A man stood there. Shorter than me. Slim and fit. He had a pistol in his hand, but the barrel was pointing at the floor.

“It’s your own damned room, Ledger,” said Toys. “Might as well come in.”

PART 4

MOVING PIECES

There are some sordid minds, formed of slime and filth,

to whom interest and gain are what glory and virtue are to superior souls;

they feel no other pleasure but to acquire money.

—LES CARACTERES BY JEAN DE LA BRUYERE

If you prick us do we not bleed?

If you tickle us do we not laugh?

If you poison us do we not die?

And if you wrong us shall we not revenge?

—THE MERCHANT OF VENICE BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

CHAPTER 72

ROTTERDAM MARRIOTT HOTEL

ROTTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS

I pushed him back and kicked the door shut. He didn’t like being pushed, but he didn’t resist, either. Ghost, who—despite everything—liked Toys, gave me a strange look but didn’t interfere. I pointed to a chair by a small table near the window.

“Sit,” I ordered, and Toys sat. So, too, did Ghost.

“What in the wide blue fuck are you doing here?” I demanded.

“Looking for you,” he said. “As are half of the covert operations groups around the bloody world.”

“But you found me,” I said. “Not thrilled.”

“Try to imagine how much I care.”

“Two things,” I said. “How did you find me, and why are you even looking?”

“Finding you was easy. I had a good idea of what you’re hunting for, and maybe even a better idea than you have for who to ask. I still have contacts. What our friend Mr. Church would call ‘friends in the industry.’”

“You mean terrorists and psychopaths.”

“In a word.” He smiled a faint, condescending smile. “You’ve been blundering through Ohan’s old network. People have noticed, and patterns have emerged. The only difficult thing in all this was trying to make sense of why you’re not dead already. Kuga and Santoro want your head on a pike. Surprised they haven’t set a trap.”

“They have.”

He looked at me, waiting for more, but I hoped his seat was comfortable because he’d be waiting a long time for that.

“As to the why,” he said after a small shrug, “I think you know why.”

“Is this some kind of penance thing?”

“First, fuck you. Second, try again.”

As the implication of that sank in, I felt my knees getting weak. I sat down on the edge of the bed and looked past him, out the window. Seeing nothing, not even the curtains.

“How is she?” I asked after a long time.

Toys took a minute with that. I could feel him studying me. Could almost hear the wheels turning in his head.