“The parents,” someone stated.

  “The parents,” others confirmed.

  The billionaire’s face turned to stone. “I do not consider this attack a coincidence.”

  “And the parents have disappeared. Both sets,” another observed, and he made a note to see exactly where that one sourced his intelligence.

  “Do you know where?” he asked and the speaker blushed.

  “The investigation into the attack on the apartment complex didn’t go that far—and I couldn’t justify pushing it once we received a vid-call showing them all well and alive.”

  “From where?” Now, he was annoyed. That information should have been passed to him immediately.

  As if catching his thought, the man answered the question. “It came in an hour ago. It has a plain white background and bounced through so many sats, we lost count.”

  “The Witch’s ship has been in-system for the last week,” another commented.

  “And you’ve tracked its movements?”

  “Not in relation to the timeline of the attack on the parents,” the man replied. He turned to the man who’d announced the communication. “If you could forward the information, we’ll look into it.”

  “Two minutes,” he replied, pulled his tablet out, and went to work. He glanced at the billionaire. “We’ve been trying to trace it as if it were from Earth. Given who they are, though…”

  “Yes,” he confirmed and finished the sentence. “That was rather short-sighted of you, wasn’t it?”

  He said it like the statement of fact it was and returned to his original line of thought.

  “Which brings us back to the question of Emerald. I cannot for the life of me decide why she would have any interest in attacking this facility except one.”

  “Vengeance,” a woman murmured and he nodded.

  “Exactly. If someone attacked my parents or the parents of someone I loved, this is exactly what I would do.”

  “But…this was Emerald.” The speaker sounded bewildered.

  “Exactly,” the businessman said, “and Emerald has no parents. Add the fact that she recently murdered the only man who might be considered a father figure and we have a puzzle. If she didn’t care for him, why would she target those who used her services to set up the hit on the sergeant’s parents?”

  “She wasn’t secretly in love with him, was she?” The snide question came from the far corner.

  The billionaire snorted. There was a good reason why he’d put that particular politician in the corner. Anything more central and the man would have taken the stage. He simply couldn’t help himself.

  Smoothing his face to neutrality, he answered. “Not that we can tell, which is something I want you to investigate. I can think of only one woman close enough to the Witch to take umbrage at the attack.”

  “The manager.”

  He paused and noted the ripple of agreement pass round the room.

  “The manager,” he confirmed, “but to the best of our ability, we can’t work out what, if any, connections she had to the underworld.”

  “We can’t discover where Mr. Burt sourced her from either,” another observed. “Is it possible she is Emerald?”

  The billionaire shook his head. “All reports show her as still alive and Emerald very much dead. If the two were the same person, this wouldn’t be the case.”

  “Is it possible she faked her death?”

  Instead of denying the possibility outright, he scowled. “I don’t see how but it’s something we can add to the list of things to look into.”

  He waited for them to ask the more obvious question. When they didn’t, he voiced it himself. “Our more immediate concern is how Emerald, a common criminal—”

  A snort interrupted him, and he raised his head.

  “Do you disagree?”

  The man who answered him was seated in a corner at his request, one of the few such requests the billionaire regularly honored.

  “Emerald,” the man informed him in a heavy East European accent, “was not what you call common. In fact, she was so uncommon I would hazard to call her exceptional. She was among the elite of her world and the very best at what she did. If anyone could have uncovered us, she would have been the one to do it.”

  “And yet you recommended her.”

  “You wanted someone who could get the job done and who wouldn’t care what the connections were. She was the only one who sprang to mind.”

  “And yet she was able to give us a half-dozen names that tell me otherwise.”

  The man shrugged. “With the results you are trying to understand now. Someone found one of our cells.”

  “The woman you recommended for the job found one of our cells,” the billionaire retorted. He scowled. “And I’d like to know how.”

  “I will have my people look into it.”

  He scanned the room. “You will all have your people look into it. You will sanitize your connections with that cell and everything associated with it.”

  A small sound of protest interrupted him, and he looked at the originator.

  “Don’t worry, Charles. You’re still here. If she’d decided you knew what was going on in your plant, you wouldn’t be.” His words didn’t make the man relax so he added, “That’s good enough for us.”

  The billionaire looked at each of the others in turn. “I mean that links to those attending the meeting must be sanitized. Our other ties must be maintained.”

  “And it still doesn’t answer the why of her targeting us, let alone the how the fuck she found out about us.” The belligerent statement returned the focus to the main problem. “I thought no one knew we existed.”

  “No one does,” he assured the woman. “And Emerald didn’t either. She targeted the source of the calls.”

  “How?” the questioner reiterated.

  The billionaire pointed at her. “Exactly. The cell followed every protocol we’ve laid down—every single one. She should not have been able to find the caller let alone the rest of the cell. It speaks of technical support of a similar caliber to our own, and that is another team I want hunted and found.”

  “And the ones who went in to assist?”

  “As far as we know, they remain uncompromised.”

