It was the dead of night.
The Quantico Military Base was ablaze with lights. It was not the only place, either. Even the White House, which should have had its lights out by now, as well as FBI headquarters and Langley, was probably still wide awake.
Asleep?
Heh.
They had probably lost all desire to sleep by now.
Arlington, a place marked by the graves of countless soldiers who had died on the battlefield, had seen such huge news break tonight. There were assassins, federal agents, and military personnel involved.
How could anyone sleep?
The owner of the White House was so furious that he probably needed to take blood-pressure medication. To put it bluntly, what had happened in Arlington could just as easily happen right outside the White House.
Nothing was trivial beneath the emperor's feet.
That was even more true in Washington D.C.
With his left arm in a sling and several scratches on his face, Lake had just gotten out of the car when Betty came sprinting over from a distance and slammed him against it once again.
Lake let out a scream.
Betty hurriedly backed away several steps in fright. She stared carefully at Lake, who had fallen backward and sprawled across the hood, then covered her mouth. "My God, are you all right?"
He had only been pretending at first. Now he was genuinely hurt.
Lake grimaced, twisted his waist until it crackled, then sighed and said to Betty, "You really need to lose some weight."
Betty: "..."
Karen walked over from nearby and looked at Lake.
Lake smiled at Karen.
The next second.
Karen hugged Lake. "Thank you, my son."
Lake said, "It was the least I could do."
He had promised to keep Karen safe for the rest of her life. Lake always