Blackjack

Andrew Vachss’s Cross and his strange but multi-talented crew together form one of the most ruthless and efficient hired guns the world has known. In this first appearance in a novel, they take on an elusive serial killer who no one has ever seen.TO: UNIT 3 ChicagoFROM: DIRECTORIMPORTANCE: CriticalSUBJECT:Specimen RetrievalTARGET: Shadowy hunter-killer teams, ID’ed viasignature killsworldwide. Identifiable onlyby skull-spine removal from victims. No witnesses, no forensics, no particular race targeted. On rare occasions, scraps of what appear to be playing cardsfound at murder sites.OBJECTIVE: Locate and capture any member of such teams. MUST be taken alive for study and observation.AUTHORIZATION APPROVED FOR USE OF OUTSIDE CONTRACTOR:Individual ID’ed only as “Cross” and his team.A pure mercenary outfit,well known throughoutcriminal underworld–no inside informants available.Ruthless, undeterred by risk, rumored never to fail, but UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES to be trusted.No known political or social objective, buthas proventreacherous when retained by government in the past.UPDATE: Cross and his team claim to haveidentified a patternto the signature-kills, andbelieve theycan predict a forthcoming strike.Theyare prepared to personally confront-and-capture,but financial arrangementalone not sufficient. What you describe as a”Get Out of Jail Free” card is hereby APPROVED.