  “As far as you know?”

  “We have done our best and are implementing new measures as we find them. Those measures are being sent to every one of you and I expect them to be in place within twenty-four hours of receipt.”

  That caused a ripple of unease but he ignored it. They would find ways to comply. None of them wanted the consequences if they failed.

  He glanced at the crystal timepiece adorning the wall over the entrance and led into the next item on the meeting’s agenda.

  “Now that’s taken care of,” he continued, “we need to address another issue.” He allowed himself a small smile. “And clearly, we won’t be able to ask for Emerald’s assistance on this one.”

  He glanced at one of the military men in the room. “I will need everyone to have the necessary means in place to achieve what needs to be done to clear the final obstacles for our takeover of the Federation and planetary government.”

  Their attention was entirely focused on him now. Their final goal was the stuff of wet dreams for these power players. They all wanted to be in control and the war would put them there—even without the Telorans. No, especially without the Telorans.

  The dreams the aliens had awoken could not be achieved without their assistance save in one very important category—that of antagonist. The Telorans provided the one thing they needed to unite the disparate politics of their world. Without that threat, they’d never have been in a position to do what they were doing. At least, not so easily.

  “We’ll need to take out the trash,” the billionaire told them and noted which of them shifted uneasily in their seats and who smiled with grim satisfaction.

  Before any of them could comment, he continued. “You all have your targets. If we are victorious, they have to die within the first few weeks after peace is declared. Some of them will have to die as close to the moment of victory as possible.”

  Again, his gaze fell on the military men and women in the room. They all nodded, their faces set with determination. Theirs was the most difficult part since he’d decided that many of their targets needed to die in battle. Victory, if it happened, would be bitter-sweet, and if it didn’t…

  “If we lose, our targets must live to take the blame. No petty payback. Am I understood?”

  He waited for the assent to reach him before he spoke again. “Loss in battle does not have to mean loss overall but it will mean a change of plans and for that, our scapegoats must remain alive.”

  Again, their agreement reached him and he nodded, satisfied that they would all play their part exactly as he needed them to.

  “Which brings me to another matter of importance,” he told them and pressed on before any of them could ask what. “In the Navy, we need fighters, and we need fighters who will join us without question or qualm.”

  “Do you have any idea how you’ll achieve that?” one of the military representatives asked and didn’t bother to hide his sarcasm. “Because it’s all something of a Witch love-fest out there at the moment.”

  The billionaire identified the woman as one of the Navy’s intelligence leaders and arched his brow. “Did you do as I asked?”

  She nodded.

  The billionaire smiled. “Then we already have one fighter lined up, don’t we? And an influential one at that.”

  Again, she nodded.

  “Where is he at the moment?”

  “Still in prison.”

  He frowned. “We can’t use him while he’s in there, now can we? I thought I told you to get him out of there.”

  “There was no way to work around the admiral’s orders, but we took him to one of our prisons,” the intelligence officer replied. Her colleagues smirked and she gave the billionaire a tight, satisfied smile. “He is very keen to work with us.”

  “He hates the Witch that much?”

  “More, sir. The rear admiral will do whatever it takes to ensure her destruction.”

  “And exactly how did you get him to agree to that?” the billionaire asked.

  One of the other billionaires in the room gave a sudden bark of recognition. “Dreyfus? Are we talking Rear Admiral Dreyfus?”

  The group’s leader suppressed a sigh. “We are,” he confirmed.

  “He’s hated her since she started eliminating everyone who supported the Telorans. She cost him considerable money with that.”

  “So he won’t change his mind?”

  “Oh, hell no! That man will not only take her down, he’ll take on anyone who supports her and dance on all their graves when she falls.” The speaker paused. “I’m not sure how you’ll get him restored in the current climate, though.”

  His doubts brought a secretive smile to the leader’s face. “That should be the easy part—once we complete the first phase of our plan.”

  “The first phase?”

  “Of the Witch’s fall from grace.”

  “Hmmph. Good luck with that. The woman can’t put a foot wrong in the public’s eyes.”

  The leader tutted and shook his head. “My dear Earl, you of all people should know that even the most perfect of us can fall foul of the public’s erstwhile opinion. It’s simply a matter of clever reporting.”

  A quiet fell over the room and their gazes drifted to the media magnates seated at the foremost table. In public, the two were the fiercest competitors with rumors of hatred fueling their competition. In private, they were more like brothers from a close-knit family where each one had the other’s back.

  They returned the stares with benign smiles that fooled no one.

  Not a soul present wanted to cross them or to draw their attention.

  The billionaire surveyed the room and spread his hands. “That concludes the formalities of the evening,” he told them. “Feel free to mingle and enjoy your meals.”

  He retired to the single table set up on the dais at the head of the room as the hum of voices rose behind him.

