THE RANSOMED MADONNA Botticelli's Madonna and Infant is on loan from the Vatican, insured for two million dollars. It arrives in New York safely and is well guarded. But a small group of thieves have worked out the perfect heist to ransom the famous painting. Posing as a relative of the museum's namesake with his secretary, they manage to finagle their way back in after closing. Unfortunately, a young pregnant woman passes out in front of their getaway car, and assisted by a beat cop, gives birth in the back seat. When the thieves return, they now have a mother and child to deal with. Unfortunately, Nick Dekota is financing the heist, and he wants to dispose of them both, and quickly. In no time, the heist goes from bad to worse. THE HOUSE ON K STREET First Mrs. Margulies receives obscene phone calls. Then her apartment is vandalized. And finally, her pet mynah bird is shot dead. It's all too much for her, and she makes plans to take a much-deserved vacation, sub-leasing her rooms to a nice, young man who has been seeing one of the girls upstairs. What Mrs. Margulies doesn't know is that the nice, young man is a member of the Sons of Columbia, a right-wing group that has plans to use the apartment to pull off the perfect assassination. With Mrs. Margulies gone, they now have access to the basement, where a bomb will be assembled that once it is exploded, will change the world.