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beginning.
    “Sanders!” Griff shouted his best friend’s name. Sanders was far more than a good friend; he was Griff’s right-hand man and his most trusted confidant.
    Within seconds, four people appeared, each rushing toward him. Shaughnessy Hood’s hulking form moved with amazing speed and he reached Griff’s side before Sanders, Derek, and Maleah.
    Griff looked at Shaughnessy as he placed Yvette in the six-foot-six bodyguard’s huge arms. Then he turned to Sanders. “She needs someone with her until she regains consciousness. Send for Meredith Sinclair. Tell her it’s urgent. She’ll know how to help Yvette.”
    “Meredith is with Luke Sentell,” Sanders reminded him. “They’re en route from Paducah, Kentucky. She went with Luke straight from London to return Michelle Allen’s niece to her parents.”
    Griff grunted. He remembered now. The child, barely seven years old, would have needed a woman’s tender care after the ordeal she had been through recently. Abducted by Linden from the safety of her own bed, whisked off to England, and held hostage as a means of forcing her aunt to do a madman’s bidding, Jaelyn Allen had been rescued by Luke Sentell, with Yvette’s protégée, Meredith, assisting him.
    “Yes, of course, I remember now. As soon as Meredith returns to Griffin’s Rest, send her directly to Yvette,” Griff said. “In the meantime, choose another of Yvette’s students to stay with her, preferably someone with the ability to soothe her.”
    Sanders nodded. “That would be Blythe Renshaw.”
    “Then send for her immediately and once that’s done, join me in the office. I assume you’ve already begun—”
    “Agents have been dispatched to the cabin and one to speak personally with Cully Redmond’s sister,” Sanders said. “All available personnel have been called in to headquarters in Knoxville and the wheels set in motion to obtain all possible info.”
    After assuring Griff that he had followed procedure without any delay, Sanders left to do as he had been instructed.
    Griff called out to him, “Send in the housecleaning crew to clean up in there.” He inclined his head toward the utterly destroyed room.
    Sanders paused and listened. He nodded once before walking away, without uttering a single word or giving a quick backward glance.
    Griff then told Shaughnessy, “Take Dr. Meng upstairs to one of the guest rooms and stay with her until Ms. Renshaw arrives.”
    With the utmost care, the gentle giant of a man held Yvette as if she were made of spun glass as he immediately followed Griff’s orders.
    “You two, come with me,” he said, sliding his gaze hurriedly from Derek to Maleah. “Once I place several calls to my contacts in D.C. and around the world, we will begin receiving a tremendous amount of information. Ninety-five percent of it will be worthless. It will be up to us to figure out which five percent can actually help us locate Nic.”
    Griff forced himself to look directly at Maleah, to face her and accept her wrath. No doubt at this very moment, she hated him almost as much as he hated himself. Maleah Perdue was his wife’s best friend. She had stood by Nic, shared confidences with her, and possibly knew her better than anyone on Earth. Knew her even better than he did.
    “I’m going to find her,” Griff swore to Maleah.
    She stared at him, tears moistening her eyes, her teeth clinched tightly. He sensed that she wanted to physically attack him, to claw his eyes out, to damn his soul to hell.
    Mercy God, didn’t she know he was already in hell?
    Derek Lawrence grasped Maleah’s hand.
    “And we’re going to help you find her,” Derek said. “We’re a cooperative team working together for the duration of this all-out manhunt. We have one goal—find Nicole and bring her home safely. Nothing else matters.”
     
    Morning sunlight poured into the room like melted butter over hot pancakes—soft, warm, and golden. As she roused from sleep, Nicole blinked