The heavy brass handle of the utility room door clicked softly as it settled back into place. Outside in the sixth-floor carpeted corridor, the low, steady murmur of string instruments drifted up from the grand ballroom below, mingling with the faint scent of expensive floral perfume and polished mahogany.Julian remained unmoving in the dim fluorescent light of the maintenance room. His fingers rested lightly against the handle of the non-metallic ceramic pistol concealed within his tuxedo jacket. Beside him, the black junction box hummed with high-frequency radio transmissions, its seven fiber-optic conduits glowing with a pale, rhythmic pulse as they carried monitoring signals into the structural heart of the Grand Hotel Vienna."Handler check," Julian murmured, his voice barely a breath against the air intake vent."Signal clear, Nine-Seven," Beatrix replied. Her voice in his ear was crisp, though the rapid background clatter of her keystrokes betrayed the immense strain she was u