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"Yes Dad, Eve, this is Ra There areus We don’t knohy they’re after us, but anted you to know this right away"

The man cleared his throat and said, "We decided to come here, Mr Lord, because they knoho I a us are good, too good We trust you to keep Emma safe better than the authorities can"

Mason Lord walked to the man and extended his hand "This is an honor It’s a pleasure to e Hunt"

Ramsey shook the man’s hand "Thank you We’re here because we believe you’re our best shot at keeping Eine for a e Hunt Yes, yes, I knoho you are You’re a famous man It’s quite a surprise that you’re the one who found Emma"

Molly could only stare at the up the other, weighing, assessing She gathered Emma closer to her She hadn’t wanted to be here, hadn’t wanted her daughter exposed to her father, but it was the safest place for Eet close to his granddaughter, even though he hadn’t seen her since she’d been a toddler No, Emma carried his blood He would protect her with every weapon in his arsenal

Her father finally said, his voice shter I thank you You brought her home when she refused You will all be safe here No one, cops or anyone else, will get near Emma"

"Thank you," Ramsey said He squeezed E with all their lives, "Actually, sir, Emma had saved herself She’d escaped from the man and run into the forest I found her there and took her to my cabin Some days later, Molly found both of us" Rae rhinoceros head, co tusk, above the ave hers a squeeze, looked at the rhino, and said, "I wonder what kind of polish they used on the tusk What do you think, Emma?"

She squeezed his hand tighter "Soap and water," she said "Mama always says that soap and water’s the best"

Raine that the men after us have already tracked us to the airport We had to show photo ID Soh Molly bought her ticket singly and I bought Emma’s ticket with mine Yes, the men will be here very soon"

"You took a cab froan Avenue Emma needed some clothes, as did Molly and I None of us were very presentable Then we took another cab to the Jefferson Police Station, wandered in and spoke to the desk sergeant about nothing in particular, then we got a third cab out here But they’ll find us I’m convinced of that They probably already knoe’re here with you As I said, they’re good, and, as Molly and I have agreed, there’s got to be an organization behind them"

Mason Lord nodded, then said, "That was sive theanization behind all this, we’ll speak of it later Ah, here’s Miles with soh for all of you, sir"

"Thank you, Miles," Molly said

"And I brought so" He looked at Elass "You like chocolate cake?"

"Oh yes, Mr Miles It’s the best"

Rahed "Be careful or she’ll eat the whole cake She hasn’t had oodies for a while"

Miles smiled as he ruffled Emhter wipe the child’s hands on one of the little wet towels Miles had brought How had Miles known to do that? He was like one of those hovering smiley-faced airline attendants He was silent until everyone had drunk the lemonade and eaten some of Miles’s chocolate cake He hadn’t known of any cake He loved chocolate cake but Miles hadn’t offered hiht now He’d had a low-cal, low-fat flan for dessert the previous night It hadn’t even tasted very good He looked at his beautiful wife She wasn’t looking at the cake She was looking at Molly Her face was perfectly still No expression at all What was she thinking?

Ra, tall, and very well built, but that iven what he’d done in his own courtrooood care of hi that happened to cross his path Mason supposed he was good-looking enough, his features regular, his coloring olive, his eyes a green color that argued against Italian blood But who knew in Arels, hiood Irish blood than anything else As for his beautiful Eve, she edish, every beautiful blond inch of her She’d told hi in love with a German countess, but he hadn’t enes, he’d said No, Eve was pure Scandinavian He’d chosen well this time