“Pretty, about five feet tall, auburn hair.”
“Don’t let her leave.” Ian raced to the front door. “She’s at the Army Navy Club. We’re thirty minutes out. Move.”
Five Navigators drove out of the estate. Kieran couldn’t stop Ian before he jumped on the Ducati. In his rearview mirror, he saw Kieran climb into the passenger side of the lead vehicle. His brother’s voice coordinating the mission reverberated in his com.
Ian’s phone buzzed. “Sir, it’s Joseph, head of security at the club. The young lady disappeared. We are searching for her now, but our doormen reported no one left the building. She was interested in the Bynum party, who reserved the ballroom for lunch.”
Wind buffeted Ian on the bike. “Are they there?”
“Yes, sir. They arrived a few minutes ago.”
“She’s in that room; I’m sure of it. I’m on my way. She’s very ill. Joseph, please just keep eyes on her. Don’t interfere.”
“Yes, sir. I have alerted Senator Bynum’s Secret Service protection detail and the senator’s aide.”
“I believe they may harm her. I’ll be there in fifteen minutes. Please keep them away from her.”
“Mr. Chase, I can’t violate protocol. I’m sorry.”
Kieran called Ian. “Tiger reported the Marshalls and the Whitmans just arrived at the club.”
Ian pushed the bike to its extremes. “Roger. Bynum’s team knows she’s in the building. Get our men in there.”
* * *
The brightly lit ballroom was divided into two small rooms. Towering windows were draped in heavy tapestries of red and gold. Ladder-back chairs surrounded a table set for six. Cassie concealed her tiny frame between the folding room divider and a panel of drapery.
Familiar voices entered the room. “We need to put a plan together. Devereaux is getting antsy. With Cassiopeia dead, he needs a new patsy to blame, and Ian Chase is still snooping around,” Adrienne said.
When waiters served the first course, the smell of Thai curry shrimp soup overwhelmed Cassie. She closed her eyes and inhaled through her mouth, but it wasn’t enough. Needing more air, she stepped from the brocade.
Claudia Marshall spotted her first. “Oh, my. You’re supposed to be dead.”
Cassie swayed on her feet. “Good afternoon, everyone. Don’t let me interrupt your lunch.”
Judge Marshall stood and pulled a chair from an adjoining table for her. “Young lady, it is good to see you’re alive.”
“Your Honor, let’s not waste our time with fake platitudes. I think the six of you are quite unhappy I’m standing here. We need to talk about what you’ve been up to. You see, my memory has returned. I also found some fascinating information in my office and in a warehouse on Fourth. And you folks are going to fill in the blanks.”
“You were always too smart for your own good. You realize you’re not walking out of here alive,” Adrienne sneered.
The door to the ballroom opened, and Senator Bynum’s fixer, Monte, joined the table. Cassie looked down and saw the business end of a silenced .45 caliber pistol pointing at her gut. She didn’t blink. “Ade—I’m going to call you that—we can be civilized here. Aren’t you the least bit curious about what I know and who I told?”
Adrienne Whitman cringed. “You were always a disrespectful bitch.”
Judge Marshall walked over to Cassie, and Monte handed him a set of flex cuffs. “Your hands, please.” Judge Marshall held the handcuffs in front of her. The gun barrel pressed hard against her side until she complied.
Adrienne mocked her, “Tell us what you think you know.”
Senator Bynum reached for Cassie’s cuffed hands. “Now, darling, we don’t have to go through all this, do we?”
Cassie yanked her hands away. “You sick, deranged man. You didn’t call me ‘darling’ while you sodomized me. Don’t you dare touch me. Wouldn’t the American public love to know their next prospective president is a sexual predator, a murderer—and is guilty of treason?”
Betty Bynum feigned surprise.
“Betty, knock it off. Your husband doesn’t scratch his ear without you knowing.”
The door opened again, and Monte tucked the weapon and Cassie’s hands under the linen tablecloth. Two waiters, both from Kieran’s team, served a lunch of salmon with fragrant saffron rice and roasted vegetables. “Shall we bring two more servings for your additional guests?” Tighe “Tiger” Cummings, posing as a waiter, asked.
