At the champagne bar, the courier arrived — a nervous man in a navy suit. Vera accidentally bumped into him, spilling champagne down his lapel. “ Oh, Entschuldigung ,” she breathed, dabbing at the stain with a napkin. Her other hand, quick as a spider, slid the real brooch from his pocket and replaced it with a perfect duplicate. He didn’t feel a thing.
The mission clock: 11 minutes. The wine stain: already drying. Searching for- femaleagent Alexis Crystal in-Al...
The Velvet Dowry
Kolar, watching from the mezzanine, smiled. He thought he saw a clumsy socialite. He saw wrong. At the champagne bar, the courier arrived —
“Dowry delivered,” she said into her cuff. At the champagne bar