Black Widow

oaf, you are most welcome.'

Ajza watched the exchange with a wary eye. The animosity between Fikret and Nazmi had existed from the beginning. In fact, most of the team avoided the big man because he struck quickly with verbal abuse and with his hands. This morning was the first day he'd tried that with her.

'Get away from my bed,' Ajza ordered.

Fikret scowled. 'This is a very small room.'

'Then go outside.'

Angrily Fikret stomped outside.

'I don't think you made him very happy.' Nazmi reached for his other boot.

'I'm not getting paid to do that.' Ajza sat on the bed and watched the others getting ready. The fact that so much activity going on hadn't woken her surprised her. In a way, Fikret had been right. She had been hard to wake.

You've pushed this operation too long, she told herself. You should have been pulled a month ago.

But every time they'd gotten ready to retrieve her from the field, one more piece of the puzzle dropped into place. That slow trickle of crucial information had been the most exasperating of all.

If not for the cloud of doubt clinging to Ilyas's death…

Resolutely, as she had done for two years, Ajza pushed away her pain and confusion over her younger brother's death. Those feelings proved hard to bear. She missed Ilyas. Whenever she spent time at home with their parents, she felt the gaping hole left by his death.

'I think of making Fikret angry as a bonus,' Nazmi told her. 'I'm just glad they're not charging me for the privilege.'

Ajza looked at the younger man. At twenty-nine, though they thought her younger, she felt like the old person among them.

'Is this for real?' she asked. 'Or is this another false alarm?'

Nazmi shrugged and smiled. 'I don't know.'

'I hate getting up early when there's no reason.'

'But you miss so much of the day when you sleep late.' Nazmi stood and stomped his work boots into a better fit. 'I will make you a deal. If this is another false alarm, I will buy you breakfast at the market. Okay?'

The crush Nazmi had on her had been apparent from the start. Given another time and place, Ajza might have let the attraction between them develop. Still, having a friend to cover her back when the bullets started flying was a good thing.

'All right,' she said.

Nazmi gazed at her. 'Aren't you going to get dressed?'

Ajza got out of bed with the Tokarev in her hand. She wore sweatpants and an oversize T-shirt. 'Not in here,' she said.

'Get dressed in here and I will buy you two breakfasts,' Nazmi suggested. He made no move to get out of her way.

'Maybe I will shoot you in the head and take your money, then buy myself as many breakfasts as I want.' Ajza smiled sweetly as she looked up at him.

'You know,' Nazmi said, 'I almost think you would do such a thing.'

Ajza knew that he had no idea of what she had done in the past or was prepared to do now.

'You know that Mustafa doesn't like to be kept waiting,' Nazmi said.

'Tell him to leave. I'll catch up.' Ajza pushed Nazmi aside and went to the bathroom.

Inside the small bathroom with the rust-coated shower and toilet, she turned on the water and undressed. Then she knelt, reached behind the toilet and pressed a section of the wall. The section slid away and she took out the micro-miniature burst transmitter.

'This is Calico,' she said quickly, in a voice that — thanks to the running water — couldn't be heard outside the thin walls of the room. 'The meeting is on.'

She pressed send and watched as the transmitter encrypted the message, compressed it and beamed it in a split second. Somewhere in England's MI-6 offices, someone should receive the message.

If they didn't, she knew she might be dead within the next hour with no one the wiser.

Just like her brother.

2

New York City

'Does he follow you everywhere?'

Kate Cochran looked at her companion and smiled. 'Are you referring to my bodyguard?'

'I am,' Gunter Hirschvogel admitted. He claimed to be in his late forties, but Kate knew from his file that he was in his early sixties. However, trim and fit as he was, tanned and dark-haired, he got away with the lie almost effortlessly.

His suit was handmade Italian. The plastic surgery didn't show except for a little around the eyes, which no one would have faulted him for. Eyes were important. Especially for someone who'd made their wealth by getting other people to trust him.

'He goes with me most places,' Kate responded. She knew she looked elegant in her dark blue evening gown. Her wrap pulled everything together, and she'd turned heads most of the night. That had been enjoyable.

'When we get to my apartment,' Hirschvogel said, 'where will he be then?'

'Comfortable, I hope,' Kate answered.

Hirschvogel laughed. 'Perhaps we could send him down to the bar.'

Kate looked over her shoulder at Jacob Marrs, the man they were discussing. 'I don't think he'd like being that far away from me. He takes his job very seriously.'

'I don't see how any man would want to be far from you,' Hirschvogel said.

'Thank you,' Kate said as if flattered by the comment. Only the years of doing espionage work in the field kept her in character. She detested men like Hirschvogel.

'However, I do have another possible solution.' Hirschvogel removed his electronic keycard from inside his jacket. 'Perhaps we could put him with my security people.'

Kate glanced back at the two men who had accompanied Hirschvogel to the museum earlier. Older than Jake, both wore cruelty and dispassion like armor.

'It's a shame one of us doesn't have another bodyguard,' Kate said. 'Then they'd have a fourth for bridge.'

'Actually, I have a houseman.' Hirschvogel opened the door, stepped inside and waved toward another man standing just inside the apartment foyer.

Kate cursed silently. Events could get very dicey in the apartment. If Hirschvogel found out who she was, and who and what she represented, he would probably try to kill her.

'Good evening, Mr. Hirshvogel.' The houseman was in his late forties. No emotion showed in his pale blue eyes. 'Good evening, miss.' He didn't offer to take her wrap or his employer's coat. That would have slowed his reflexes and filled his hands.

'I have him,' the calm voice of Kate's support technician reported. 'Friedrich Moews. This guy's a killer, Kate.'

The transmission came from the receiver/transmitter built into Kate's left earring. It was state-of-the-art, complete with encryption encoding. Agents had wired a repeater inside the building earlier that afternoon. The delicate necklace at the hollow of her throat held a wireless camera.

Jake wore an earring that made him privy to the same communications stream Kate received. The top button on his jacket concealed a tiny camera.

Kate tapped her bracelet once for yes to let everyone know she'd heard the message. When switched on, the bracelet doubled as a Morse-code key and held a wide-angle lens for scanning documents and transmitting via wireless Internet.

Hirschvogel turned to Jake. 'While I'm entertaining Ms. Danvers, perhaps you'd like to spend your time with my