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The last thing Rune heard before blackness closed over him was his father’s toneless voice. “Drag him out of here. Dump him in the pit until I decide what to do with him.”
CHAPTER 32
The only intel Carys gathered from Simon Fielding was that he knew absolutely nothing of his father’s activities or his colleagues. The younger Fielding’s knowledge about biflation and fiscal multipliers, however, was seemingly endless.
It had taken three waltzes before Carys had finally managed to get away from him. Apologizing that the champagne had gone straight to her head and that she needed some fresh air, she had evaded Simon’s offer to escort her outside and, instead, slipped out on her own.
“I thought he’d never stop talking,” she whispered to Gideon on the other end of her transmitter.
“Neither did I. Where are you now?”
“I just saw Simon go back into the ballroom, so I’m headed inside.” She reentered the house through a different pair of French doors, emerging in a quiet, dimly lit section of hallway several yards away from the bustle of the reception. “Okay, I’m going stealth now.”
Gathering the shadows around her, Carys shrank back from the rest of the party and headed for the staff stairwell at the back of the corridor.
“I’m going up to the second floor, where Fielding’s study is,” she whispered to Gideon.
“Got your signal on the move in front of me,” he confirmed.
With no one around to see or hear her, she couldn’t resist the need for a mission update on the Order. “How long before the warriors land?”
“They’re still en route, but they should have boots on the ground in Dublin and wheels in motion about four hours from now.”
She didn’t know if the news made her feel better or worse. Anxiety had been riding her ever since she and Brynne had left D.C. that morning. The Order had been gearing up and planning to depart a few hours after she had, and the wait for news had been excruciating. “I wish I could be with them tonight instead of here. I need to see him. I should be there for Rune.”
“Listen, no one wants this to end badly for him,” Gideon said. “Not even your father.”
“I hope you’re right.” She sucked in a breath as the sound of subdued female voices and approaching footsteps on soft wool rugs carried from around the corner of the passage up ahead. “Shit. Someone’s coming.”
She went still and silent, keeping herself close to the wall as a pair of housekeepers carrying armfuls of used linens to the laundry room rounded the bend and walked right past her, unaware. As soon as they were gone, Carys beelined for the east wing.
Tall double doors sealed off the expansive wing from the guest rooms and the rest of the second floor. She tried the handles and found them locked. A concentrated mental command was all it took to open them.
Slipping inside the vacant, dimly lit chamber, Carys closed the door behind her, then let her concealing shadows drop away.
“I’m in,” she advised Gideon.
Ambient light from a handful of wall sconces bathed the enormous space in a warm glow. The large study contained a desk and credenza, with a seating area off to the side. Carys drifted inside, past the sumptuous leather club chairs and Chesterfield sofa that sat before a massive fireplace.
Other rooms branched off the main suite. A conference room with chairs for a dozen people. A huge library with towering bookcases and an elegant reading nook. Even an exercise room filled with gleaming equipment and floor-to-ceiling mirrors on the walls.
Carys headed straight for the councilman’s work area. “There’s a tablet on the desk,” she informed Gideon in a whisper as she opened the computer and woke it from sleep mode. “Dammit. It’s password-protected.”
“No problem,” Gideon replied. “I can get in later. That’s why you have the bugs.”
She reached into her pantsuit pocket to retrieve one of the wafer-thin, clear strips of technology Gideon had given her. Peeling off the backing, she stuck the bug on the underside of Fielding’s tablet. Once applied, the covert device all but disappeared against the metal casing.
“Done,” she said. “Checking paper files now.”
She mentally unlocked the credenza and began sifting through the files and folders inside. “I see some GNC contracts in here, three months’ of meeting minutes, committee membership lists . . .”
Her voice trailed off as she scanned the documents for names, appointment references—anything that might prove helpful to the Order in establishing the councilman’s activities and interests. Not to mention any associations that might give off a whiff of corruption.
Gideon’s voice sounded in her ear as she committed page after page to memory. “Better make it quick, Carys. We need to get the rest of those bugs planted in the other rooms in that suite. To play it safe, you can’t afford to be gone more than a few minutes.”
“Right.” She closed the file drawer and hurried to complete the rest of her assignment. With most of them placed in the meeting rooms and other antechambers, she stepped inside the exercise room. “Just one bug left. You want it on the treadmill or the ski simulator? I doubt Fielding gives either one much action.”
Gideon chuckled. “Take your pick.”
