Chapter 26: The Blind Pawn
The low hum of the circulation fans inside the eastern service hall barely masked the violent, shuttering vibrations of the hurricane winds tearing across the roofline of Alderwood Manor. Piper pressed her back against the smooth composite paneling of the hallway, her breath catching in her throat each time the structural steel groaned under the weight of the gale. She had slipped past the heavy door of Suite Four without raising an alarm, leaving the room key wedged in the strike plate to prevent the automatic lock from engaging behind her.
Her stockinged feet made no sound against the rubber runners, but the draft leaking through the outer vestibule seeped along the floorboards like liquid nitrogen, raising goosebumps beneath her thin trousers. She wrapped he
