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took out one for himself. “Is something the matter, Comte? You seem somewhat troubled. Is there anything amiss?” He bustled back behind his desk as if to barricade himself against the well-mannered black-clad Saint-Germain.
    “That is what I hope you will tell me,” said Saint-Germain, and paused; when Lundhavn said nothing, he went on. “I have been receiving some rather alarming memos from—well, it doesn’t matter whom—that have troubled me, and I have decided that it is time I addressed the issues with you.” He sat wholly at his ease, his hat dangling from his fingers. “And now I find soldiers in the lobby of this building. Why is that?”
    “They arrived,” said Lundhavn. “They have orders to keep guard over this plant, because airplanes are strategically important—that’s what their orders stipulate.”
    “I have no wish to be caught up in a civil war,” Saint-Germain warned.
    “No; who’d want that? It wouldn’t be good for business to have to take sides,” said Lundhavn, and laughed nervously. “We’re not part of the conflict, thank goodness.” He lit his cigarette and blew out a long cloud of smoke, but kept his lighter in his hand, as if anticipating the need to light another.
    Saint-Germain nodded, frowning slightly. “And yet it seems that we have been dragged into the matter. Why is that, do you think?”
    “I don’t know what you mean,” Lundhavn protested, clearing his throat.
    “But you have made comments on the issues at stake here, or so the memos tell me.” Saint-Germain watched Lundhavn as he fumbled with his lighter.
    “What issues would they be?” Lundhavn asked, his manner defensive and his chin coming up sharply. He stubbed out his cigarette.
    “It would appear that someone from this company has been negotiating with the military to adapt our Scythians for combat.” He raised one brow. “I have proof that the information provided to the army came from this office, Elias.”
    “How could that be?” Lundhavn said as he stared at the penstand on his desk; he avoided looking at Saint-Germain directly, but watched him from the tail of his eye.
    “That is what I am here to find out,” said Saint-Germain.
    Lundhavn rubbed his chin. “Are you sure your informant knows as much as he claims? It would be to the advantage of some of the smaller companies—Aero Madrid, for instance—to see us have to sell out this company. That could be what’s going on. And your informant may be trying to make it appear he has more reliable information than is actually the case.”
    “He is very familiar with the workings of Eclipse, and must have enlisted more than one man on the staff to supply him crucial information.” He said it bluntly, watching Lundhavn, his dark eyes narrowed.
    Lundhavn did his best to chuckle. “That’s absurd,” he said.
    “Alas, it is not,” said Saint-Germain, his posture unchanged. “I have received several visits from a Colonel Senda who seems to be of the opinion that the arrangements have all been made. He chastised me for not signing the contracts that have been prepared. I don’t think he believed that I knew nothing about them.” He leaned forward and put his hat on the edge of Lundhavn’s broad rosewood desk. “The Colonel informed me that you had agreed on the terms of the contract, and that some of my staff had helped you. Why would he say that if it were wholly lies?”
    “Don’t be ridiculous,” said Lundhavn, his face darkening to a blotchy shade of plum. “It must be—”
    “I knew that our financial information had been obtained by authorities in Madrid. I might have thought one of the men working on aircraft assembly had passed on what he saw in constructing the airplanes, but my informant had access to new design modifications that haven’t yet been incorporated into the current airplanes being prepared for delivery,” Saint-Germain said thoughtfully. “But the contract was the stumbling block for me. It implied the