I jumped up off the bed and set my feet on the floor. “What's going on here?” I said. “What's happening now?”

Chapter 70

“SSS!” ONE OF them shouted at the top of his voice. I had heard the initials before. State Security Service, if that's who these two men really were.

They went right at me, totally unafraid of any consequences. One of them bear-hugged my arms and shoulders; the other scooped my legs out from under me.

Now what was happening? Were they really State Security? Who had sent them for me? And why?

I struggled, but both of them were freaks sizewise, incredibly powerful men, quick and athletic too. They had my body twisted in a corkscrew and it was impossible to break free.

We crossed the room like that, with me tangled and helpless in their arms. Then I heard a window slide open, and I felt the rush of humidity on my skin.

My whole body tensed and I started to yell for help-as loudly as I possibly could to anyone who might hear me.

There was a blur of sky and earth and swimming pool and then my back slammed hard into the hotel wall.

I was suddenly outside-and hanging upside downl

“What do you want?” I screamed up at the one holding my legs. He had a very round face, flat nose, kind of a Mike-Tyson squint. It was a struggle to keep still and not fight him, but I sure didn't want him to lose his grip.

The SSS man, or whoever he was, grinned down at me over the curve of my knees.

“You been here long enough, Cross. Time to cross you off.” He laughed over his shoulder, sharing the joke with his partner.

Even if the swimming pool had been directly below me, which it wasn't, I figured I was too high to survive any fall. My blood coursed through me. I could feel it everywhere, especially in the growing pressure in my head.

But then my body was moving again. Inside!

My spine scraped hard against the aluminum window track, and I came down on the floor of my hotel room.

Chapter 71

I JUMPED UP and went at the nearest SSS man, until the other pressed his gun into my ribs.

“Easy,” he said. “You don't want to get shot now, do you?”

I saw that my duffel was out on the bed.

And packed.

“Pick up the bag.”

“Who sent you?” I asked them. “Who are you working for? This is insane!”

He didn't answer me. Instead, they grabbed me and moved me out into the hall. Freak One shut the door behind us and pocketed the key.

Then they both just turned and walked away.

“Go home, Detective Cross. You're not wanted here. Last warning.”

There was a bizarre half minute or so while they waited for the elevator, talking low to each other. Then they calmly got on and left me standing in the hallway.

Clueless.