  They told him the only thing he needed to know. He wasn’t alone in planning the Witch’s downfall.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  As Stephanie’s opponents finished their meeting, Elizabeth sat beside Matthias and viewed the surveillance footage E-BURT had sent. One R&D Headquarters looked forlorn in its complete emptiness. The rooms were deserted, gutted of all their equipment, and silence reigned.

  That wasn’t what they were looking for, though. They tried to see if there was anything they’d missed.

  “I don’t see anything,” Amy said from the other side of the table.

  “Me neither,” Bunny added, “but those animals are starting to freak me out.”

  “The charges are still in place,” Arne noted. “When do you want them blown?”

  “Not yet,” E told him. “Let’s leave them in place in case the guys from the plant trace us.”

  “I could set them to go off if someone enters,” Arne offered.

  “No. That might catch a Federation law officer. I don’t want to kill anyone who’s simply doing their job.”

  “Fair enough.”

  “Eebie, can you bounce a signal from Arne long distance?” she asked.

  E-BURT made a human-like raspberry sound. “I could set them off at any time he asked.”

  “Well, that settles that, then,” the ex-Marine noted and looked at Elizabeth. “My explosives await your command.”

  “Ha. Very funny,” she grumbled and focused on her screen.

  They fell silent again. Each of them poured over the footage with extra care.

  Finally, she looked up from her tablet. “When did the university want us out?”

  “They said they could keep this wing closed for three or four days before folk would start asking awkward questions.”

  “And the doc?”

  “You should ask him that yourself,” Matthias informed her. “He’s waiting for you to come in for your check-up.”

  “Ugh.” She was about to ask if she had to when she realized how much like a child that made her sound. She satisfied herself with a groan and pushed away from the table. “When’s breakfast?”

  “As soon as you get back from the doc,” Amy told her and stood.

  Elizabeth followed suit and Matthias stood with her. Arne pushed his chair back and she sighed.

  “I thought I was the only one who needed a check-up.”

  The ex-Marine gave her a crooked smile. “Matthias will go with you—and I wouldn’t try to dissuade him if I were you.”

  He said it like the other man’s presence was enough to explain his, which it did.

  She scowled and glanced at Amy. Her guard inclined her head and put a hand on her hip, and she sighed. “Right. I hired you, didn’t I?”

  The woman rewarded her with a bright smile. “Yup.”

  There was no point in arguing so she didn’t bother.

  “We’ll make travel arrangements when I get back,” she told them, stepped into the corridor, and came to a complete halt.

  “It’s this way,” Matthias told her and she gave him a grateful smile.

  “I brought you along for a reason, didn’t I?” she asked.

  He chuckled. “Well, it’s not like you could have stopped me.”

  “Don’t let it go to your head.”

  The doctor looked up as they entered the temporary surgery and his look of relief at seeing her warred with concern and consternation.

  He noted her entourage with distaste, not impressed when Amy arched an eyebrow and folded her arms as though daring him to try to tell her to leave.

  Rather than respond, he turned his attention to Elizabeth and asked, “How are you feeling?”

  “Like I got hit by a bus,” she told him.

  “That good, huh?” The doctor pushed to his feet and gestured to a wall. “If your entourage could stand over there, I’d like to make sure everything is doing what it should be.”

  “Sure, Doc.” Elizabeth glanced at Matthias and he sighed before he moved to do as the doctor suggested.

  As if his compliance was some kind of signal, Arne and Amy followed him, the other man quite happily and she with a reluctant glance at her boss. E was glad she didn’t have to ask twice. She wasn’t sure she’d have managed to do so with any kind of civility.

  “Now, let’s see how the healing process is going,” the doctor murmured and she flinched beneath his gentle probing.

  “So, am I fit for travel?” she asked and tucked her shirt in when he was done.

  “You can fly,” he informed her and held a finger up when she opened her mouth to thank him. “But I’d rather you delayed it another day, preferably two, just to be sure. I’d also recommend you fly first-class to reduce the chances of getting bumped.”

  “Understood,” she acknowledged and wondered how he knew she’d planned to fly.

  “Your injuries…” he said as if he read the question on her face. “My guess is that you’ll need to leave town for a while, and the farther the better. Going somewhere you can stay out of trouble while you finish mending is something else I’d highly recommend.”

  “Gotcha, Doc.”

  His lips quirked in what might have been a smile. “It’s not that I don’t like your company, but I’d rather you were uninjured the next time I saw you.”

  “Thanks, Doc.” Elizabeth paused. “Has the boss settled the accounts?”

  He nodded. “He paid upfront and gave me an account to draw from if I needed anything else. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say he liked you.”

  The wondering tone in the man’s voice made her smile. “He’d better, Doc, or the end of year do will be more exciting than he’d like.”

  “I can imagine,” the doctor replied, his tone wry. He took a step back and sat at his desk. “Give me an hour to file my reports and I’ll be out of here.”

  It was as close to a dismissal as she had ever heard him give, and she didn’t stop to argue. Instead, she headed to the door and didn’t need to tell the others to go with her. She turned into the next door she found, glad to discover it was another office.