• • •
After dinner, Tony volunteered to do the dishes while Margo checked in again with Mr. Todd’s daughter. She said her father was doing much better. He’d told the police that about the time he expected to see Margo and Tony return from the Gorge, he noticed a tall, dark-haired man jiggling the door at Margo’s house. Thinking it was Tony having trouble with the lock that he knew could be tricky, he went out to help. He immediately saw it was a teenaged stranger who managed to get the door jimmied just as Mr. Todd reached him.
Her neighbor started back for his own house to call the police, but the kid grabbed him and dragged him to the side walkway. He didn’t remember much after that.
He was being held overnight for observation but would probably be discharged the next day and would be at his daughter’s house for a couple days after that. Relieved that his injuries weren’t any more serious, Margo sent him her love and promised to visit him the next evening.
After the phone call, Margo settled on the couch. Rearranging pillows to make herself more comfortable, she knocked something from behind one onto the floor. When she picked it up, she didn’t recognize it.
“Tony, is this yours?” she asked, holding up a slim red flash drive.
“No, isn’t it yours?”
She shook her head.
Tony took it from her, turned it over in his hand a couple times. “When was the last time you cleaned?”
“Why are you interested in my housekeeping habits? Looking for a maid?”
There was no humor in his eyes.
“Okay, it was right before I went back to Philly.” She shrugged and half smiled. “I always leave the house clean in case I don’t come back and someone else has to pack it up.”
“Sounds like the Margo I know and love. And you said you emptied Nixon’s messenger bag out … did you do it in here?”
They looked at each other for a moment or two then Margo gestured to him to follow her to her office. She booted up her computer and they inserted the flash drive. On it were two files: one was labeled “Office Suite Beta Version” and the other “Body Bot Beta,” which appeared to be a body-sensitive game.
“Now we can deal,” Tony said. “All we have to do is find out who we’re dealing with.”
Chapter 15
“Do you ever come up for air?” the tall, dark and familiar man standing in the door of her office asked.
“What time is it?” She’d been working so intently the afternoon had slid into evening and she hadn’t even noticed.
“It’s about seven-thirty.” Tony said. “I’m ready for dinner.”
She was just about to turn off her computer when she heard the “bing” that meant she had a new email message. Out of habit, she opened it. She didn’t find the run-of-the-mill business she expected.
“Tony, look at this.” She pointed to the computer screen.
The message was from someone named Viktor Smirnov. It said: “You have something that belongs to me. I don’t care who you are, if you don’t return it, you will find yourself in the same place as your colleagues who attempted to play games with me.”
“Looks like another Russian has come to the party,” Tony said.