As I reached the handle, the red phone on the King’s desk began to ring once more.

King Alaric picked it up, his eyes widening as he listened to the voice on the other end.

He looked up at me, his hand tightening on the receiver.

“Commander Carter,” the King said, lowering the receiver slowly.

He pressed a button on his desk console to mute the line.

“That was the director of our border security force,” he said.

“They have detained your sister, Rachel, and Lord Vance at the private airfield.”

“They were attempting to board a charter flight to a non-extradition territory.”

Alexander took a sharp breath, his hand dropping from his chin.

“Did they have the assets?” he asked.

“They had three metallic briefcases containing bearer bonds and cold-storage cryptocurrency devices,” the King replied.

The King released the mute button and spoke a brief command in his native language.

He hung up the red phone and looked at me.

“The United States Embassy has already dispatched a transport team,” the King said.

“The federal warrant from Washington was processed through our ministry of justice thirty minutes ago.”