He'd felt groggy almost as soon as the first nails had hit him, he'd been stupid not to expect something as basic and as simple as this but he wasn't going to just lay down and die, he was going to make it difficult and by the time he couldn't stay awake any longer he'd already achieved his brief.

His vision swam and he could hear Charon's voice calling his name, he mumbled incoherently, he had a pounding headache. Her face finally came into focus and another paler face appeared over her shoulder with a concerned look on his face. She grinned at him as he swung his legs round into a sitting position and rubbed his face in his hands.

"What on God's green Earth did you dip those nails in?"

Charon had removed the nails while he was unconscious, she handed him a small white pill and a glass of water.

"Its a strong sedative of my own concoction, here this will help with the headache."

He took the pill from her and swallowed it down, it had an almost instant effect and his headache lifted. Augustus hovered in the background. Mr Gray looked at him, he could see Charon in his face but there was something odd about him, an odd haunted look, he couldn't place. Charon sat down opposite him and poured out a glass of his favourite whiskey.

"Your security needs sorting out, it didn't take me long to work out how the eva corp scientists got in here and use the same gaping hole."

Augustus finally sat down next to his mother, although he seemed very on edge and nervy, especially in contrast with Charon who was very relaxed, almost nonchalant, he knew this to be a front though. He knew that if he made one single move she'd have him pinned up against the wall with a volley of nails within milliseconds. She always had one of those damned things somewhere about her person, she never travelled without one. Charon seemed to be thinking about something ad he watched her closely.

"I knew you were the right person to contact Gray, Damien always called you first when it came to security and he trusted you implicitly. Times have changed though and technology is becoming the new way forward and I didn't like the way Eva scientists were able to waltz in here like they owned the place."

She leaned back further and fixed him with her penetrating stare, her eyes were still that impossibly blue colour that had hypnotised many men in the past. He pulled his handheld device from his pocket, it was basically a very powerful computer the size of a large cell phone.

"Eva corp hacked in at a low level using a tracking cookie with a disguised virus attached to it. Its program is designed to switch off all security in the grounds while sending false information to your security program. It also has another use but I haven't figured out what it is yet, although I suspect its an information gathering program of some sort. Whatever information you have on your systems, I suggest you leave it there and transfer all your paper documentation onto my personal mobile system."

Charon thought about this for awhile.

"Okay. Augustus, you will go with Mr Gray and transfer all our most vunerable information onto his secure servers. I suggest you go and get everything you'll need."

Augustus got up and left the room, Charon watched him go and waited until she heard the basement door click shut.

"I have another project for you. I want you to track down Damien, I don't care how much it costs or how long it takes, I want you to find him and give him this envelope. You know how to contact me. I can't risk looking for him myself if Eva corp are keeping an eye on me."

She reached behind her and pulled out a thick envelope and handed it to Gray. He looked at it and then back at her.

"There's something in the region of $5 million in there, call it a deposit or whatever you want but no expense must be spared to bring down Eva Corp. Augustus mustn't know whats going on, and he's to be protected at all costs, so I am now employing you to put in new security here as well. I know you'll be discreet."

She looked at him and he nodded. He pressed a button on the device and the lights went out all over the mansion and he slipped away into the darkness but he heard her still sitting as she called out ot him.

"Change your clothes, I can hear them rustling a mile away."

He grinned, she'd given him another project to work on - silent clothing.