I didn’t have to fool him forever; all I wanted was a second. One second for him to be confused, seeing things not as they were but as I wanted them seen. One second, and I could take him without a struggle.

It would have been easier, of course, to just shoot him. But I couldn’t do that. Not and kill him, anyway. I could have shot him in the arm or leg, I suppose, but that wouldn’t necessarily incapacitate him. Some people can put up a pretty good fight, despite a wound. Some people can even be more dangerous wounded than not; getting shot pisses them off, and the next time you shoot it better be to kill.

And killing was out of the question, at this point, at least. I had to talk to this guy, which is why I wanted to avoid any extended struggle with him. In a struggle, people can get hurt. They can even get killed. And like I said, I had to talk to this guy, and if one of us was dead, talking would be pretty well ruled out.

That was where all of my precautions, all my strategy had begun. Three and a half months ago I had tried to burn same bridges behind me, but I knew the possibility existed of a bridge or two surviving my incendiary efforts. And if such was the case, someone-I didn’t know who, exactly, but someone-would decide to have me hit. The contract would very probably be handled by a team of two; one would carry out the hit itself, the other would be the backup man. From the very beginning I had known the best way to handle that eventuality would be to kill the first man in, and then wait for the backup man, who, seeing his partner dead, might be persuaded to give me certain information.

Precisely what that information would be, I couldn’t say. I hoped for the name of the man who had hired the two killers, but that was a slim hope. Most likely the assignment had been through somebody like the Broker. But with the Broker dead, some other middleman would be involved, and if I could get the middleman’s name, it would be an easy step to the name I really wanted.