside the cell, another Obaker mandate, and boy did they hate--"

There was a flash of white and suddenly Ian Hartzler barreled out of one of the offices, holding a stack of files in front of his chest He ran right into Cyn, hitting her hard enough to throw the to the floor "Ms Leighton," he said "I’ather the scattered files, and Cyn automatically bent down to help, her face only inches away froently Cyn gave hiaze intently and hissed, "There are cameras in the cell!"

Cyn quickly handed back the folders she’d retrieved as Ki her toward the back hallway "Do you have any chewing guave her a distracted look Cyn stopped abruptly, halting their forward progress "Ki machine here somewhere"