Janco dashed into the castle, weaving through servants and soldiers, gathering quite an array of curses along the way. Not caring, he pelted full speed to Valek's...er...Onora's office. The door was locked. Tripled locked and no amount of pounding and pleading for forgiveness caused it to budge.

Stopping, he sagged against the wall. If Onora was trying to punish him, she was doing a pretty good job of it.

He extracted his lock picks and set to work on the three complex locks. Janco hadn't met a lock he couldn't pick—not yet anyway, but some required time. Time he currently didn't have and rushing only caused delays. Sigh. The first lock was a pin and tumbler with lots of pins. Using his torsion

wrench and diamond pick, he lifted the pins, aligned the cylinder and... Ta Da! The corridor remained silent. Gee, tough crowd.

The second lock was a fiendish little devil--similar to Little Miss Assassin--requiring a fair amount of concentration and determination. He had plenty of determination. As for concentration...he'd focused that one time during the Richter ambush and there was that other time when Ari was captured and—

oh right, lock, baby, now.

Sweat stung his eyes and mixed with the blood already soaked into his shirt, igniting all those cuts he'd gotten from Kurt. After an eternity, the lock clicked open. One left. Janco just about wept when he examined it. Son of a sand rat! What sort of twisted mind came up with this nasty piece of iron.

Gritting his teeth, he set to work. Another eternity passed followed by an epoch. He imagined Yelena and Valek searching the castle for him—both armed. Thank fate, the lock popped. The door opened, Janco sprang inside, and... The room was empty. He wilted.

He searched just in case they were hiding. But, unlike the piles and books and general mess of Valek's office, Onora was a neat nic. She'd cleaned out and organized all of Valek's files right away.

Unfortunately, she'd ordered Janco and Ari to help—not fun. At all. The conference table was clean, nothing underneath or behind the desk.

Next place? Onora's apartment! Good thing Janco was friendly with the guards on duty and they owed him a favor. He hightailed it—who comes up with these words?—through the short cut. And skidded to a stop when he encountered that creepy crawlie feeling that meant magic was in use. Could it be Onora hiding nearby? He hoped.

The little-used corridor was empty. He crept to the end. Voices hissed in whispered anger. Janco peeked around the corner. Two men faced each other. Their postures radiated fury and one had his hand on his sword. They wore soldier uniforms. Janco didn't recognize either one. Not that unusual since he'd become a special advisor to the Commander, but still.