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Zavala scanned the e from NUMA: “Gamay and Francesca kidnapped Trout injured Come home immediately S”

Without exchanging a word they hustled across the tar Talon

32

PAUL TROUT LAY in his hospital bed with his chest and nose wrapped in bandages, cursing hier When he and Ga the arrows of headhunters their survival instincts were at their sharpest But their return to the so-called civilized world had dulled their senses They had no idea that the eyes watching froetonhouse were far le

The letters painted on the van’s doors, identifying it as belonging to the District of Columbia department of public works, were still tacky to the touch Inside the vehicle was the latest in co equipment Bent over the TV monitors and speakers that probed the brick walls of the house were the Kradzik brothers Watching and waiting did not come easily to the twins In Bosnia they used a brutally siet of choice Then they and a couple of truckloads of paraht, bashed the door in, and dragged the terrified occupants from their beds The men were taken away and shot, the women raped and murdered, the house systematically looted

Getting into the Trouts’ townhouse presented a different problem The house was on a back street, but it ell traveled with pedestrians and car traffic The street had been even busier than usual since the Trouts returned The discovery of a white goddess by two NUMA scientists and their draes was the stuff of an adventure movie After CNN released the story a nu reporters and photographers froton Post, the New York Times, the national television networks, and a handful of disreputable superathered outside their door

Ga the to catch up on their rest and would answer all questions at a press conference to be given the next day at NUMA headquarters They referred inquiries to the NUMA press section The photographers took pictures of the house, and the TV people gave reports with its façade as a backdrop Eventually the river of attention dribbled to nothing The sae that had fascinated people around the world drew interest fronant sources

Paul was in his second-floor office typing a summary of their experiences into a report for NUMA In the downstairs study Francesca and Ga project back on track as quickly as possible After Francesca announced that she had delayed her return to São Paulo the Trouts had offered her a haven fro Gahed heavily It was her turn to answer the summons from the fourth estate The TV creere the reeted at the door by a reporter with notebook in hand and a cameraman with his Steadicam balanced on a shoulder A third man carried a flood lamp and a metal suitcase

Gae, which was to tell these characters to buzz off Instead she forced a smile and said, “You evidently haven’t heard about the press conference to”

“Excuse please,” said the reporter “No one tell us about conference”

That’s funny, Gaed into the press scene They ell respected by reporters for being up front with the auy in the ill-fitting suit was nothing like any of the coiffed pretty boys who read the news He was short and stocky, his hair cut down to the scalp Although he was grinning, his face was feral and thuggish Besides, since when had the networks been hiring news readers with thick eastern European accents? She looked past hi from the roof, but saw only a city work van

“Sorry,” she said, and went to close the door

The grin disappeared, and he shoved his foot in Startled at first by the move, Gaainst the door until theto stiff-arm the intruder in the face with the paled forward and threw their shoulders against the door She was knocked aside and went down on one knee She quickly regained her footing By then it was too late to run or fight She was looking down the barrel of a pistol in the hand of the so-called reporter The carabbed her by the neck until she could barely breathe Then he slaainst the wall so hard that a nineteenth-century gilded mirror crashed to the floor

Anger surged in Ga and thousands of dollars She put her fear aside and brought her knee up into the rip on her throat loosened for a second before he caleam in his eyes She braced herself, but the reporter yelled soer across his Adalared at hin language was not lost on her She knew instinctively that he’d slit her throat in an instant

Her instincts were right on the h the Kradziks preferred to work on their own, from time to time they needed help frourd had eased the exit of the Kradzik brothers from Bosnia, they had insisted that she do the same for ten of the ether they called themselves the Dirty Dozen, after the Aroup made the movie misfits look like Cub Scouts Collectively they had been responsible for the death, , torture, and rape of hundreds of innocent victims The ned to an assassination or called in for an operation within hours Since going to work for Gogstad they had approached their ith unbridled enthusiasm