I knew that. She arched a shiny eyebrow and leaned toward him. The mountain coming to Muhammad. But now that I planted that most erotic seed, Mr. Bolitar, you may find performing with a petite difficult . I 'll muddle through. Come on . Myron stepped through the door first. A black man at the door sporting designer sunglasses told him to halt. He wore an earplug like someone in the Secret Service. He patted Myron down . Man, Myron said, all this for a manicure?The man took away Myron's cell phone. We don't allow pictures, he said . I t's not a camera phone . The black man grinned. You'll get it back on the way out . He held the grin until Big Cyndi filled the doorway. Then the grin fled, replaced with something akin to terror. Big Cyndi ducked inside like a giant entering a kid's clubhouse. She stood upright, stretched her arms over her head, and spread her legs apart. The white spandex cried out in agony. Big Cyndi winked at the black man . Frisk me, big boy, she said. I'm packing . The outfit was tight enough to double as skin. If Big Cyndi was indeed packing, the man didn't want to know where . You're okay, miss. Step through . Myron thought again about what Win had said, about accepted prejudice. There was something personal in the words, but when Myron had tried to follow up, Win closed down on the subject. Still, about four years ago, Esperanza had wanted Big Cyndi to take on some clients. Outside of Myron and Esperanza, she had been with MB Reps the longest. It sort of made sense. But Myron knew it would be a disaster. And it was. No one felt comfortable with Big Cyndi repping them. They blamed her outlandish clothes, her makeup, her manner of speech (she liked to growl), but even if she got rid of all that, would it have changed anything?The black man cupped his ear. Someone was talking to him through the earpiece. He suddenly put an arm on Myron's shoulder . What can I do for you, sir?Myron decided to stick with the direct route. I'm looking for a woman named Katie Rochester . There's no one here by that name . No, she's here, Myron said. She walked in that very door twenty minutes ago . The black man took a step closer to Myron. Are you calling me a liar?Myron was tempted to snap his knee into the man's groin, but that wouldn't help. Look, we can go through all the macho posturing, but really, what's the point? I know she came in. I know why she's hiding. I mean her no harm. We can play this one of two ways. One, she can talk to me quickly and that's the end of it. I say nothing about her whereabouts. Two, well, I have several men positioned outside. You throw me out the door and I call her father. He brings several more. It all gets ugly. None of us need that. I just want to talk . The black man kept still . A nother thing, Myron said. If she's afraid I work for her father, ask her this: If her father knew she was here, would he be this subtle?More hesitation . Myron spread his arms. I'm in your place. I'm unarmed. What damage could I do?The man waited another second. Then he said, You finished?We might also be interested in a threesome, Big Cyndi said . Myron hushed her with a look. She shrugged and kept quiet . Wait here . The man headed to a steel door. It buzzed. The man opened it and went inside. It took about five minutes. A bald guy with spectacles entered the room. He was nervous. Big Cyndi started giving him the eye. She licked her lips. She cupped what might have been her breasts. Myron shook his head, afraid she'd drop to her knees and pantomime lord-knew-what when the door mercifully opened. The man with the sunglasses poked his head out . Come with me, he said, pointing to Myron. He turned toward Big Cyndi. Alone . Big Cyndi didn't like it. Myron calmed her with a look and steppe d into the other room. The steel door closed behind him. Myron looked around and said, Uh-oh . There were four of them. Various sizes. Lots of tattoos. Some grinned. Some grimaced. All wore jeans and black T-shirts. None were clean-shaven. Myron tried to figure out who the leader was. In a group fight, most people mistakenly believe you look for the weakest link. Always the wrong move. Besides, if the guys were any good, it didn't matter what you did . Four against one in a tight space. You were done . Myron found a man who stood a little in front of the others. He had dark hair and more or less fit the description of Katie Rochester's beau given to him by both Win and Edna Skylar. Myron met his eye and held it . Then Myron said, Are you stupid?The dark-haired man frowned, surprised and insulted. You talking to me?If I say, 'Yeah, I'm talking to you,' will that be the end of it or will you come back with 'You talking to me' again or 'You better not be talking to me'? Because, really, neither one of us has the time . The dark-haired man smiled. You left one option off when you talked to my friend here . What's that?Option three. He held up three fingers in case Myron didn't know what the word three meant. We make sure you can't tell her father . He grinned. The other men grinned . Myron spread his arms and said, How?That made the man frown again. Huh?How are you going to make sure of that? Myron looked around. You guys are going to jump me that's the plan? So then what? The only way to shut me up would be to kill me. You willing to go that far? And what about my lovely associate out in the front room? Are you going to kill her too? And what about my other associates might as well exaggerate with the plural who are outside? Are you going to kill them too? Or is your plan, what, to beat me up and teach me a lesson? If so, one, I'm not a good learner. Not that way at least. And two, I'm looking at all of you and memorizing your faces, and if you do attack me, you better make sure I'm dead because if not, I'll come after you, at night, when you're sleeping, and I'll tie you down and pour kerosene on your crotch and set it on fire . Myron Bolitar, Master of Melodrama. But he kept his eyes steady and looked at their faces carefully, one at a time . So, Myron said, is that your option-three plan?One of the men shuffled his feet. A good sign. Another sneaked a glance at the third. The dark-haired man had something close to a smile on his face. Someone knocked on the door on the far side of the room. The dark-haired man opened it a crack, talked to someone, closed it, turned back to Myron . You're good, he said to Myron . Myron kept his mouth shut . Come this way . He opened the door and swept his hand for Myron to go ahead. Myron stepped through it into a room with red walls. The walls were covered with pornographic pictures and XXX-rated movie posters. There was a black leather couch and two folding chairs and a lamp. And sitting on the couch, looking terrified but unharmed, was none other than Katie Rochester.