"Charles didn't say when Jack and Harry were going to Las Vegas," Nikki said fretfully. "I wish I knew where we're going to be staying."

"I don't think it matters, dear. One place is as good as another," Annie said cheerfully. "I brought money. Did any of you?"

The women looked at Annie as much as to say, Money, what's money?

"To gamble with." Annie reached in her pockets and pulled out wads and wads of folded-up bills. "I even have some stuck in my bra. Don't worry, I have enough for all of us. We want to win. Big. Really big!"

"What's bigger than a billion bucks?" Kathryn demanded. "I can't believe our services are worth a billion dollars."

"Well, I can!" Annie said. "We're worth every penny. It isn't ours, anyway, dear. We have to give it away. I'm talking about winning for ourselves. If we win, we get to keep the money. We can buy some of those fancy sparkly clothes they sell in Vegas. The kind the showgirls wear when they go off duty. I can't wait to buy my first pair of rhinestone cowgirl boots! We need to get some leather, too. With lots of fringe. Lizzie can help us, she has such exquisite taste in clothes."

"But the catch is, we won't look like Lizzie," Alexis said, giggling.

"And to think, Annie, you were wearing a god-awful white sheet when I came to that mountain in Spain. Now you're a clotheshorse," Myra said. "I knew I should have pushed you over the mountain that day. I am not wearing rhinestone cowgirl boots!"

"Want to bet?" Annie asked.

Myra worked her mouth into a grimace. She started to finger her pearls. She knew she'd be wearing cowgirl boots with rhinestones before the mission was over, and she'd probably be singing the dreadful song that went with the boots. Something about a rhinestone cowboy.

Ninety minutes later, the white van roared across the tarmac and came to a full stop near the British plane. The doors to the van slid open, and white-clad figures pushing wheelchairs appeared out of nowhere.

"Oh, this is sooo exciting. I've never been in a wheelchair before. I've seen people playing basketball in them and doing that wheelie thing," Annie said, as strong arms lifted her out of the van. "I'm absolutely loving this," she said to no one in particular.

Just as the British Red Cross plane hit a cruising altitude of thirty thousand feet, Lizzie Fox was sitting once again in Marble Rose Barnes's comfortable living room. Ted was busy punching words into his BlackBerry, but his ears were tuned to the conversation surrounding him.

"I have what I think is good news and a little of what you might perceive as bad. Which do you want to hear first?"