Novels by ALARA

The state securities board froze Ethan's Sinclair Dynamics shares at 9:04 on Tuesday morning, and it did so without a single warning call.Dana Frost slammed the printed notice on the hotel office desk hard enough to make the coffee cups jump. "They cite irregularities in the acquisition of a fifteen percent stake by an individual with no verifiable financial history. They have frozen every share for seventy-two hours pending review.""Seventy-two hours," Ethan repeated."That is long enough for Victor to do a great deal of damage." Dana paced to the window and back. "The notice was signed by a deputy commissioner named Hollis Pike, who attended Victor's daughter's wedding two years ago. I would call that a coincidence, but I stopped believing in coincidences on Friday."Marcus looked up from a spreadsheet of hotel bookings. "Can they do that? You paid five million dollars for those shares, and the transfer was clean.""They can do it because the rules are written to be enforced by pe

Harris retracted his confession at nine o'clock on Sunday morning, and he did it with a new lawyer sitting beside him.Dana Frost delivered the news in the hotel business center, where she stood in front of the television with her jaw set. On the screen, a polished man in a three-thousand-dollar suit read a statement outside the state prosecutor's office, and a scrolling banner announced that the Hartwell embezzlement suspect had withdrawn his remarks."My client was frightened, exhausted, and under extreme duress when he made those statements in a stairwell," the lawyer said into a bank of microphones. "He maintains his innocence, and he will cooperate fully with the court.""That is Preston Gale," Dana said bitterly. "He is the Whitmore Group's personal attorney, and he arrived at the detention center within an hour of the arrest. Victor must have had him waiting in a car."Marcus looked up from his tablet with a stricken face. "But we heard him confess. Okafor heard it, and four of

Victor Whitmore wasn't prepared to give anything away, but a man who had mastered winning forgets how loudly he speaks when he's winning.Ethan sat back at the rear seat of the rented sedan with hands clasped together and repeated the sentence over and over to himself. By tonight, he would be somewhere that neither you nor any detective can ever reach him. Victor hadn't said that Harris was in the city, or that Harris was in the hotel, and he didn't need to. His confidence had already told Ethan all he needed to know."We have until tonight," Ethan said as the car turned towards the harbor. "Dana, how fast can you reach the state prosecutor?"Dana Frost was already punching in numbers as she spoke. "I have a contact in the financial crimes division who doesn't report to Detective Rourke. Her name is Nadia Okafor, and she's been waiting two years for an excuse to open a file on the Whitmore Group.""Tell her the excuse has arrived."By three that afternoon, a plain white van with no id

Gregor Lund called the emergency vote to order at 11:49 and smiled as he did so.He was a heavyset man with silver hair, a voice like warm oil, and the look of a winner as he presided over the Sinclair Dynamics boardroom. On the wall behind him, a screen showed the loan covenant in red, boldface, and the word DEFAULT was burning beneath it.Yvonne Sinclair sat at the head of the long boardroom table with her back straight, her fingers folded over a closed folder, and an unreadable face. There were two men on the board to her left who hadn't been looking at her for several minutes."We are gathered because the chief executive has failed to deposit the required reserve," Lund announced. "The covenant is clear and the deadline is noon. I move that the board declare an emergency and appoint an interim chairman.""Seconded," a thin man said, from his right."The reserve will arrive," Yvonne said, her voice cold."From where, Yvonne?" Lund spread his hands. "Your accounts are frozen, your c

At seven in the morning, four hundred hotel employees stood with crossed arms outside the lobby and not one of them was smiling.Ethan watched them from the mezzanine railing with a cup of black coffee that he had not touched. The chefs wore white jackets, the housekeepers held their cleaning carts like barricades and the front desk staff had gathered in a tight, nervous knot around the fountain.Alden Pryce stood beside him, rubbing his temples. "The rumor started at the night desk around five. Someone leaked that the bank has frozen our accounts, and now everyone believes the new owner can't afford to pay them.""Is it a good rumor?""It is a true rumor, sir. That is the problem."A tall man in a chef's jacket stepped out of the crowd and cupped his hands around his mouth. "Where is the owner?" He shouted, and the lobby echoed the question. "We want to hear it from his own mouth. Are we getting paid today or not?"A rumble of agreement rolled through the room.Ethan set down his cup

The hotel's accounts were frozen at 11:52 that night, exactly eight minutes after Ethan had shut off the Whitmore engagement party.Alden Pryce delivered the news in the executive office on the forty-first floor, and he stood stiff-backed, like one who had just been sentenced. A lone printed notice shook in his hand."First Meridian Bank holds every operating account the Grand Regency owns, sir. They have cited irregularities in the ownership transfer, and they have suspended all withdrawals until further review.""Who owns First Meridian?" Ethan asked."A holding company," Dana Frost said from the leather sofa, not looking up from her tablet. "Which is controlled by the Whitmore Group through two intermediate shells. Victor did not waste any time."Marcus, who had fallen asleep in an armchair an hour earlier, jerked at the sound of the name. "What does that mean for the hotel?""It means that four hundred and twelve employees are due to be paid by noon tomorrow," Pryce said quietly.