In her hotel room, everything gleams with the desert light that comes through the floor-to-ceiling windows. She could hardly be further from the ice and isolation of Fortitude Pass in the Yukon, from what was begun there which has led her here.

You send three of your guys to subdue her; you don't underestimate how fierce and how tricky she is. "Tricky Vicky," you think, and laugh mirthlessly. You wait until you get the phone call : "The package is wrapped up for you, Boss." Then you go to her hotel room and you dismiss the three goons.

There are signs of the struggle that Victoria put up...a samovar and china cups have been knocked off the coffee table, a fruit bowl overturned and the fruit scattered, cashews and macadamia nuts strewn about, chocolate-covered potato chips fragmented on the floor. And there's Victoria, duct tape sealing her mouth, bound at her wrists and ankles to a chair.

You have a sudden memory -- and it's almost like thinking about someone else's life, not your own -- Armando thinking about Ray Vecchio. You have a memory of the Ray Vecchio who was partners with Fraser, and that time a thug said to you "You're a cop. You won't shoot me," and you replied "I'm not that good a cop"...and no, you didn't shoot the guy. So now the question is how good a mob guy are you...will it be Armando Langoustini or Ray Vecchio who keeps that promise to Victoria?

"Do you remember what I promised you, bitch? No, I don't need to hear your answer...and I don't want to hear anything from you ever again; your mouth is staying shut."

You pick up an apple and a banana from the scatter of food on the floor.

"If I wanted to 'send a message' with killing you, I'd put this apple in your mouth to mean you're a fuckin' temptress who led the most decent man I know into a world of sin. And I'd put this banana...oh shit, I'm explaining myself like perps do on TV shows...no more of that."

You put the apple and the banana on the coffee table. You draw your gun and aim it between Victoria's eyes. You say, "But I don't want to send a message. I just want to keep a promise. I told you : 'hurt him, and I'll kill you'..."

You pull the trigger.