branches. That clump of pines looked just right for hiding his vehicle from the road, before hiking in quietly closer to the archived location he had on file for Janos’s icon. The one where the man had spent the night. He regretted not having backup, but Janos was wounded and exhausted, and Steele was, after all, a woman. A capable one, by all accounts, but he could handle any woman.
In fact, he was looking forward to it, ever since he saw that first clip of vid footage that Janos had sent. Watching her stunning body move against Janos had fired up his blood. He wanted some of that.
And once he had Steele, he could finally destroy Janos, which would be most satisfying. The man was annoying the shit out of him.
If they were here, of course. But he was sure that they were. He could feel them, from the way his heart revved, his senses sharpened, his dick tingled. He licked his lips.
He heard the car the minute his own car door thudded shut, and crouched, peering from behind the thick, gnarled trunks of the ancient olives.
The Opel that Janos had rented. Only one person inside. Not until the car was almost past did he make out Steele’s delicate, feminine profile. So. He’d gotten here just in time. He watched the car bounce down the rutted track and turn onto the narrow paved road that led back toward the coastal highway.
He hurried back to his car. It would be tricky, to stay far enough back not to be noticed and close enough to see which way she turned once she got to the highway. But he was nothing if not tricky.
Fuck Janos. He would stick to Steele, take her down, and get her back to Novak this very day. And he bet that Novak wouldn’t mind if he took a measure of his reward directly out of the woman’s hide.
As long as the old man got to watch it. All part of the fun.
“The effect of Amplix 15 is instantaneous, particularly at such a concentrated dose.” Tam loaded the miniature hypodermic with ten drops of the solution she had just showed Ana how to weigh and mix. “And very intense. The person administering the poison actually risks injury herself from the target’s convulsions. They are violent enough to snap bones. If the target’s still alive at that point, hemorrhaging begins. If the heart doesn’t stop first. Be prepared for a mess.”
“And the antidote?” Ana’s eyes were glowing. Impressed, in spite of herself.
Tam gazed at her. “No antidote,” she said. “No time. We’re talking certain death in forty seconds or less.” She situated the needle tip onto the reservoir, clicked it into place, and slid the apparatus into the jewel-studded gold cylinder that formed the body of the earring, then screwed the threading of the weighted jeweled bead into place over the needle.
She passed it to Ana, observing the tiny flinch before the woman accepted it. Pah. Gutless weenie. Not a worthy wearer of Deadly Beauty.
“I believe in arming both earrings,” she said. “One never knows which hand will be free. Or even what the rest of the evening will bring.”
“How about the dipped blades? Do they kill in the same amount of time?” Ana gingerly picked up a hairclip, pushed the button, and slid out the wickedly sharp two-inch blade. She swooped it around, fantasizing homicide, like a child with a toy sword.
Tam kept her eyes from rolling as she scribbled down the mixing proportions for the Amplix 15. “A bit more slowly,” she told the woman. “It’s a different compound. TR-8321 takes more like a minute and twenty seconds.”
“And the antidote?”
Tam gazed at her for a long moment, then gave her a mysterious smile. “No antidote,” she repeated. “It’s against my philosophy. No one should have armed Deadly Beauty pieces on her person unless she is absolutely sure of what she is doing. If she feels the need for the antidote because she’s afraid she might change her mind at the last moment, then perhaps she should pay someone more professional to do her dirty work for her. And wear something a bit more classic and safe. Like, say, Cartier.”
Ana’s eyes tightened, showing the tiny dry lines around them, caked with heavy makeup. “I know what I am doing,” she snapped.
Tam nodded. “Excellent,” she said. “I love to see a confident woman. Here are instructions for arming the grenade pendants. I regret that I was not able to get the materials for you. I know it’s not an easy matter to discreetly obtain that kind of item.”
“Not a problem for me,” Ana preened. “I have my sources.”
“Good. Including the materials for arming each piece usually adds an extra fifteen percent onto the total price, but I’m waiving this fee in your case,” Tam said, gathering up the sheaf of instructions. “Here are online sources for each ingredient in these recipes, as well as possible pretexts for ordering them, should you find it necessary to rearm any of the pieces. And remember, Mrs. Santarini. No shortcuts, no omissions, no substitutions. The recipes are precise and specific.”
“I understand,” Ana said impatiently. “And now I’m afraid I have to cut this short, Ms. Steele. I have an appointment this afternoon that I cannot miss, and you arrived so much later than we had agreed yesterday, it’s thrown my entire day out of alignment!”
The self-pitying whine in the woman’s voice grated on Tam’s nerves. She tried to look contrite. “I’m sorry. It was a complicated morning.”
“Normally I would offer you coffee, but since I dismissed the domestic staff this morning at your suggestion, there is no one to prepare it,” the woman complained. “I didn’t even have lunch today.”
Awww. Poor hungry, desperate Ana. Maybe her big fluffy ass would diminish slightly as a result. Tam tried to look appropriately horrified. “That’s terrible,” she murmured. “I’m so sorry that I inconvenienced you.”
“Here’s your money.” Ana opened a drawer, and pulled out several paper-wrapped packs of bills. “One hundred and ten thousand euro, as agreed yesterday. Nonsequential banknotes of fifty and one hundred.”
Tam tucked the cash into her purse. A girl couldn’t have too much of it. After all, whether she succeeded with this plan or not, she’d still provided a genuine service to the woman, so it was not stealing. And nice thick stacks of money were always handy in a desperate fugitive flight.
With or without Val.
She pushed away a stab of pain. Forced herself to focus.
Ana shrugged into her coat. “Thank goodness I asked GianCarlo to bring the car around before he left,” she muttered. “I really am pressed for time, Ms. Steele. Are you ready to leave? Please?”
“Just one last detail.” She picked up the golden earring she’d just shown Ana how to arm with Amplix 15, and switched it with the duplicate that she had hidden in her pocket. “Let me show you something. A little caveat.”
Ana adjusted the fluffy fur collar of her jacket and made an impatient sound. Her heels clicked across the tiles. “What is it now?”
“Just a moment. This is important.” Tam unscrewed the bead, pressed the lever that released the spring that held the needle inside. She pressed until a single drop of fluid trembled on the tip. It shone like a diamond in the afternoon light that slanted through the windows of the salone. “A demonstration of how these weapons can be applied.”
Ana
