The "divided loyalties with Winter" angle isn't going to carry much traction with Rashid, that's for sure.

Of course, you don't really need a powerhouse to cap Harry. You'd just need someone who can veil well enough he wouldn't see it coming to wait outside his door and shoot him in the head. Carlos could get that done if he thought it was genuinely right, although I'm not sure he's that far gone.

Langtry could also contract with a supernatural mercenary like Kincaid or Grey - I'm not sure either of them would take the job, but there are probably a few others similarly dangerous. If Langtry would stoop to dealing with him, Shagnasty could probably still take Harry on the mainland.

Good points.  A couple additional thoughts.

My point about Rashid was not an issue with loyalty to Winter.  I don't think Rashid has loyalty to Winter.  The problem is that Rashid's job may be one of the most important in Creation right now.  If Rashid were killed or incapacitated, then the Gates could fall. 

It seems possible that the White Council wants someone else to do their work for them.  That would be a very Langtry thing to do.  Hiring a mercenary to do it could be possible.  But, how many qualified supernatural mercenaries are available?  That would be willing to risk Mab's displeasure.  That would be willing to face the Winter Knight?  Mercenaries by definition take on risky, not potentially suicidal jobs. 

Grey could easily do it, that is true.  But would he? And, would the White Council ask him?  He's probably known to them as having worked with Harry at least two times now.  They would probably scratch Grey off the list.

True, Harry was in some risk in the immediate aftermath of the White Council's decision -- because he had been beaten to an inch of his life, expended vast amounts of energy and everything was in chaos.  In a couple months, where Harry has rested up, replenished his gear, established Castle Dresden with defenses, the Winter Knight and Consort of the White Court of Vampires is a certifiable nightmare. 

 

Raith not Wraith.

Dammit, you are right.  (I'm mostly an audio book listener, but still should get that right). 

The assassin does not have to be as powerful as the target. Proper intelligence and preparation can get you far. Harry killed the summer lady after all before he was even winter knight.

Yet another reason to be terrified of Harry.  And, everyone saw his legion of little folk at the Battle of Chicago. 

I got the distinct impression from Battleground and Peace Talks that McCoy's health is not very good.  He seemed to be on the verge of stroking out a couple times.  This is even discounting the damage done in the final battle.

I thought he was going to stroke out when Harry and he fought the corner hounds. 

Since we now know that:

(1) "Empty Night" is a catch phrase of the White Court and of the
(2)  Lord Raith had an Outsider as a sponsor.  That sponsor was the source of his entropy curse and the reason that magic slid off him;
(3)  Lord Raith isn't dead, but simply mad and starving;

(5)  The Outsiders have probably attempted at least one rescue -- that of Popsicle Leansidhe;
(6)  Lord Raith now has reason for vengeance Harry, Thomas AND Lara; and,
 

Do we think Lord Raith is going to break free at some point, recharge up and will he kick off the Apocalypse? 

I'm afraid that Grey is possibly among the Nemfected now.  I wouldn't trust anyone who has been alone with Justine -- Thomas included -- for any length of time. 

Cold Days is tricky. I always found it odd that Thomas insisted on taking her along in the first place. She would have been much safer at Castle Raith ...
At the show- down, she neither helped Maeve nor team Harry. She just observed. As usual imo. Was she there to make sure that Maeve was not doing anything stupid? As Maeve then did?

So, Justine's presence on the Island in Cold Days now makes a GREAT deal of sense.  She was Maeve's "insurance policy."  Maeve said something to the effect that you can't kill me because my mantle will go to some ally of mine (i.e. Nemesis).  That ally was standing right there -- Justine.  Little did Nemesis/Maeve/Justine understand that a much better vessel Molly was also right there. 

What really are the limits of Nemesis?  How many individuals can it infect at a time?  Surely, there has to be some limit there.  So far, we know that only Starborn like Harry cannot be hijacked.  But, this leaves open the possibility that Harry could give in.   

Our official list of Starborn is pretty small:  (1) Harry; (2) Elaine; (3) Listen_the_Turtleneck; and (4) ... Drakul (b. ~1310).  Rashid might also be a Starborn.  That might make a great deal of sense given his job duties.  It would be ... bad if your Gatekeeper was nem-fectable. 

Marcone taking a coin is interesting and not that surprising.  In Small Favor we knew that Namshiel's coin went AWOL.     Marcone, Sanya, Hendricks, Gard, Ivy and the very wounded Michael were on the helicopter rescue.  Gard flies the copter; Sanya takes care of Michael.  Hendricks manned the mini-gun.  Ivy was possibly in no shape to do anything.  That would have given Marcone the opportunity to search Michael's or Sanya's things looking for a coin.

I had assumed that Odin's organization had taken the coin for their own purposes, but if that were true then Odin would have given Marcone the coin.  That's not exactly the kind of Christmas present one would expect from Santa, but then what do you get the Crime Lord who has everything? 

It makes sense, however, for Marcone to pick up a coin.  First, he's not a good guy, despite our desires to make him an Anti-Villain.  Second, his territory had been violated for the second time by the Denarians and his very expensive security detail was ineffective.  He would have been motivated to even the odds somehow.  Third, Harry has made it no secret that he'd like to take Marcone down one day. 

Namshiel is an ideal coin from Marcone's point of view. Namshiel is not a Nicodemus flunky.  Namshiel offers magic in some form as well.  Provided that Namshiel is not a Ursiel-type, it would be a good partnership.

On magic, we don't really know whether Marcone is doing the magic or whether its Namshiel.  I suspect Namshiel "drives."  I don't think we see Marcone do any workings prior to his "transformation."  Tessa, for example, can throw spells in her human form.   

If it is true that Namshiel was part of the presumed Black Council assault on Artis Tor, I wonder how pleased Mab is with this development?