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You would have to be desperate to kidnap the Head of a House Unless you were also a Prime Or several Primes connected to a conspiracy behind the attempts to throw the country into a state of unrest so an empire could be created, a new Rome The people behind it were tired of deal constraints that deht They were already in positions of power because of their overn with their every step scrutinized; no, they wanted to rule with absolute power, never to be criticized or brought to answer for their offenses under the law They wanted an ee Caesar

Olivia Charles was one of those people We’d stumbled onto this conspiracy when Ada to destabilize it When that failed, the conspirators concocted a different, less obvious plan They engineered the assassination of a US senator, which Olivia Charles and David Howling carried out, and planned to use it to put political pressure on their opposition within the Assean and I interfered, they tried to use the incident to inflame unrest In the end, both David and Rynda’s mother died for their cause We still had no idea who Caesar was Whatever Olivia and Howling knew had died with them

Olivia Charles had been a pillar of the Houston elite When she was involved with anything, including the secret conspiracy to overthrow the social order, she ran it She wouldn’t settle for anything less It would be beyond naive to cling to the notion that Brian’s kidnapping was an isolated incident, but I had to keep that possibility open Dad alarned against ju to conclusions too soon That’s how mistakes were made, and in our line of business es, and someti er Her husband had been kidnapped In her place, I’d be losing

Another ring

Ring

So

Ring

You’ve reached Rynda Sherwood Please leave a e after the tone

Shit I jumped up and marched to the front of the office, where I’d left ?" Cornelius asked from his desk

I kicked off my shiny pumps and pulled the old shoes ontoher cell"

"Perhaps she didn’t hear it ring," Cornelius said

"It’s the number Brian’s kidnappers used for their ranso in her life right now She would have it on her at all times" And I was the person she had trusted to fix it She would take rabbed his jacket

I sped down I-10 The beltway had been clogged all to hell, and the I-10 was a nightmare, but this time of day the surface streets were even worse There were about eleven miles between our warehouse and Rynda’s house and I was driving like a maniac

Cornelius took his cell from his ear "Still no answer"

We’d called Rynda three times in the last two minutes

"Please try Edward Sherwood"

"No answer on his cell"

"Try BioCore"

If people would just get out ofto reach Edward Sherwood," Cornelius said into his cell "It’s an e his sister-in-law"

A white truck cutinto its back by two inches

"Cornelius Harrison She’s in dangerI’ you that the wife of the Head of your House is in danger Do your duty and send assistance"

Cornelius glared at the phone, incredulous "Edward already left, and this idiot says he has orders to keepup on -arht lane We tore down I-10 and took the Wirt Road exit, flying through it like a bullet I ht onto Memorial Drive and raced down the street Trees flew past us, dark creepy shadows in the early night

I pressed the voice button on an"

My phone, tethered to the car’s stereo, obediently dialed Rogan’s nu

"Yes?"