Gun Metal Heart by Dana Haynes Page B

audio. As the blonde spoke, an English translation of her words appeared beneath the sine wave of her audio signature.
    SPEAKER 3 : I’m waiting.
    INCANTADA: Who are you?
    SPEAKER 3 : For the sake of today’s fun, I’m using the name Major Arcana. It’s a joke, but don’t feel bad if you don’t get it. Now, my friends in Belgrade have need of some of your technology, Doctor …
    Florence
    Daria lay sprawled before the blonde’s Gucci pumps. The peaked driver’s cap lay on the floor, upside down. Daria’s hair fanned out, obscuring her eyes, which were open. She was awake and listening to the conversation above her. She did not move.
    The blonde calling herself Major Arcana turned to the elderly woman with the pebbled leather doctor’s bag and three-footed cane. “My friends in Belgrade have need of some of your technology, Doctor.”
    Dr. Incantada’s eyes grew large, magnified by her thick lenses. She gripped her steel case in the hand not holding her cane. She looked pugnacious.
    Major Arcana bent at the waist and picked up the communications bracelet Daria had stripped off her wrist. “I’ve got two friends with me, and you’ve got two friends with you. The big difference is: my friends have submachine guns. And I’ve asked my friends to shoot your friends in the kneecaps should you be reluctant to cooperate.”
    The two engineers started to protest, but a glance from the woman’s silvery blue eyes shut them up.
    â€œMay I have the case, please?” The major held out her hand. “Doctor?”
    Gabriella Incantada paused a second, then handed over her doctor’s bag.
    The blonde took it from her. “Thank you. Now my sources say the command mechanism for this device is already in the hotel safe. And you have the combination?”
    Incantada studied the younger woman. Jowls quivering, she recited the fourteen-digit alphanumeric code. Major Arcana didn’t bother writing it down.
    â€œSplendid! Dr. Incantada? Gentlemen? We are heading upstairs now. I have locked the front door and the telephones are disabled. I wish you to stay here for exactly twenty minutes. Can you do that? Twenty minutes. Then please feel free to holler all you wish.”
    She turned to the stairs, and her two Serb soldiers backed up, machine pistols locked on the engineer, her men, and the unmoving form at her feet.
    Sandpoint, Idaho
    Mr. Acton grabbed Todd by the shoulder and hissed. “We have to do something!”
    Todd turned on the emaciated man. “Ah. Sure. I mean: Yeah. But … I don’t know what we can do about it. This is happening in real time!”
    The representatives from the Pentagon stood back and watched the interplay.
    Acton leaned in closer. Brevidge could smell Aqua Velva. “It’s one thing to convince Incantada’s buyers that our product is better. But we cannot have her product out there, competing against us. Especially in Eastern Europe! You heard that woman! She mentioned Belgrade! That’s the Balkans!”
    â€œSure. I know.” Brevidge could see the two buyers watching it all. “But even if we tried to contact the Florence cops, I don’t think we could stop this in time! It looks like Incantada’s driver is already dead. Jesus, man, we gotta—”
    â€œThink of something, Todd!”
    The salesman’s brain reeled. He turned again to study the screen. The mysterious blonde and her armed men were gone. Dr. Incantada’s party stood, paralyzed, the woman driver lying on the floor.
    Todd lifted his walkie. “Snow? Dude. You got any brilliant ideas, now’d be the time.”
    *   *   *
    In the control room, Bryan Snow adjusted his voice wand first, then his Buddy Holly frames. “You know? I think maybe I have an idea.”
    *   *   *
    Daria, her cheek against the carpet, watched the blonde and her soldiers hit the