In Death 09 - Loyalty in Death

choices to find one that would fit.
    She'd narrowed it down to three side arm types when the door behind her opened. She turned, intending to scald Summerset for interrupting, and Roarke strolled in.
    "I didn't know you were here."
    "I'm working at home today," he told her and lifted a brow. She looked a little frazzled, he noted, a bit distracted. And alluring.
    "Do I assume the same for you, or are you just playing with guns?"
    "I've got a case, sort of." She set the rack down, gestured to it. "Since you're here, you'd be better at this. I need an army-issue blaster, Urban War style, that would fit into this rack."
    "U.S. Army?"
    "Yeah."
    "European style's a bit different," he commented as he walked to a display cabinet. "The U.S. had two hand blasters during that period, the second -- toward the end of the war -- was lighter, more accurate."
    He chose a piece with a long double over-and-under barrel and molded grip in a dull gray. "Infrared sight, heat-seeking directional. The blast can be toned down to stun -- which would drop a two-hundred-pound man to his knees and have him drooling for twenty minutes -- or tuned up to shoot a fist-sized hole in a charging rhino. It can be pinpointed or scattered to wide range."
    He turned the weapon over, showing Eve the controls on either side. She held out her hand, testing the weight when Roarke passed the weapon to her.
    "Can't weigh more than five pounds. How does it charge?"
    "Battery card in the butt. Same principle as a clip on an old-fashioned automatic."
    "Hmm." She turned and tried it in the rack. It slid in, settled snug, like a foot in a comfortable shoe. "Looks like a winner. Are there many of these around?"
    "That depends on if you choose to believe the U.S. government, which claims that the vast majority were confiscated from its troops and destroyed. But if you believed that, you wouldn't be the cynic I know and love."
    She grunted. "I want to test this out. You've got a battery card, right?"
    "Of course." He picked up the gun and rack himself, walked to the wall, and opened the panel. Frowning a little, Eve got on the elevator with him.
    "Don't you have to go back to work?"
    "That's the beauty of being the boss." He smiled as she hooked her thumbs in her pockets. "What's this about?"
    "I'm not sure. Probably a waste of time."
    "We don't get to waste nearly enough time together."
    The doors opened to the lower-level target range with its high ceilings and sand-colored walls. He hadn't indulged his appreciation for comfort here. This room was spartan and efficient.
    Roarke ordered the lights, set the rack on a counter area on the long glossy black console. He took a slim battery card from a drawer. He slid it into a slot on the butt of the weapon, gave it a quick shove with the heel of his hand.
    "Fully charged," he told her. "You've only to activate. A thumb flick on the side here," he showed her. "Set your preferences and let it rip."
    She tried it out, nodded. "It's fast, efficient. If you were worried about an attack, you'd have it on, already set." Experimentally, she laid it against her own weapon harness. "With decent reflexes, you could have it out, aimed, and fired in seconds. I want to discharge it a couple of times."
    He opened another drawer, took out earplugs and safety goggles. "Hologram or still target?" Roarke asked as she put them on, then laid his palm on the identiscreen so that console lights glowed on.
    "Hologram. Give me a couple of guys, night scene."
    Obligingly, Roarke programmed the target range, then settled back to enjoy the show.
    He'd given her two bulky men who were nonetheless fast on their feet. Their images came at her from both sides. With a quick pivot, she blasted them both.
    "Too easy," she complained. "You'd have to be a one-armed moron with a vision impairment to miss with this thing."
    "Try it again." He reprogrammed while she balanced on the balls of her feet and tried to imagine herself a scared old man getting ready to run.
    The first one came at her fast, out of the shadows, and head-on. She shifted, firing in a crouch, then swiveling around in anticipation. It was closer this time. The second man had a steel bat lifted, had started into his swing. She rolled clear, fired up, and took his face off.
    "Christ, I love to watch you work," Roarke murmured.
    "Maybe he wasn't as fast," she considered as she rose. "Maybe they knew about the blaster. But it would've given him the edge. And I had it on pinpoint. If he'd put it