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"This is the chain I discovered," he said. "All the e-mails I could find, leading back to the origin e-mail at the bottom."
I unfolded the paper. I recognized nothing until I got to the very last name on the list. An e-mail address I'd seen before, the name giving it all away. I muttered a curse at the sight. "This is so not what I wanted to see."
"Yeah," he said. "I figure we're even on those favors now."
I stood on the portico for a moment after Jeff left, staring at the closed front door.
Symbols were posted above the threshold, indications of the House's alliances.
Unfortunately, given the results of Jeff's search, we were probably going to need those.
Even with only minutes left until dawn, I decided this wasn't something I could sit on. I headed for the basement stairs and the Ops Room. I'd guessed wrong about the would-be perpetrator; Kelley was cleared by Jeff's e-mail search. I couldn't say the same for the guard that actually sent it. Regardless, that guard fell under Luc's supervision, so I opted to start with him. Besides, no way was I taking this to Ethan without backup.
I pushed open the door and scanned the room, my heart thudding in my chest as I prepared to hand over the evidence of a colleague's betrayal. Even this close to dawn, the room buzzed with activity as vampires prepared to cede control over House security completely to RDI.
Lindsey and Kelley sat at their computer stations. Luc stood behind Lindsey's chair, his gaze on her monitor as she worked, but glanced back as I closed the door behind me.
"Sentinel," he said, straightening. "I didn't expect to see you back. What's up?"
"Where's Peter?"
Luc lifted his eyebrows. "Probably back in his room. He had the early shift. Why?"
I held out the e-mail. "Because he sent the threat."
The room went silent, Lindsey and Kelley turning, eyes wide, to face me.
"That's quite an accusation, Sentinel."
I glanced over at Lindsey. "Do you have a copy of the e-mail from Peter that had the paparazzi information on it?"
"Um, sure," she said. She looked confused, but opened a folder beside her computer station and pulled the printout from it, then spun in her chair and extended it to me. I grabbed it, then laid both pieces of paper flat on the conference table. Luc walked over, arms crossed defiantly over his chest.
I pointed to the first document. "This is the e-mail from Peter about the paparazzi."
Luc looked the e-mail over, a frown pulling his features. "Sure," he said. "He sent it to me from his Cadogan e-mail address. I printed it out."
"I know. I gave the e-mail with the threat against Jamie to Jeff Christopher. He traced it back through multiple addresses, all bogus. But at the end of the chain was this one." I pressed my finger onto the list Jeff had given me a few minutes ago and pointed at the final e-mail on the list - Peter's Cadogan e-mail address.
Silence for a moment, then unmitigated swearing.
"Son of a bitch." Luc looked up, jaw tight, nostrils flaring as he realized the betrayal.
"He's been playing us. The whole time, playing us."
Luc put his palms flat on the table, head bowed. Then, without warning, he pulled back and punched a fist into the tabletop with a crack that split the air like thunder - and notched a fist-sized divot in the wood.
"Luc," Lindsey said. She popped up from her chair and wrapped an arm around his waist, her other hand on his shoulder. "Luc," she repeated, her voice softer.
I bit back a small smile; I was beginning to think that Lindsey protested too much about our intrepid guard captain.
"I know," he said, then looked up at me, his eyes blazing. "He's not in this alone. Not to turn against the House after all these years. If he's in this, it's because someone else is pulling the strings."
I thought of the "she" who'd left a message for Nick. "I know," I told him. "I think you're probably right about that."
"Would it be too much for me to ask that in addition to having this evidence, you have a sly plan to nail this little ass**le?"
I smiled coyly. "Of course I have a sly plan. I am a Merit, after all."
Two minutes later we were on the first floor. Luc had Kelley deliver an update about the Breckenridge threat to Peter's room, confirming he was still in the House. We also alerted RDI, who were told to stop him in the event he tried to bolt.
Ethan's door was closed. Luc rapped knuckles against the door, but didn't wait for a response before opening it.
Ethan was behind his desk, flipping closed a laptop as if preparing for dawn himself.
"Lucas?" he asked, brows furrowed at our entry.
I looked at Luc, who nodded, then made my request. "I need permission to kill two birds with one stone."
Ethan arched an eyebrow. "You need permission to kill fowl?"
"She's serious, Ethan." Luc's voice was quiet, severe, and it drew Ethan's eyes and put a look of surprise on his face. I was surprised, as well - I'm not sure I'd ever heard Luc refer to Ethan by his name.
They exchanged a look, then Ethan nodded and looked at me. "Sentinel?"
"It's Peter," I said. "He sent the threat to the Breckenridges."
I watched a bevy of emotions cross his face, from shock to denial to a fury that filled the air with an electric tingle, and narrowed his eyes into slits of glassy green... and then quicksilver.
"You have evidence of this, I assume?"
"He sent the e-mail," Luc said. "The message to Nick that threatened Jamie. It was routed through a lot of fake addresses, but originated in Peter's Cadogan address."
Ethan adjusted his jaw, and when he finally spoke, his voice was low, thick and dangerous. "He sent a threatening e-mail to a shifter from this House?"
He stood up, then pushed back his chair with enough force that it continued to roll after he'd walked away toward the conference table at the other end of the room. I snapped my gaze to Luc, who shook his head. A warning, I assumed, not to interfere.
Ethan paced to the bar along the wall with the slinking intensity of a panther, grabbed a glass from the bar, and with a turn and windup of his torso, propelled it across the room.
The glass flew, then crashed into the wall on the other side of the conference table.
Glass fractured, shattered, and splintered to the ground.
"Liege," Luc said, quiet but stern.
"In my House," Ethan said, then turned back to us, hands on his hips. "In my goddamn HOUSE."
Luc nodded.
"Two traitors in my House, Lucas. In Peter's House. How? How is this possible? Is there anything I haven't given them? Anything they've lacked?" His gaze snapped to mine.
