Excellent.

And who was following right on his heels but Dragovic himself. Jack fought the urge to race across the street and put a pair of .22 LRs into his eyes.

The Serb had sent two men after Jack, but that wasn’t the problem. It was understandable. After all, Jack had turned him into an international laughing stock, and when you dish it out you’ve got to expect some to come back to you. But Dragovic’s men had threatened—no, they’d promised to rape Gia, and even Vicky. At least the one in the back seat with Jack had, and Jack had known from the dark joy dancing in the guy’s eyes that he meant it, was looking forward to it.

Maybe going after noncombatants was Dragovic’s policy; maybe it wasn’t. Didn’t matter. If the guys in the Beamer were typical of the kind the Serb had working for him, then Gia and Vicky would be in danger as long as Dragovic lived. Pretty much the same as leaving Scar-lip alive and well in the city. Jack wasn’t about to tolerate either.

He’d have to fix it… the alive and well part.

But he needed to talk to these two first. One of them was behind Nadia’s disappearance. Her fiancé’s too. Might be too late for both of them. If so, Jack wanted to know.

Patience, he told himself. Patience. You’ll get your chance. And it’ll be a twofer.

As a third guy came out and quick-stepped around to the driver seat, Jack hurried to his car. He followed the Bentley around to the FDR Drive where it turned downtown. Traffic wasn’t so bad for six-fifteen in the rush hour. Made good time until they exited onto Thirty-fourth Street and began an excruciating westward crawl.

Only one place they could be headed: the GEM offices. That could present a problem. While waiting for Nadia outside the building the other day, Jack had noticed a guard in the lobby. Looked now like it was going to be quarter to seven or later by the time Monnet and Dragovic reached the building. The guard would pass them right through but was sure to want to see some ID from Jack before he directed him to the elevators.

But if Jack got there first…

He spotted a park sign and pulled into a garage. As he trotted along Thirty-fourth he put on his gloves, boonie cap, and shades, then ducked into a doorway and quickly stuck the mustache under his nose again. He’d have them all removed before he returned to the garage later.

He passed the Bentley within a block and easily beat it to the office building. He strolled into the lobby, all geometric chrome and marble, and went directly to the jowly middle-aged Hispanic sitting in the tiny security kiosk.

“Hi. Did Dr. Monnet arrive yet?”

The guard shook his head. “Haven’t seen him.”

Jack put on a relieved look. “Whew! That’s good. I was supposed to meet him here and I’m running a little late. Traffic’s murder out there.”