Page 56 of Near Miss

“One can never know.”

“Well, I’m not.”

“I guess I’ll have to test you on that.”

“And what does your test entail?”

Her hand slipped between his legs, and she showed him exactly what that entailed.

Thirty minutes later, they moved to the shower where they gave each other a thorough cleansing.

Back in the bedroom, Korolev pulled on his pants, and then checked his phone for messages. He was pleased when he saw an email from Lauren’s contact, with the information he’d requested. “Your contact came through.”

Lauren straightened the dress she’d just put on and looked at her watch. “Three hours early, too.” She turned her back to him. “Zip me up?”

He did so. “I’ll pick you up for dinner later.”

“Yes, you will.”

Korolev opened the email’s two attachments on the taxi ride back to his apartment. One was the call records for Trench’s phone, and the other for Bozo’s.

The first thing he noted was that there was no direct contact between the phones. At least Trench had had enough sense to use a throwaway.

A number on Bozo’s list did catch Korolev’s attention, though. It had been dialed just hours before the explosion. Korolev was sure he’d seen the number before.

He searched his contacts and found that it belonged to Pike Larson, an area arms dealer. He called the number.

“Hello?” The voice that answered was gruff.

“Mr. Larson, how are you today?”

“Who is this?”

“We’ve met before. Leonid Korolev. I work for the Greek.”

“Mr. Korolev,” Larson said, his tone suddenly solicitous. “What can I do for you?”

“Two days ago, you had a call from a man named Thomas Bozeman. You may know him as Bozo.”

“Uh, yeah. He called. Why?”

“What did you talk about?”

“Hey, I respect you and the Greek and all you guys, but my work depends on confidentiality.”

“I’m sure you’re aware that Bozo is dead.”

“I might have heard that.”

“So, there’s no confidentiality to be kept.”

“Well, I, um...”

“Bozo did not die alone. The Greek’s nephew was in the car with him.”

“Wait! All I did was provide the device. I didn’t set it off.”

“Then it would be in your best interest to talk to me.”

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