Chapter 34 August Fenwick stepped from his taxi cab onto the threshold of the exclusive Club

McCaw, his brows knit with care. The normal midday bustle around the entrance to the gentleman's

club was noticeably absent. Indeed, past the gate that separated the grounds of the club from the city streets,

there seemed to be an almost eerie calm.

Fenwick turned absent-mindedly to pay the driver, and was for a moment astonished to find the man

already pulling away, his eyes fixed straight ahead.

The wealthy young man did not even have a chance to shut the door of the

car as it sped around the circle and back out the driveway, the driver never slowing down or

looking back. He stepped forward and paused a moment upon sight of the doorman. The Red Panda felt

certain the man's name was Ryan, though he could not recall ever using it himself.

He did, however, recall several tirades his usual driver had launched on the subject, and

Fenwick found this man nothing like Kit's picture of him.

Ryan stood stock still as if he were painted upon the wall beside the door.

He did not move to open the door or bat an eye as Fenwick approached, but

stared into open spaces if wrapped upon some unseen wonder. The Red Panda considered Ryan for a

moment, and then opened the door himself, keeping the man in the corner of his eye as he passed.

He felt it unlikely that his enemy would lose a sneak attack upon him this late in the

game, but he felt it would be an exceedingly stupid way to die. His footsteps were light and

practiced, but still they seemed to ring through the great foyer now absent of any life. He passed

the front desk, which was normally manned every hour that the club was open, but today

stood deserted. Fenwick had come in search of information, and now knew that there was much

more waiting for him here. He moved silently upon the stairs, his caution a long-held reflex,

...