“Car keys,” I say.

“I don’t think so....”

And then, before I can formulate another denial, I see that Charlie has prestidigitated out of my pocket—and is now holding in her hand—a velvety box.

“Oh my God!” she exclaims. “Otto! You brought it!”

“Stop—”

“It’s”—she gasps like a winning beauty pageant contestant— “beautiful!”

“Wait—”

But it’s too late. She has already slipped it on her finger and is staring at it intensely. She is wild, galvanized, maenadic with feeling. The acceleration of blood in her jugular pounds over the alarm.

“That’s not for you.”

Charlie spins, throws her arms around me, and applies her mouth lovingly—uncannily—to the few unbeaten parts of my face. The kisses hurt anyway.

“Stop,” I tell her. “You don’t understand. It’s not for you.”

Words have no impact on her. She continues kissing me without remit.

“Listen to me,” I say firmly. “I wasn’t going to propose. I was going to pawn it.”

“What?” she says, stricken.

“Pawn it. To get a start on a new life. Without you.”

“Oh no,” she says, unlacing her arms from my neck. “You can’t mean that.”

“Oh yes I do. Now give it.”

“No,” she says, clutching it, covetous, to her chest. “I won’t.”

“You going to steal that from me, too, thief?”

“You were going to give it to me! I know it!”

“Like hell.”

Even though I know it is unwise—even though I know that any physical contest with Charlie is unlikely to resolve in my favor—I make a grab for the ring. She closes her fist against me and we start going at it. The closet is so confining that it’s more of a fussing match than a wrestling match, and eventually one of us hits the door handle and we spill onto the floor at the feet of two guys with guns.

Abruptly, the alarm stops and in my ear I hear Kong say, triumphantly, “I got it!”

A guy with a gun also says, triumphantly, “Hi, Charlie.”

This is an inopportune development on many levels, but the most disconcerting aspect of the encounter is the face of the guy with the gun pointed at me.

I recognize it.

A Picture of Loveliness

A Picture of Loveliness

In fact, I recognize both gunmen. I can’t quite place them, though. While they focus on Charlie67 I struggle to recall how I know them. They aren’t the guys from the torture room; they weren’t at the Foxhole; I can’t place them from any Janus file.

Who are they?