September

Vasaro , France

Wind Dancer.

Get to the Wind Dancer.

Blood was everywhere.

He was coming toward her.

Cassie screamed and ran from the bedroom.

"Come back here!" The man in the ski mask leapt after her.

Her white nightgown flying, she ran down the hall and the stairs, her breath catching as sobs choked her. She had to get to the Wind Dancer. She would be safe if she could just get to it.

"Stop that kid, dammit." The man was now leaning over the banister. The man who had shot Pauley in her bedroom after Pauley had thrown himself in front of her. He was yelling at the three masked men in the hall below. More blood. More bodies lying on the floor…

She stopped in terror a few steps from the bottom. Daddy…

But Mama and Daddy weren't here. They were in Paris. She was alone in the house with Jeanne, her nurse, and the Secret Service men. Where was Jeanne?

"Come, little one." There she was, standing in the doorway to the study. The Wind Dancer was in the study too. She would be safe if she could get to it.

Jeanne smiled. "Come, Cassie."

Couldn't she see that those three men were between her and the study? But maybe she could get past them. The study was to the left of the staircase. She jumped over the banister and landed running.

"Clever girl." Jeanne whisked her into the study and locked the door.

Cassie threw herself into Jeanne's arms. "He shot Pauley. I woke up and he was standing by the bed and…Pauley was bleeding…"