"Helmsley."

"Hunter, this is Karrion Kross. Toni Storm is missing and presumed dead."

Hunter abruptly sat down in his chair. "How do you know that?"

"She was last seen yesterday afternoon," Kross explained. "As her second, she always advised me of her schedule. She planned to stay the night in her Garden District home and would call me earlier this morning to review our financials. When she didn't call and I couldn't reach her by phone, I sent people to her house. Her clothing and some jewelry was found. But nothing looked disturbed. Her car was found in the garage and the guard at the front gate was found dead. Shot in the back of the head. In addition, all of the security footage was missing."

"Damn!" Hunter snarled. "Had to be the Bloodline. Priest got some of his people close to her. Who was with her and now missing?"

"Her maid, Indy Hartwell. Her chef, Paul Roma. Rick Martel, security. Martel was the only one who could've gotten close enough to the dead guard to shoot him and known the code to allow cars to enter the property. I don't know if Hartwell and Roma were part of this or collateral damage." Kross hesitated then continued. "I've assumed command and taken the necessary precautions in our security."

"Good job," Hunter automatically replied. "We have to assume Storm was questioned and might have talked."

"My conclusion as well."

"Any movement by the Bloodline?" Hunter closed his eyes in thought.

"None except the expected for the reopening of The Tarot Club tonight," Kross reported.

Hunter grunted. "Let me know who's taking over there. If there's any sudden movement by them, advise me immediately. I'll put Houston and Atlanta on standby to send reinforcements if that occurs. The Bloodline already struck in retaliation for the attack on Sanctuary, but taking Storm out might be their next move."

"It's possible there is another reason," Kross slowly spoke.

"Like what?" Hunter demanded.

"Storm had a personal problem with the previous…owner of The Tarot Club, known as Miss Scarlett," Kross explained. "In fact, this Miss Scarlett had banned Storm from the club and threatened criminal trespass charges."

"Why wasn't this reported to me?" Hunter angrily demanded.

""Storm kept her plans compartmentalized," Kross evenly spoke. "People knew only what she wanted them to know. And this would be something she wouldn't want anyone else to know. When Storm went missing this morning, I went through her desk and safe. I found a…personal journal and started reading it. She had reached out to an independent assassin she referred to as "Switchblade". It didn't take me long to identify him. Jay White. His preferred weapon is a switchblade which, according to Miss Scarlett's autopsy report, was the suspected weapon in her death. No one has seen him since her murder."

"Storm hired an outsider?!" Hunter yelled. He was barely conscious of Stephanie quickly entering the room.

"It appears so," Kross answered. "And, from what else I read, she planned for him to eliminate Priest as well."

"Was she out of her mind?" Hunter seethed. He could almost see Kross shrug.

Hunter took a deep breath as Stephanie put a gentle hand on his arm. "I sent Lynch there to get her out of possibly being questioned for something here" he finally said. "Lynch accused Storm of setting her up for that murder."

"She was right," Kross answered. "Storm was explicit in her journal. She wanted this Miss Scarlett dead because of a personal grudge. When Lynch showed up, she planned for her to take the fall and hired White to do the job. She thought Priest would assume this was the work of the Authority and retaliate, thus precipitating a war which she would blame on Priest. White would then eliminate Priest." He paused for a moment. "Priest, however, kept his people in line with what I expect were very explicit threats."

"If he hadn't, this mess would have drawn a lot of heat from the cops on us, not to mention the loss to us in people and revenue," Hunter growled.

"I've called a meeting of the higher-ranking members," Kross said after a few moments of silence. "What should I tell them?"

Hunter took several deep breaths and forced himself to relax. "You are now in charge of New Orleans. Take command. Tell your people they are not to have anything to do with the Bloodline except to defend themselves. If the Bloodline attacks, contact me immediately. But, if they haven't done so by now, I don't think an attack is likely." He paused, then added, "Who will your second be?"

"I'll know better after this meeting," Kross answered. "I want to see how they react and what they advise. I'll send you the names of the top two or three for your review."

"Good. Call me at the start of the meeting. I'll make it official so everyone is clear about your position and authority. Continue searching for White. We need to know if he was taken with Storm, lying in wait for Priest, or if he's fled." Hunter ended the call and managed not to throw his phone against the wall.

"What happened?" Stephanie quietly asked.

"Storm hired an outside assassin because of a personal grudge. The one she set Lynch up for," Hunter growled. "She was trying to get the Bloodline to retaliate so she could start a war. The assassin was then going to kill Priest." He met Stephanie's shocked eyes. "Storm's missing along with her maid, chef, and a member of her security crew. The security guard at the gate to her house is dead." He slammed both hands down on the table. "I should've confronted Storm as soon as Lynch got away!"

Stephanie took a deep breath. "Should'ves aren't going to help. Can Kross be an effective leader?"

"From all appearances," Hunter nodded. "But I've got to keep a close eye on New Orleans. Priest is known for playing a long game when necessary." He made a quick decision. "Get packed and go home to New York," he ordered. "I want you out of here and with the girls in case a war is starting."

"Are you going to call Reigns?" Stephanie asked.

Hunter shook his head. "Not unless the Bloodline makes a move."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Kross looked up from reading Storm's journal at the knock on his door. He closed the journal and reached inside his jacket for his gun. "Come in."

"Sir, your safe is here." A young man stuck his head into the office.

Kross nodded and pulled out the bottom desk drawer on the right where Storm's now empty safe was stored. He stood and carefully watched as Storm's safe was removed and his placed inside the drawer.

"Change the combination to Storm's safe," Kross ordered. "We'll use it the next time we need something valuable transported."

"Yes, sir. And here's the access code for the office cameras."

Kross took the paper and nodded. "Thank you."

When the door closed and he was alone, Kross accessed the security system and changed the password for the cameras. He entered the code for them to be activated whenever the office door was opened and deactivated when the door was closed. He nodded in satisfaction when none of the office cameras showed anything on his computer screen.

He then opened the small safe in the desk drawer. He removed a cell phone and quickly sent a text. Putting the cell phone back into the safe, he changed both the primary combination and the secondary one. Then he closed the safe and then the desk drawer.

Kross leaned back in his chair. He and Storm were the only ones who knew about the secondary combination to their office safes. Now he was the only one. If that wasn't used, opening the safe would activate the magnets recessed in the walls of the safe. Removing the cell phone by passing them through the magnetic field would destroy all the data held in the phone's memory.

He frowned and stood. Storm's chair was more for show than function. 'Just like the woman who sat in it.' Kross' next action was to get the chair from his old office and get rid of Storm's.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Roman glanced at his phone. When he saw the name on the display, he quickly answered it. "Damian, how are you?"

"Very well, thank you, Roman," Damian answered. "Did you get my message from earlier this morning?"

Roman leaned back in his chair and smiled. He'd seen the message when he had wakened that morning. 'Done.' was all it had said. "I did. Glad to hear of it."

"I was involved in arranging the reopening of The Tarot Club tonight and didn't see a text I'd received until now." Priest stood at his office window and stared out at the New Orleans skyline. "We were correct in assuming who would take over the Authority's operations here."

"You're certain?" Roman demanded, his pulse quickening. "Helmsley approved him?"

"Positive. Helmsley will probably keep him under a close eye for a while. Perhaps a year or two…perhaps even three," Priest admitted. "We won't be able to see any profit until that passes."

"Karrion Kross," Roman softly spoke. "So that help has paid off."

Priest nodded. "He's received Helmsley's support." He coldly smiled. "But Helmsley doesn't know Kross is a follower. And we now control the Authority in New Orleans."