LITMIR.BIZ

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stepped through the pedestrian gate ahead of the guards and headed toward the royal guard headquarters, a three-story brick building located on the palace grounds across the courtyard from the garages. Before she and the guards reached the building, the vehicle gate opened and a car pulled through.

      “That’s Kirk’s car,” Linus noted.

      The coupe rolled toward them and Princess Anastasia leaped from the passenger door, rushing at Ruby and embracing her. “Are you okay?”

      “I’m fine.” Ruby felt grateful for the hug, but embarrassed that her friend had interrupted a rare evening out on her account. “You’re supposed to be on a dinner date.”

      “We hadn’t ordered our food yet. I was worried about how you were faring, so I asked Kirk to call the guards. They told us what happened. I feel responsible—you came to Lydia at my invitation, and now you’ve been attacked twice.”

      “Only once, technically.” Ruby stepped back toward Galen as she explained, “We were chased this evening, but thanks to Galen’s quick thinking, the man didn’t catch us.”

      “Unfortunately, we didn’t catch him, either,” Galen lamented.

      “No, but we may have learned a few things.” Linus led the way to the royal guard headquarters. “Let’s get those observations on record before either of you have time to forget any details.”

      Kirk and Stasi followed them inside. Once they were all seated around a table in the conference room, Ruby and Galen recounted everything they could recall, from the moment Galen spotted the figure smoking outside the studio. But when they reached the point in the story where Galen had tried to radio for help, Linus stopped to clarify.

      “What happened with that transmission? The royal guard has been using these earpieces for three years, ever since they hit the market. They’re supposed to be the best of their kind. We’ve never had a problem before.”

      Galen shook his head slowly. “I don’t know enough about this technology to guess how they did it. Can we call Simon in here?”

      Moments later, the royal guard’s technology expert for the evening shift stood among them, nodding as Galen recounted the trouble with the earpiece kits.

      “It had to have been deliberately jammed,” Simon concluded after hearing the facts. “Given that you’d just used it with no trouble, I’d say he waited until his accomplice was chasing you before jamming the signal.”

      “It had to be an accomplice?” Ruby didn’t like the thought of a team working against her using sophisticated equipment—especially when she didn’t even know why. “One man couldn’t have jammed the signal while chasing us?”

      “Highly unlikely. He’d have to have a transmitter tuned to the same frequency as our receiving equipment, with the same type of modulation and enough power to override the signal at the receiver. I can’t imagine someone coordinating all that while slipping on a mask and running after the two of you on foot.”

      Ruby wasn’t clear on all the technical specifics Simon had quoted, but she agreed with the guard’s conclusion. Which left her with one looming question. “Why are these guys after me? What do I have that is worth so much effort?”

      “They came after you two nights in a row, even after I fought one of them last night.” Galen looked apologetic for reminding her of the incident as he explained why they had to revisit it. “That tells me that whatever they want, it’s urgent. Under any other circumstances, you’d think they’d lay low for a few days in hopes that we’d lower our guard.”

      “We’re not going to lower our guard.” Princess Anastasia crossed her arms with determination. “I’ll talk to the captain of the guard myself if I have to. This issue will have priority status.”

      “But your sister’s wedding is next Saturday,” Kirk reminded his fiancée. “I’m certain that’s going to remain our top priority.”

      “That’s all the more reason we’ve got to get to the bottom of this.” The petite princess was known for her tenacity. “The guards will need to focus on Isabelle’s wedding. These guys need to be stopped before then.” She turned her attention to Ruby. “Can you think of any possible reason these guys keep coming after you?”

      Ruby squinted her eyes shut, thinking carefully, then shook her head. “Nothing.”

      “They tried to take your purse last night,” Galen reminded her.

      “But there’s nothing in it worth stealing.”

      “Can we see?” Stasi requested.

      With a shrug, Ruby turned her purse upside down over the table, unceremoniously dumping it out in full view of everyone. Stasi helped her rifle through the sparse contents. “Your keys.” She picked through them. “Do you suppose they wanted your keys to break in to the studio?”

      “But why go through Ruby for the keys?” Galen asked. “Why not break directly into the studio?”

      “We’ve installed a sophisticated security system,” Kirk noted, “but if they’re clever enough to jam our radio signals, you’d think they could circumvent those defenses.”

      Ruby listened to their conversation with half an ear, her attention already focused on three pages of notebook paper she’d carefully folded and tucked away in her purse before leaving the studio that evening.

      Her jewelry design notes from that day’s work. She’d been faithfully toting copious notes back to her apartment every evening, accumulating a file of all the details so that Tate Jewelry could make accurate reproductions. The exclusive rights were a precious gift from her friend Stasi. If the replica jewelry sold as well, and Ruby hoped it might, it amounted to Ruby’s best hope for saving her parents’ business and earning back their trust. The design notes were invaluable to her.

      Might they also be valuable to someone else?

      Ruby cleared her throat. “What about this?”

      “Your design notes?” Stasi’s eyes widened as the meaning of Ruby’s suggestion sank in. “Do you think my designs are that valuable?”

      “Darling.” Kirk placed a hand on his fiancée’s shoulder. “You always underestimate the value of your work. Your jewelry is highly sought after, and it’s sure to become vastly more so with all the media coverage of the upcoming royal weddings.”

      Stasi blushed at Kirk’s assessment.

      Galen didn’t look convinced. “How would these guys know you had the designs in your purse?”

      Ruby and Stasi looked at one another thoughtfully.

      “We talk about jewelry all the time,” the princess admitted.

      “We’ve talked about the designs in public,” Ruby added.

      “At lunch the other day—”

      “And when we were shopping—”

      “Walking home from the studio—”

      Linus interrupted them. “I don’t think you should discuss the designs in public anymore. But that said, those are just a few pages in your purse. Wouldn’t they need the rest of your notes for that information to be useful?”

      Ruby nodded.

      Galen murmured in a low voice, “I’m not one hundred percent convinced this is what those guys were after.”

      “Neither am I,” Linus agreed.

      “But what else could there be?” Ruby had been pondering the question all day, ever since the attack the evening before, but still hadn’t come up with an answer.

      Nor did anyone else at the table posit an explanation.

      After a thoughtful silence, the princess concluded, “The most important thing right now is keeping you safe. I

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