“Do you know where my wife and stepdaughter are?” I asked emphatically.

Blake shook his head. “No, Patrick, I don’t.”

“Tell me the truth.”

“I’m afraid I am.”

“Duane?”

“No.”

Then Blake exchanged weapons with Duane and said to him, “You’ve been waiting for this moment. Go on. He’s all yours.”

The noseless man stalked toward me with that stiff limp of his, and I whipped off my belt to use it to trap his arm and get that knife.

++++

Mannie grabbed the back door of the truck and swung it at Ralph, smacking him hard enough to knock him off his feet and send him tumbling backward, skidding across the ground.

Crouching, Ralph went in for a low tackle. Grappling was more his thing anyway—get Mannie down, throw on a sleeper hold, put him out.

++++

Tessa peered out from beneath the blanket she’d been hiding under, then gazed up from the backseat.

Timothy stood next to the driver’s door.

Another car was at the top of a boat ramp nearby, and a beefy, middle-aged man waited beside it. She couldn’t remember ever seeing him before.

Someone was in the backseat of the other car, but from where Tessa sat, she couldn’t tell who it was.

++++

I expected that Blake would either leave the burning office building or stand by to watch the fight, but instead, he crossed the room and headed up the stairs toward the heart of the blaze.

What is he doing? Why doesn’t he take off?

“Put down that knife,” I told Duane.

“I will when I’m done with it. When I’m done with you.”

I snapped the belt taut between my hands to wrap that wrist once he came close enough. “You’re the Matchmaker, aren’t you?”

“Some people call me that.” He jabbed the knife toward me but didn’t fully commit. I held my ground.

“And the Selzucaine too?” I said. “Was that you as well?”

“All part of the bigger picture.”

“Why did you come to the cemetery on Sunday night?”

“I thought I was going to meet him there.”

“Meet who?”

“The donor.”

“Who is it? Who’s the donor?”

Duane scoffed. “You have no clue, do you? You have no idea how deep this goes.”

Actually, I was starting to.

“The quantum encryption,” I said. “It all goes back to that research. To Jon’s internship.”

Then he flattened out his smile, and I got the sense we were done chatting.

As he swept the blade toward my abdomen, I went to secure his arm, but he must’ve anticipated the move because he pulled back before I could get to him. He flicked the knife around into a military grip and lunged forward, but I managed to pivot to the side in time to evade him. I readied myself for him to come at me again but then Blake reappeared on the stairs.