Chapter 25: The Staircase

The prince locked his office door behind him.

He went to his desk and opened his email. Ignoring the hundreds of unread messages in his inbox, he scrolled down to an archive folder labeled For Emergencies.

The folder was empty except for a single, unsent email draft. The subject line was blank and there was no text in the body. The only bit of information was an email address saved in the recipient field.

       Nolan double-clicked the email draft to open it, typed a very quick message into the body, and hit Send.

       In another corner of the prince’s office, a leather armchair and a coffee table faced a grand stone fireplace that was currently cold and empty. Nolan went over and retrieved a bottle of whiskey from the table. He took it with him around the corner, to the narrow library that adjoined the office.

       In the library,