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requested without asking questions or demanding proof. Both of us felt that
    if we were sent to terminate a target, there was a good reason why.
    Bear said, "You wanna tell Frank?"
    I nodded. "As soon as we get back to our place."
    "We staying?"
    I tapped on the glass. "We're not getting out in this mess. Not today."
    Bear stuffed half a pancake in his mouth and nodded.
    Ten minutes later, we paid for the meal and left the diner. Despite the weather, cabs were still running. Bear flagged one down and we slogged through the
    gathering snow to Manhattan. We both lived in D.C., but spent enough time in New York and flying out of JFK that it made sense to keep an apartment. It
    wasn't much, less than eight hundred square feet, but it offered a base away from home. We purchased it under a friend's name. No one knew about it. Not
    even Frank. At least, as far as I knew.
    I had a feeling that theory was about to be put to the test.

     

Chapter 7

    FIVE FLIGHTS OF stairs waited for us. The elevator had been broken since before we bought the place eighteen months ago. Every time we visited, we trudged
    up and down those stairs. It was a good way to meet people. Problem was, we didn't care to meet anyone. It was bad for us, and dangerous for them. Since we
    were only there once or twice a month, it wasn't a big deal. I imagined the other residents felt the same way.
    Our heavy footsteps echoed through the chamber. There was little to fear in the building. There was also little point in taking unnecessary risks. I held
    my pistol and draped my jacket over my arm to conceal the weapon. Bear pulled the reinforced steel door that barricaded the fifth floor from the stairwell.
    He held it open long enough for me to enter, then pushed past me and stepped into the empty corridor, which smelled like it had been shampooed recently.
    Our condo fees in action.
    We passed two doors on the left and right and stopped in front of our unit. I couldn't remember if I'd set a marker last time we were there. If so, it was
    gone.
    Bear leaned into the dimpled red door. "You leave the television on this morning?"
    "I wasn't here this morning," I said.
    "Then someone's in there." His big fingers swallowed the doorknob and inched to the right. He looked at me. "Unlocked."
    We hesitated and stared at each other for a few moments. Could Taylor have found our location that quickly? If he was going to do something, it would have
    been in his building, on his turf, where he had control. Perhaps someone else had found out about the condo. We worked with people in the business of
    knowing everything, so I couldn't discount the possibility.
    I pushed Bear to the side and grabbed the knob, turned it slowly, pushed the door open. And when I saw who was sitting there, I wished it had been related
    to the job.
    "Weren't gonna bother telling me you were in town?"
    Clarissa Abbot. A beautiful redhead with the temper to match. I'd known her for over ten years, back when she was a gangly pre-teen who played baseball and
    watched wrestling. She had lost her mother young, and her father had done the best he could. He was the connection we shared. Colonel Abbot had been my CO
    during my time in the Marines. When he was murdered, I took over as her guardian, although she was over eighteen at the time. She and I had been dating for
    four months. I had almost eight years on her. She was too beautiful for me.
    The whole thing was a disaster in the making, and both of us signed up for front row seats.
    I took a few steps inside and scanned the room before focusing on her. "I like your hair like that. You lighten it up a bit since I last saw you?"
    "Don't even try it, Jack." She rose from the couch, turned, and walked toward the back window. She stood there for a moment, silent, then peeled back the
    curtains, letting the snow-soaked light in.
    "I'm here for work," I said. "Thought it was going to be a quick in-and-out kind of deal. Things didn't go smoothly, so we stopped by here