“Liar!” Dragovic shouted and gave Luc a violent shove.

Luc stumbled forward and fell against the television. Something popped inside and the tube went blank. His mind screamed, He’s going to kill me!

“I swear!” Luc cried. “I swear by all that’s holy I had nothing to do with it! Nothing!”

“You and Garrison and Edwards!” Dragovic said, his voice low and menacing. “You thought you’d get me out of the picture! Well, we’ll see who’s out of the picture!” He looked around. “Where’s your phone?”

“In the kitchen.”

“Find it! Now! You have some calls to make.”

Luc glanced at his suitcases as he headed for the kitchen. So near… a few minutes more and he would have been on his way to the airport. Now he was sure he was headed for some lost corner of hell.

15

Jack hung up the pay phone at Eighty-seventh and Third. Nadia’s mother still hadn’t heard from her. The old woman said she’d left in the early afternoon, and was sure Nadia would have called sometime during those hours just to let her know everything was all right. She was worried.

So was Jack. He tried to think of reasons why this should be someone else’s problem, anyone’s but his. Didn’t work.

OK. He figured he had scores to settle with both Monnet and Dragovic. But since he wasn’t sure Dragovic was even in town, he’d chosen to settle with Monnet first. Now Nadia’s whereabouts gave him an extra reason for a little tête-à-tête with the good doctor.

He turned and faced Monnet’s building. The late-day sun reflected from the tall windows on its western flank. Was Monnet behind one of them? Wished he could find out. He’d called the GEM offices but they said he hadn’t been in all day; all he got at Monnet’s home number was the answering machine.

He’d parked his car nearby, blocking a delivery driveway that didn’t look like it was going to be used soon. If it got ticketed, that was the breaks. He’d pay it tomorrow. He always paid his tickets. First off because the car was in Gia’s name, and second because if he was ever stopped he didn’t want the word scofflaw popping up when his plate was run through the computer.

The air lay warm and heavy after the earlier rain, too hot for the black-and-white nylon warm-up suit he was wearing, but he sensed a good possibility that tonight’s work might turn wet, and nylon left no fibers. Had another reason for wearing the warm-up: zippered pockets. The Berzerk was in one, and his burglary tools—lock pick set, glass cutter, latch lifter—were scattered through the others. If Monnet didn’t come out, Jack was going to have to find a way in. Not easy with a doorman, but he’d done it before.

Watched the Bentley idling before the front entrance. It had been sitting there when he arrived. He was wondering how much money he’d have to have before he even considered plunking down over a hundred large on a car when Monnet stepped through the front door.