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Andy stared. “That almost sounds like you tried to arrange—”

“I did,” Quinn said crisply. “No go.”

“Okay, well, I don’t know that it’s necessary to run surveillance on Marcus.” He was smiling, although he wasn’t sure if he was touched or irritated that Quinn seemed to be trying to turn a difficult situation into a game of cloak and dagger.

“I’m worried about Bok,” Quinn said. “And believe me when I say, I’m not someone prone to unnecessary worry.”

Not in the old days, for sure. But these were not the old days.

“Okay, but the truth is, I don’t know who or what you are. I haven’t seen you in sixteen years. I’m worried about Marcus too, and I appreciate that you’re trying to help, but I’ve been dealing with this situation for a while now, and I can tell you that my options are limited.”

Quinn seemed to ignore that. “I could call in a couple of favors and have Marcus picked up—and I don’t mean by Millard and his merry band—but that’s a temporary measure at best. In order to put Marcus away for any significant amount of time, he’s got to cross a legal line.”

“I know.”

“Anything less, and you’re just poking a bear.”

“Yes.”

“But that legal line presents a very real threat to you.”

Andy swallowed. Nodded. “I get it. Believe me. None of this is new to me.”

The new part was having someone who understood the situation and really did seem hell-bent on coming up with a solution. Except…there was no solution. Or at least not a solution Andy could think of.

“He drank his lunch at the Jack Tar. Then he headed into a liquor store and stocked up on enough booze to cater a couple of going-away parties.”

Andy absorbed that silently. He said finally, “He wasn’t armed last night.”

“No. He wasn’t. Last night, I think he told himself that he was just going to talk to you. He planned on making you see reason.” Quinn regarded Andy unsmilingly. “And let’s not forget. He’s twice your size. It’s not like he didn’t think he was in complete control.”

“Yes. Probably.” Andy’s voice felt thick. He took a long swallow of his drink.

“But he wasn’t able to make you see reason. And my being there will have aggravated the situation on all kinds of levels. He’s sitting in a motel room, drinking and working himself up to take action. It’s not hard to imagine what that action will be.”

No, it wasn’t hard to imagine. Andy’s heart was pounding as hard as if Marcus had appeared in the doorway of the Doughty Duck.

Unwillingly, he admitted, “I don’t know what to do. That’s the truth. Talking doesn’t work. The legal system isn’t designed to prevent. It’s designed to punish. And that’s according to Marcus.”

“You have two options. You can disappear—and I can help you with that.”

Andy’s mouth dropped. “Disappear?”

Quinn nodded.

“No. I sure can’t. I-I’ve got a job. I’ve got family. I’ve got alife.”

The very idea of what Quinn was suggesting—walking away from everything he’d worked for, not to mention everyone he knew—frightened him even more than Marcus.

Quinn continued to eye him in that measuring way. “Or we can take a calculated risk. We can wait for Bok to come after you—and I don’t think it will be a long wait—and deal with the problem once and for all.”

Andy’s heart stopped. He said quietly, “What do you mean by once and for all?”

Quinn said grimly, “I mean, we stop him in the act—this time with enough evidence so that the legal system can put him away for a long time.”

Andy relaxed a fraction. “Okay. Yes.”

“But that’s a big risk. Bok is not rational, which means he’s only partly predictable.”