Chapter Fifty-seven
Change Of The Guard
11:52 P.M...
Nile Sector, Commorance Vicinage...
Melissa stood with Bonnie in her arms, staring down the street at her smoldering safe house. Fire crews finished putting out the blaze and behind her down the road and sitting in an ambulance, Johnson received medical care. Chad stood in between two gurneys by another ambulance, and the boy stared at two body bags as tears streamed down his dirty face. Three new bodyguards two males and a female had arrived about twenty minutes ago. The two males stood close to Melissa while the female talked with Johnson. The female bodyguard nodded as she took notes from him. She finished and motioned for the boy to join her as she walked over to Melissa, and Chad looked one more time at the black rectangular bags; they were like a bath in a bag, but death in a bag. He turned from Andrews and Daniels, wiped his eyes, and joined the female bodyguard.
"Ms. Odin."
Melissa turned to her and said, "Yes."
"I'm Casper. I'll be heading up your new security." She looked to her H.H.C. "The bodies of the Closers were never discovered, so they did escape. Your case has been settled in court so the Closing has been canceled officially. The three of us will stay with you for the next few days, and I'll stay on after that as your personal bodyguard." Casper glanced at the smoldering safe house. "We'll get a room at the Bes Hotel across the street and stay there till we feel it's safe to return to your residence."
Melissa nodded. "Let's go there now. The children need to sleep."
An hour later...
The Bes Hotel...
Casper stood at a large window, looking out over Noir from the twentieth floor. She pulled the curtains closed and moved to the couch. The suite was large; there was room enough for the family and the three bodyguards.
Melissa went off to her own room after putting the children to bed and lay down on the large mattress. She couldn't believe the whole mess was over the formula Sunna Snaps she created for the Valhalla Corporation. She developed a completely different formula for Isis, and as the courts decided, it had no similarities with Sunna Snaps. She rolled on her side; she had found out her brother's death was because of the drug. She also learned a man named Topa employed by the Valhalla Corporation hired an Illicit Closer to kill him. He had him killed because Norman tried to stop the sale of Sunna Snaps on Wayfaring Lane. Tears ran down her face. It was the reason she couldn't bear to take her brother's Bible that Kat offered her. She felt guilty because she was the one who created Sunna Snaps, and now her brother was dead because of them.
#2 Shades of Gray: From Moscow, With Love Page 71
