Billy now knew that there were no motion detectors in the backyard, nor was the kitchen door armed as part of the alarm system. He walked into the kitchen, then stood for about a minute, listening for any footstep or hostile noise, while reloading the dart gun. From there, it was a simple matter to find the master bedroom, since someone there was snoring loudly.

Billy peered around the doorjamb and saw a sleeping male figure, who was doing the snoring. He also noted that the far side of the bed had been slept in and that there was a light on in the bathroom. Best to wait.

After five minutes or so Billy was surprised to see a young woman, quite naked, emerge from the bathroom, dress, and gather her things, including some cash from a bedside table. Billy flattened against the wall. The bathroom light went out, and the woman left the bedroom and walked down the hall to the front door and out of the house. Outside, a car started and drove away. Billy had not seen a car parked out front, so he assumed that the woman had called for a pickup.

Now Billy stepped into the bedroom and fired a dart into the snoring figure on the bed. The man sat bolt upright for a moment, then fell back and began snoring again. Billy unscrewed the dart assembly from the end of the air pistol that held it, then walked to the bed and sat down on the edge. He pinched the man’s nostrils closed, and his mouth fell open. Billy placed the barrel of the gun in his mouth and watched his eyes open in shock.

“Good evening, Boris,” Billy said in a quiet voice. “Can you hear me?”

Tirov nodded.

“Good. I have an important message for you. I was asked by a friend to come here and either give you a message or kill you—my call. Do you understand?”

Tirov nodded and tried to speak. “Shut up, Boris,” Billy said, and he did. “Good. I have decided to deliver the message, instead of killing you. Do you understand?”

Tirov nodded.

“Now, you have been misbehaving, making enemies everywhere. You have been thrown out of bars and clubhouses, you have been shunned by a major film studio, and you have come within an ace of being deported to your native country, where a murder charge awaited you. I congratulate you on weaseling out of that one, but your weaseling days are over. Hereafter, you are going to become a charmer, warm and friendly to everyone. Do you understand?”

Boris nodded.

“If you harm or cause to be harmed any person, or insult or anger anyone at all, whether a studio executive, a waiter, or a car parker, I will hear about it, because I hear everything. Then I will come back into your home and kill you in your sleep. Do you understand?”

Boris nodded.

“Do you believe me?”

Boris nodded.