“Yessir!” Vuk and Ivo said, almost in unison, and Milos swore Ivo had started to salute.

They looked nervous, and well they should. They had avoided arrest by tossing their guns and extra clips into the pool at the first sign of the police. And they weren’t the only ones. The illuminated bottom of the oil-stained pool had looked like an underwater armory.

And since it was his pool, Milos had been charged with possession of all those unregistered weapons.

But his lawyers could get him out of that.

The problem was who and what and why.

“This man you have been looking for over on Sutton Square. Bring him to me.”

“Yessir!”

“And if he gives you trouble, shoot him. Do not kill him. Shoot him in the knees, then bring him to me. I wish to talk to him. He knows something and he will tell me.”

“Yessir!”

As they turned to go, Milos added: “Do not return without him. And if something happens to your car this time, the only way I want to see you two come back is in a hearse.”

They swallowed and nodded, then hurried for the street.

3

Jack had known something was way wrong the instant he stepped into Nadia’s office at the clinic. She’d looked like she’d been on a two-week bender, and now, after listening to her story, he could see why. She’d broken down three times during the telling.

“So the last time you saw him was when?”

“Dinner on Saturday. Sushi… at the Kuroikaze Kafe.” She sobbed. “Doug loved the spider roll there.”

“Hey, Doc, you’re using the past tense,” Jack said. “Shouldn’t do that.”

She blew her nose and nodded. “You’re right. I just…” She seemed to ran out of words.

“Let’s move to Sunday. You didn’t see or talk to him all day—”

“I tried but his phone was busy.”

“But you were there Sunday night and saw no signs of a struggle.”

“No. At least I don’t think so. It was dark, you know, with the power out and all. No, wait. I saw the computer and it was fine.”

‘That means the break-in took place after you left.”

And what does that tell me? Jack wondered.

Absolutely nothing.

He could see a second-story man getting caught in the act during a break-in and losing it and killing the owner. It happened. But he’d never heard of anyone taking the body with him. A corpse wasn’t exactly something you could slip into your pocket and stroll away with.

“Do you think it could be”—the word seemed to stick in her throat—”GEM?”

The question jolted him. “A big corporation? Taking someone out? Come on, Doc. They use lawyers for hit men. And why should they want to?”

“Well, I told you about Doug hacking their computer—”

“Yeah, but could they know about that? And even if they had caught on, how would they know what he’d found, if anything? I mean, it’s not as if he was blackmailing them…” Jack caught and held her gaze. “Was he?”