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Soulp I’d been clean for so long If I fell off the wagon nohere would it lead? If I OD-ed, ould happen to Terry? Then again, whoever had threatened me would be rid of me at that point The horrid notion that Terry and I were better off dead passed through my mind

I shookoff water Buck up, Marine If , it taught , shoeakness, and quash any hint of self-pity

I screwed the cap back on as if I was on autopilot My thoughts turned to Nick, and I considered calling hiued orries about Terry and suspected there was little Nick could do to help with that

After snapping out of my daze, I stowed the Oxy back under the sink, hoisted ht, and took two Tylenol

Then I went for a walk around the block Then another By the end of the third go-round, I’d decided what to do

I had no choice but to return to Balti with those artifacts—fake or otherwise I had a sinking feeling that Terry’s disappearance and the shooting were connected with them

Before I left, I retrieved the sliather before Stuart Blaine disra stood up and waved at me

When I got in the car, I checked the time It was 1643 hours (4:43 pm, in civvy-speak) Late in the day on a Friday God knehat Weis would do, or where and ho for a week or three, depending on whom you believed And I’d been hired and fired in the span of five days The situation was ridiculous But I had to do so to help Terry There had to be a connection between his disappearance and Blaine’s case Since it was ht

???

I drove up I-95 to Baltimore and found my favorite “Brian Weis surveillance spot” unoccupied After easing my car into the space, I noticed Weis’ SUV parked in the sa myself not to force my way into Weis’ residence and beat the infor that sh heaven So who cared if I went a bit Dirty Harry on him? What would he do, call the cops?

I was fast reaching the point of not giving a damn what I did or to whom I had been fired by a client I didn’t trust, I had been used for target practice, and , maybe kidnapped or killed by Russian ht about all of this, the e kicked in

Rather than sit there with ht for Weis and daot out of the car, slaht toward Weis’ front door After I pressed the bell, I waited, then pounded ood ainst the doorway, crossed his arms, and smirked at me

“Last time we met,” he said “You ran away Now you’re back?”

“That’s right, Brian,” I spat I held up my phone with the artifacts photo displayed “Care to explain what these are?”

“I don’t, actually” While I pocketed ht full force against the door and it flew open so fast, it knocked Brian over backwards He collapsed to the floor and sainst it