Remo held fifty dollars toward the man, who ex-

tended his hand for it. killing patients.

went back into the room. He sat at the table with the sheet flattened out before him.

Another orderly entered the room. He was a squat blond, whose bristled haircut made him look

'Where's Arnie?" he asked Remo.

"What day you got?''

"Nineteenth." The man poured himself a cup of coffee. "How much we collect so far?" he asked.

"Look for yourself," Remo said. He pushed the sheet across the table. The man reached for it and Remo said, "Arnie's dead."

"Dead? How ..."

"I pulled his plug," Remo said. "Like this." The husky blond saw Remo's hand start to move, but he never saw it reach him, never saw the fingers flip out from the coiled fist, never felt them slap away at his throat, deftly removing his Adam's apple and windpipe with no more effort than if Remo had been flicking a saudfly from his wrist.

He put the blond in the same closet where he'd put Arnie and sat waiting for the third orderly. These three were the organizers; the rest of the bettors were just having some macabre fun. They were content to lose if the patients lived. So far as upstairs knew, none of them had anything to do with

"Ever wonder?">Remosaid. Arnie was ¿e fest The gecond had been BiUy

"Wonder what? according to his name tag. That left Jackie. The

"How it feels to get your own plug pulled? The b&

man looked up, and met Remo's eyes. Remo smiled, reached out and unplugged the orderly's windpipe. Remo tossed the body into a coat closet, took the

typewritten sheet from the man's shirt pocket and

16 17

door opened and an orderly came in wearing the name tag of Jackie.