Jeannie's ringing cell phone roused her from the deepest sleep she'd had in months. At first she forgot where she was as her eyes fixed on the glowing screen and the name Rebecca. "Hello?" She

In a much smaller hotel room twelve floors down from Yushenko's office, Steve sat on the edge of his bed, talking on the phone to a customer service manager at his bank branch back home. After an hour

Yushenko clucked his tongue as he stared at the screen of his laptop, scanning the news. A headline read: "Andras Szabo Still on Life Support." The article contained little information, not even

Jeannie let herself into Jimmy's place with a set of keys she'd forgotten to give back to him after looking after his cat one time. Rebecca had been the one to drop the keys to her and she kept neglecting

Frank drove to the end of the long, unpaved road that cut across the valley where once upon a time there'd been a shallow lake or river bed. The sky was ablaze from the sun setting behind the mountain

A few feet from Jeannie, a bent and torn silver McLaren had been introduced to a lamp post and the meeting ended very badly. Tires squealed behind her and she caught sight of a black S-class Mercedes with

Rebecca stood behind the front desk and smiled at the couple stepping up to her wicket. Both wore fitted grey suits. While the man looked incredibly ... debonair ... the woman reminded her of a movie she'd

One drink was the most Jeannie could ever take during the day, especially since hers had been awfully strong. She'd never had much of a tolerance. They were again sitting at the bar in the Casbah lounge,

Jimmy stood at the side door next to his garage, staring out sullenly at Frank and Robbie. Today was hot as all fuck and the last thing he wanted was to let any of that heat into his nice cool place. The

Jeannie found Steve sitting at a video poker machine in the nickel slot section, almost in the exact same seat as the day before. She'd tried going up to his room first, though even then she suspected

A few weeks ago, I'd met up with Rebecca on her break. Nothing out of the ordinary; when she's on days we try to eat lunch together. So at exactly two-thirty in the afternoon I went to meet her. She was

What a lousy stinkin' night. Jeannie would have preferred leaving way sooner, but with Rebecca chatting her ear off, midnight was the earliest she could get away. The second she'd appeared with Steve by

Agent Le Bon settled into the seat next to his minder, Agent Matins. He checked his watch. Although they were traveling by private jet, they were flying red eye and they would be landing at some Godforsaken

Yuri Yushenko stood in the doorway to his large and ostentatiously luxurious office, all walnut wainscoting, antique furnishings and polished bronze fixtures. His assistant gawked out the window across

Jimmy roused from his easy chair. He rubbed his eyes, still half-asleep, as Rebecca, Frank, Eddie and Robbie barged into his warehouse. Each of them were carrying either pizzas, cake boxes or six-packs

Steve spun in his seat at the bar of a martini lounge in the Golden Dunes Casino decorated to look like a Moroccan Casbah. The decor resembled the North African state about as closely as Disneyland did

Agent Le Bon stood glumly in his boss's office. Behind her, a picture window showed a gloomy London backdrop. He wished if it was going to rain so steadily the least it could do was drown out her voice.

Rebecca drove her black Lexus SUV west toward the strip. Frank rode shotgun while Robbie and Eddie sat in the back. Her tinted windows kept out most of the sun, but she still squinted and put on her dark

Jimmy stretched as he lifted out of his velveteen easy chair and ambled to the mini fridge for a second beer. On top of the fridge was his answering machine. The tiny red light pulsed, indicating one new

Frank sat alone at the rickety wooden table in the Snake Eyes, his gaze fixed on the entrance. This place was grungy like the bottom of an old pair of shoes. An old pair of shoes kept around because they