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She grinned, and while it didn’t have the wattage of her usual srin "Believe , I slammed the door and stepped aside so that she’d have plenty of roo lot I watched her until she was out of sight

It didn’t take long to get a new rental--an SUV not unlike the last one, only in blue Noral, but on the off chance I’d have to ferry people, I figured bigger was better Like the previous vehicle, it was set up for a hands-free phone Before I pulled out of the rental place’s lot, I called the hospital

Isaac had been ery He was listed as being in stable condition Stable was good--especially since it wasn’t "stable but critical" Given the shape he’d been in when he was found, it was very good indeed His age worked against hih

The nurse told me that Gilda had fallen asleep in the chair beside Isaac’s bed and that Isaac was sedated, so I just asked her to leave word that I’d called and said I’d be in touch again later

Then, before I could forget, I ordered flowers for him

That done, I had the GPS do a search for Finn Billiards In aFinn Senior hadn’t been a rousing success, but I’d learned a few things and set the authorities onto a fewto his son, Jack

Assuood day, with the wind up your tailpipe, the drive between Santa Maria de Luna and Los Angeles is just under two hours This was not that day Sitting, un, in buh to hear that there’d been a huge wreck soh At least I would have plenty of ti all the s to start ure out ht We couldn’t hide Michelle forever From Anna’s research and my conversation with Isaac, I knew that Finn would need to use the power of the fullit would interest me), Anna had also sent some more esoteric infor the curse needs a bio sample, usually blood, from someone with a DNA link to all the prospective victims Then you need power--natural talent and the full in with, and he’d spent close to two decades behind bars: years of not having to expendHe had a lot of banked power to draw on, I’d expect

Unless you were totally sure you had the right bio saainst your first target That explained why Michelle had been shot but not killed Once you were certain you had the right sah the chosen individual and froically

The only way to stop a blood curse is to remove the link In other words, if I wanted to save the Finns, I could do that by killing Michelle

So not ine to conserve fuel, but the heat was getting to me, so I started the car, turned on the AC, and pondered while I crawled a whopping six feet before stopping again

I needed to break the link without killing Michelle Not because breaking the link would save Connor Finn or his son, but because breaking the link would save Michelle If the curse couldn’t "recognize" her from the bio sample, it couldn’t affect her

When I’d first been bitten, the bio controls of nized et in--a convoluted process that the safe’s builders had coe in et Michelle preggers or have her attacked by bats! But e her enough to make the blood sample identification fail

As an idea, that had promise But how?

On ie, private paraers in pies all over the world He answered on the first ring "Gaetano here"

"Hey, Chris"

"Oh, it’s you" His voice went flat and cold

Wow, talk about your elcomes Could he be any less enthusiastic? "You know, once upon a tiot to know you better"

Ouch Bastard

"What do you want, Graves? I’m busy here"

"It’s a business call I want to hire you Who do I talk to and what’s the daily rate?"