Silencing Eve

have a week before they butcher you.” She stared him in the eye. “Until this is over, I’m in charge. Do we understand each other?”
    He didn’t speak for a moment, and she could read the struggle in his expression. “Maybe,” he muttered.
    No maybe, she thought triumphantly. He had caved. He might try to save his pride, but she had him. “Then I’m willing to show you this.” She lifted the black cloth in the bottom of the box on which she’d placed the documents. “Since we’re going to be such good partners in the battle for Islam.”
    Cartland’s brow furrowed as he looked down into the box. “A cell phone? What the hell?”
    “Why are you surprised?” Harriet said. “You set off bombs all the time using a cell phone as a detonator.”
    “But this is an antique.” He gazed skeptically at the large, clumsy-looking cell phone. He took out his own sleek, thin iPhone. “Technology has left it in the dust.”
    “It was the last thing in technology five years ago,” Harriet said. “And once the phone is charged it will still work beautifully. I consulted with an electronics expert just six months ago.” She looked him in the eye. “Believe me, all I’ll have to do is put in the code. Boom. There goes Chicago and Seattle.”
    “Both cities?”
    “My Kevin was brilliant. You never appreciated him. We were going to get on a plane to Samoa, and as the door closed, he was going to press in the code.”
    “That’s still your plan?”
    “With certain modifications.”
    His voice was suddenly eager. “You said you weren’t going to give me the detonator.”
    “Do you see me handing it over to you?” She took the cell phone out of the box and slipped it into her handbag. “But now that you understand who makes the rules, I don’t object to proving that I have it.”
    “I want that cell phone, Harriet.”
    “Forget it. It would do you absolutely no good without the code. Surely you don’t think I’d give that to you?”
    “I believe you could be persuaded,” he said softly.
    “How nasty. Are you threatening me, Cartland? Remember those documents? On my death, my lawyer will FedEx a copy to Iran. And do you think I brought you here to flaunt this detonator in your face? I know you have no problems with torture. Kevin told me all about you and your friends. He said you were amateurs. That’s why he took the devices away from you.”
    “He was a traitor.” His cheeks flushed. “I was glad when I heard he’d been killed.”
    “And you all ran for cover.” She smothered the rage she was feeling. Cartland still had his uses. “Think what you like. I know what my son could do.” She took a deep breath. “You’re thinking that you don’t have to know where the nukes are located if you have that detonator. You’re quite right. That’s why you have to deal with me and not my ex-husband. I have the detonator, and I have the code. That gives me all the cards, Cartland. And it puts me in the driver’s seat.” She added, “You’ll like the way I drive. I’m waiting for James to give me the death of the man who butchered my son. Then I’ll personally set off those nukes. You won’t have to do a thing but accept the responsibility. You’ll have no risk. You and your little group can take credit and become big men in Tehran. And I’ll have a red herring that will give me time to go underground. Interested?”
    “Maybe,” he said cautiously.
    “You’re very interested.”
    “You want more money.”
    “Yes, one more payment would make me happy. It should be sent to the same bank a week after the explosions take place. I’m taking a chance on you, of course. But I still will have those documents, and I’m sure that you won’t want those politicians in Tehran to know that I’m the one who will be responsible for the explosions. It would be humiliating for you to have them know that you took credit for the work of a lowly woman. I’ll just disappear into the sunset.”
    “That would be best,” he said slowly.
    “I thought so.”
    He was silent. “Just one more payment?”
    “And perhaps a favor or two.”
    He stiffened. “Favor?”
    “Kevin told me that you were a very clever man. You trained at a camp outside Berlin that specialized not only in bomb making but assassination. I’m sure you’ve just gotten better over the years.”
    “You want me to kill someone.”
    “It would make it safer for me to leave the country. Safer for me to disappear. Safer for you