“An hour, tops. I’ve never seen bolts like these. Whoever did the work on this baby knew what he was doing. This sleigh is a work of art, that’s for sure. It’s big enough to hold ten people, maybe more. By the way, where are all the horses that live in this place? I counted sixteen stalls, and they’re all empty.”

“Out on patrol would be my guess,” said a man bigger than an oak tree, who was busy on his BlackBerry, texting. The gist of the message was, what time do you want the sleigh to leave the barn? When will the horses arrive?

The text went to Charles Martin, who was sleeping, but it was Myra Rutledge who called for a break in Baron Bell’s interrogation and responded by sending the text on to Jack Emery, who sent it to Bert Navarro, who sent it to Lizzie Fox, who stopped her Christmas-tree trimming to send the text on to POTUS, informing her the sleigh was ready for the Christmas festivities and would arrive on time. Then she sent the text on to Maggie Spritzer, not knowing Maggie was with the Sisters in the Post apartment.

The answer to the original text to Snowden’s men was short and concise: Sit tight.

“We just got our orders, boys. We sit tight until told otherwise, so take your time with those bolts.”

Maggie Spritzer looked down at her watch the moment she received the incoming text. She felt uneasy at the silence surrounding her. Even their captives were silent. Nikki motioned to the kitchen. Once again, the Sisters trekked into the kitchen to confer.

“It’s almost six o’clock. We still haven’t cracked Bell and Newsom,” Nikki said. “We also need to make a decision on the two surrogates. Olsen was telling the truth. She didn’t touch the money in the bank. It’s been sitting there a few months. Davis, now, she bought a high-end car, when a much cheaper model would have served her purposes. If we put that aside and just take the car, I think we can turn them loose. I’ll have them sign confessions of their parts in all this. Knowing that it will be hanging over their heads, I think they’ll both stick to the straight and narrow. I wish we had the others in our sights.”

The Sisters agreed, but it was Myra who said the surrogates weren’t to be turned loose until the Sisters were safely away from the apartment. Once again, everyone agreed.

Maggie looked up from her furious texting to say, “If Newsom doesn’t have the list, then Bell does. Drag it out of him. This is a first!”

“What?” Annie asked, alarm ringing in her voice.

“Ted isn’t answering me,” Maggie replied. “I just tried Jack and Espinosa, and they aren’t responding either. Harry never responds to anyone but Yoko.”