“It’s me—Jack. Did I wake you?”

“No, of course not. I sit up next to the phone every night waiting for you to call. Should tonight be any different?”

Jack didn’t know whether he was joking or not. At times it was hard to tell with Abe.

“Everything okay on your end?”

“Would I be sitting here so calmly talking to you if it wasn’t?”

“Vicky’s all right?”

“Of course. Can I go back to sleep on this wonderfully comfortable couch now?”

“You’re on the couch? There’s another bedroom.”

“I know all about the other bedroom. I just thought maybe I’d sleep here between the door and our two lady friends.”

Jack felt a burst of warmth for his old friend. “I really do owe you for this, Abe.”

“I know. So start paying me back by hanging up.”

“Unfortunately, I’m not finished asking favors yet. I got a big one coming up.”

“Nu?”

“I need some equipment: incendiary bombs with timers and incendiary bullets along with an AR to shoot them.”

The Yiddishisms disappeared; Abe was abruptly a businessman. “I don’t have them in stock but I can get them. When do you need them?”

“Tonight.”

“Seriously—when? “

“Tonight. An hour ago.”

Abe whistled. “That’s going to be tough. Important?”

“Very.”

“I’ll have to call in some markers on this. Especially at this hour.”

“Make it worth their while,” Jack told him. “The sky’s the limit.”

“Okay. But I’ll have to leave and make the pick-ups myself. These boys won’t deal with anybody they don’t know.”

Jack didn’t like the idea of leaving Gia and Vicky without a guard. But since there was no way for Kusum to find them, a guard was really superfluous.

“Okay. You’ve got your truck, right?”

“Right.”

“Then make your calls, make the pick-ups, and I’ll meet you at the store. Call me when you get there.”

Jack hung up and settled back in his chair. It was comfortably dark here in the front room with only a little indirect light spilling from the kitchen area. He felt his muscles loosen up and relax into the familiar depressions of the chair. He was tired. The last few days had been wearing. When was the last time he had had a good night’s sleep? Saturday? Here it was Wednesday morning.

He jumped at the sudden jangle of the phone and picked it up before it finished the first ring.

“Hello?”

A few heartbeats of silence on the other end of the line, and then a click.

Puzzled and uneasy, Jack hung up. A wrong number? Or Kusum checking up on his whereabouts?

He listened for stirrings from the bedroom where he had left Kolabati, but none came. The ring had been too brief to wake her.

He made his body relax again. He found himself anticipating with a certain relish what was to come. Mr. Kusum Bahkti was in for a little surprise tonight, yes sir. Repairman Jack was going to make things hot for him and his rakoshi. Crazy Kusum would regret the day he tried to hurt Vicky Westphalen. Because Vicky had a friend. And that friend was mad. Madder’n hell.