“I told you that I was in this all the way. This is what you want.” He was frowning thoughtfully. “You said you were going to ask Margaret to help find a place to stash the horses and keep them safe. That might prove a kind of a massive operation if you’re thinking of kidnapping Chaos along with them. It’s a better idea to concentrate only on the four horses she thinks are threatened, and then not move them until the last minute so that it’s unlikely there will be a search for them. She believes Chaos is too valuable for Masenak to hurt?”

She nodded. “It wouldn’t make sense for him to kill him. He’d have to be crazy.”

“There’s evidence of that possibility, too,” he said grimly. “But I think there’s too much self-interest involved to let it come to the forefront. So we just have to remove the other four horses so that Sasha is free to take care of Chaos.”

“Which is like moving a small herd,” she said sarcastically. “No problem.”

“A beautifully well-trained herd,” he reminded her. “Not like Chaos. Which also means that they’d presumably be obedient to anyone who knew what they were doing around horses.”

“Gilroy?”

“Not on his résumé. That’s one of the reasons why we had to send Naleek with him—to make sure he didn’t screw up when he was working in the stable.” He was frowning. “And we’ll need more than Naleek if we have to move those horses quickly and silently out of the stables. It would have to go absolutely smoothly.”

“I can do it.” She leaned forward. “And I’m pretty good. No one could live with Sasha and not know how to ride.”

“We might have to use you.” He added grimly, “But I’d rather not be put in a position where I’d have to ransom you instead of one of those horses. I think I’ll pay a visit to Samlir tomorrow and get the council to give me a few volunteers. It should only cost an arm and a leg.”

“How will you get back there?”

“I’ll hike down to the area where we parked the Land Rover and drive it to where it will be safe for the helicopter to pick me up. I should be back by tomorrow night.”

“Can’t you phone someone in the council?”

“Not if I want it done. Those are tough negotiators. I know about bargainers.”

“I’m sure you do.” And it was obvious he was already in full action mode. No use arguing with him. “Thank you,” she said awkwardly. “I’m sorry about this. Horses weren’t in our agreement.”