AS DIANE WALKED through the Delmont Hotel lobby, toward the elevators, her heart began to beat faster. She could not wait to hear what Kelly had learned.

An elevator door opened and the passengers moved out.

"Going up?" "Yes." Diane stepped inside. "The penthouse, please." Her mind was racing. What project could our husbands have been working on that was so secret that they were murdered? And how had Kelly found the answer?

People began to crowd in. The elevator door closed and it started to rise. Diane had seen Kelly only a few hours ago, and to her surprise, she found that she missed her.

Finally, after half a dozen stops, the elevator operator opened the door and said, "Penthouse floor."

INSIDE THE LIVING room of penthouse A, Flint waited close to the door, trying to listen for sounds in the hallway. The problem was that the door was unusually thick, and Flint knew why. It was not to keep sounds out. It was to keep them in.

Boardroom meetings were held in the penthouse suite, but Flint liked to joke that no one was ever bored. Three times a year, Tanner invited KIG managers from a dozen countries.

When the business meetings were adjourned, a bevy of beautiful girls was brought in to entertain the men. Flint had been a guard at several of the orgies, and now, as he stood there, thinking about the sea of naked, nubile bodies moaning and thrashing about on the beds and couches, he began to get an erection. Flint grinned. The ladies would take care of it soon.

Harry Flint did not consider himself a necrophiliac. He had never killed a woman in order to have sex with her. But if she were already dead?

AS DIANE STEPPED out of the elevator, she asked, "Which way is penthouse A?" "It's to the left, at the end of the corridor. But there's no one there." Diane turned. "What?" "That penthouse is only used for board meetings, and the next one isn't until September." Diane smiled. "I'm not going to a board meeting. I'm seeing a friend who's waiting for me." The elevator operator watched as Diane turned left and walked toward penthouse A. He shrugged, closed the elevator door, and started down.

As Diane was approaching the door to the penthouse, she began to walk faster, her excitement starting to build.

INSIDE PENTHOUSE A, Flint was waiting for the knock on the door. Which one of them will get here first-the blonde or the black chick? It doesn't matter. I'm not prejudiced.

Flint thought he heard someone approaching the door, and he tightened his grip on the gun.

KELLY WAS FIGHTING to control her impatience. Getting to the Delmont Hotel had been a series of delays: traffic?red lights?road repairs?She was late. She hurried through the lobby of the hotel and got into an elevator. "Penthouse, please."

ON THE FIFTIETH floor, as Diane approached penthouse A, the door to the neighboring suite opened and a bellman came out, backing into the corridor, pulling a large cart filled with luggage, blocking Diane's passage.

"I'll have this out of your way in a minute," he apologized.

The bellman returned to the suite and came out with two more suitcases. Diane tried to squeeze by, but there was no room.

The bellman said, "All set. Sorry for the delay." He moved the luggage cart out of the way.

Diane walked over to penthouse A and raised her hand to knock on the door when a voice down the hall said, "Diane!" Diane turned. Kelly had just stepped out of an elevator.

"Kelly-!" Diane hurried back down the hall to meet her.

INSIDE THE PENTHOUSE, Harry Flint was listening. Was someone out there? He could have opened the door to see, but that would have ruined the plan. Kill them as soon as they walk in the door.

In the corridor, Kelly and Diane were hugging, delighted to see each other.

Kelly said, "Sorry I'm late, Diane, but the traffic was terrible. You caught me just as my bus was leaving for Chicago." Diane looked at Kelly, puzzled. "I caught you-?" "I was just getting on my bus when you called." There was a momentary silence. "Kelly-I didn't call you. You called me. To tell me that you had the evidence we needed to-" She saw the stricken look on Kelly's face.

"I didn't-" They both turned to look at penthouse A.

Diane took a deep breath. "Let's-"

"Right." They raced down one flight of stairs, got into an elevator, and were out of the hotel in three minutes.

Inside the penthouse, Harry Flint was looking at his watch. What's keeping the bitches?

DlANE AND KELLY were seated in a crowded subway car.

"I don't know how they did it," Diane said. "It was your voice." "And it was your voice. They're not going to stop until they kill us. They're like octopi with a thousand bloody arms that they want to wrap around our necks." "They have to catch us before they can kill us," Diane said.

"How could they have found us this time? We got rid of Kingsley's business cards, and we have nothing else that they-" They looked at each other, then looked at their cell phones.

Kelly said wonderingly, "But how could they have found out our phone numbers?" "Don't ask. Anyway, this is probably the safest place in New York. We can stay on the subway until-" Diane glanced across the aisle and her face paled. "We're getting out of here," she said urgently. "Next stop." "What? You just said-?" Kelly followed Diane's eyes. On the advertising strip that ran above the windows was a photograph of a smiling Kelly, holding up a beautiful ladies' watch.

"Oh, my God!" They rose and hurried to the door, waiting for the next stop. Two uniformed marines, seated nearby, were ogling them.

Kelly smiled at the men as she took Diane's cell phone and her own and handed one to each marine. "We'll call you." And the women were gone.

IN PENTHOUSE A, the telephone rang. Flint snatched it up.

Tanner said, "It's been over an hour. What's going on, Mr. Flint?" "They never showed up." "What?" "I've been here all the time, waiting." "Get back to the office." Tanner slammed the receiver down.

IN THE BEGINNING, this had been a routine bit of business that Tanner had to dispose of. Now it had become personal. Tanner picked up his cell phone and dialed Diane's cell number.

One of the marines to whom Kelly had given their cell phones answered. "There you are, baby.

How would you two like to have a big treat tonight?" The bitches have gotten rid of their phones.

IT WAS A cheap-looking boardinghouse on a small street on the West Side. When the taxi started to pass it and Diane and Kelly saw the sign vacancy, Diane said, "You can stop here, driver." The women got out and walked up to the front door of the house.

The landlady, who opened the door, was a pleasant, middle-aged woman named Alexandra Upshaw.

"I can give you a very nice room for forty dollars a night, with breakfast." Diane said, "That will be fine." She looked at Kelly's expression. "What's the matter?" "Nothing." Kelly closed her eyes for an instant. This boarding-house had nothing to do with the boardinghouse she had been brought up in, cleaning toilets and cooking for strangers and listening to the sounds of her drunken stepfather beating her mother. She managed a smile.

"It's okay."

THE NEXT MORNING, Tanner was in a meeting with Flint and Carballo. "They've disposed of my business cards," Tanner said, "and they've gotten rid of their phones." Flint said, "So, we've lost them." Tanner said, "No, Mr. Flint, not while I'm alive. We're not going after them.

They're coming to us." The two men looked at each other, then back at Tanner.

"What?" "Diane Stevens and Kelly Harris will be here at KIG Monday morning at eleven-fifteen."